Insights into the Si─H Bonding Configuration at the Amorphous/Crystalline Silicon Interface of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells by Raman and FTIR Spectroscopy.

In silicon heterojunction solar cell technology, thin layers of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) are applied as passivating contacts to the crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafer. Thus, the properties of the a-Si:H is crucial for the performance of the solar cells. One important property of a-Si:H is its microstructure which can be characterized by the microstructure parameter R based on Si─H bond stretching vibrations. A common method to determine R is Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) absorption measurement which, however, is difficult to perform on solar cells for various reasons like the use of textured Si wafers and the presence of conducting oxide contact layers. Here, it is demonstrated that Raman spectroscopy is suitable to determine the microstructure of bulk a-Si:H layers of 10 nm or less on textured c-Si underneath indium tin oxide as conducting oxide. A detailed comparison of FTIR and Raman spectra is performed and significant differences in the microstructure parameter are obtained by both methods with decreasing a-Si:H film thickness.

Design of deterministic light-trapping structures for thin silicon heterojunction solar cells.

We optically designed and investigated two deterministic light-trapping concepts named "Hutong" (wafer thickness dependent, patch-like arrangement of "V" grooves with alternating orientations) and "VOSTBAT" (one directional "V" grooves at the front and saw-tooth like structures at the back) for the application in emerging thin silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells. Calculated photocurrent density (Jph) (by weighting the spectrally resolved absorptance with AM1.5g spectrum and integrating over the wavelength) showed that both the Hutong and VOSTBAT structures exceed the Lambertian reference and achieved Jph of 41.72 mA/cm2 and 41.86 mA/cm2, respectively, on 60 µm thin wafers in the case of directional, normal incidence.

Mapping the conducting channels formed along extended defects in SrTiO3 by means of scanning near-field optical microscopy.

Mixed ionic-electronic-conducting perovskites such as SrTiO3 are promising materials to be employed in efficient energy conversion or information processing. These materials exhibit a self-doping effect related to the formation of oxygen vacancies and electronic charge carriers upon reduction. It has been found that dislocations play a prominent role in this self-doping process, serving as easy reduction sites, which result in the formation of conducting filaments along the dislocations. While this effect has been investigated in detail with theoretical calculations and direct observations using local-conductivity atomic force microscopy, the present work highlights the optical properties of dislocations in SrTiO3 single crystals. Using the change in optical absorption upon reduction as an indicator, two well-defined arrangements of dislocations, namely a bicrystal boundary and a slip band induced by mechanical deformation, are investigated by means of scanning near-field optical microscopy. In both cases, the regions with enhanced dislocation density can be clearly identified as regions with higher optical absorption. Assisted by ab initio calculations, confirming that the agglomeration of oxygen vacancies significantly change the local dielectric constants of the material, the results provide direct evidence that reduced dislocations can be classified as alien matter embedded in the SrTiO3 matrix.

Light trapping in thin film silicon solar cells via phase separated disordered nanopillars.

In this work, we have improved the absorption properties of thin film solar cells by introducing light trapping reflectors deposited onto self-assembled nanostructures. The latter consist of a disordered array of nanopillars and are fabricated by polymer blend lithography. Their broadband light scattering properties are exploited to enhance the photocurrent density of thin film devices, here based on hydrogenated amorphous silicon active layers. We demonstrate that these light scattering nanopillars yield a short-circuit current density increase of +33%rel with respect to equivalent solar cells processed on a planar reflector. Moreover, we experimentally show that they outperform randomly textured substrates that are commonly used for achieving efficient light trapping. Complementary optical simulations are conducted on an accurate 3D model to analyze the superior light harvesting properties of the nanopillar array and to derive general design rules. Our approach allows one to easily tune the morphology of the self-assembled nanostructures, is up-scalable and operated at room temperature, and is applicable to other photovoltaic technologies.

Effect of topography-dependent light coupling through a near-field aperture on the local photocurrent of a solar cell.

An aperture-type scanning near-field optical microscope (a-SNOM) is readily used for the optical and optoelectronic characterizations of a wide variety of chemical, biological and optoelectronic samples with sub-wavelength optical resolution. These samples mostly exhibit nanoscale topographic variations, which are related to local material inhomogeneity probed either by an optical contrast or by secondary effects such as photoconductivity or photoluminescence. To date, in the interpretation and evaluation of the measurement results from a-SNOM or derived methods, often only the local material inhomogeneity is taken into account. A possible influence of the optical interaction between the scanning probe and the surface topography is rarely discussed. In this paper, we present experimental and theoretical investigation of the effects of nanoscale topographic features on a-SNOM measurement results. We conduct local photocurrent measurements on a thin-film solar cell with an a-SNOM as the illumination source. A clear correlation between the photocurrent response and local topography is observed in all measurements with a signal contrast of up to ∼30%, although the sample features homogeneous permittivity and electrical properties. With the help of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations, this correlation is reproduced and local light coupling is identified as the mechanism which determines the local photocurrent response. Our results suggest that a-SNOM-based measurements of any sample with material inhomogeneity will be superimposed by the local light-coupling effect if surface topography variation exists. This effect should always be taken into consideration for an accurate interpretation of the measurement results.

Manipulating the Net Radiative Recombination Rate in Lead Halide Perovskite Films by Modification of Light Outcoupling.

Photon recycling is a fundamental physical process that becomes especially important for photovoltaic devices that operate close to the radiative limit. This implies that the externally measured radiative decay rate deviates from the internal radiative recombination rate of the material. In the present Letter, the probability of photon recycling in organic lead halide perovskite films is manipulated by modifying the underlying layer stacks. We observe recombination kinetics by time-resolved photoluminescence that is controlled by the optical design of the chosen layer structure. Quantitative simulations of decay rates and emission spectra show excellent agreement with experimental results if we assume that the internal bimolecular recombination coefficient is ∼66% radiative.

Angular dependence of light trapping in nanophotonic thin-film solar cells.

The angular dependence of light-trapping in nanophotonic thin-film solar cells is inherent due to the wavelength-scale dimensions of the periodic nanopatterns. In this paper, we experimentally investigate the dependence of light coupling to waveguide modes for light trapping in a-Si:H solar cells deposited on nanopatterned back contacts. First, we accurately determine the spectral positions of individual waveguide modes in thin-film solar cells in external quantum efficiency and absorptance. Second, we demonstrate the strong angular dependence of this spectral position for our solar cells. Third, a moderate level of disorder is introduced to the initially periodic nanopattern of the back contacts. As a result, the angular dependence is reduced. Last, we experimentally compare this dependence on the angle of incidence for randomly textured, 2D periodically nanopatterned and 2D disordered back contacts in external quantum efficiency and short-circuit current density.

Nanoscale observation of waveguide modes enhancing the efficiency of solar cells.

Nanophotonic light management concepts are on the way to advance photovoltaic technologies and accelerate their economical breakthrough. Most of these concepts make use of the coupling of incident sunlight to waveguide modes via nanophotonic structures such as photonic crystals, nanowires, or plasmonic gratings. Experimentally, light coupling to these modes was so far exclusively investigated with indirect and macroscopic methods, and thus, the nanoscale physics of light coupling and propagation of waveguide modes remain vague. In this contribution, we present a nanoscopic observation of light coupling to waveguide modes in a nanophotonic thin-film silicon solar cell. Making use of the subwavelength resolution of the scanning near-field optical microscopy, we resolve the electric field intensities of a propagating waveguide mode at the surface of a state-of-the-art nanophotonic thin-film solar cell. We identify the resonance condition for light coupling to this individual waveguide mode and associate it to a pronounced resonance in the external quantum efficiency that is found to increase significantly the power conversion efficiency of the device. We show that a maximum of the incident light couples to the investigated waveguide mode if the period of the electric field intensity of the waveguide mode matches the periodicity of the nanophotonic two-dimensional grating. Our novel experimental approach establishes experimental access to the local analysis of light coupling to waveguide modes in a number of optoelectronic devices concerned with nanophotonic light-trapping as well as nanophotonic light emission.

Advancing tandem solar cells by spectrally selective multilayer intermediate reflectors.

Thin-film silicon tandem solar cells are composed of an amorphous silicon top cell and a microcrystalline silicon bottom cell, stacked and connected in series. In order to match the photocurrents of the top cell and the bottom cell, a proper photon management is required. Up to date, single-layer intermediate reflectors of limited spectral selectivity are applied to match the photocurrents of the top and the bottom cell. In this paper, we design and prototype multilayer intermediate reflectors based on aluminum doped zinc oxide and doped microcrystalline silicon oxide with a spectrally selective reflectance allowing for improved current matching and an overall increase of the charge carrier generation. The intermediate reflectors are successfully integrated into state-of-the-art tandem solar cells resulting in an increase of overall short-circuit current density by 0.7 mA/cm(2) in comparison to a tandem solar cell with the standard single-layer intermediate reflector.