Abstract
We report on the fabrication of diffraction gratings for application as back contact reflectors. The gratings are designed for thin-film solar cells incorporating absorbers with bandgap slightly lower than GaAs, i.e. InAs quantum dot or GaInNAs solar cells. Light trapping in the solar cells enables the increase of the absorption leading to higher short circuit current densities and higher efficiencies. We study metal/polymer back reflectors with half-sphere, blazed, and pyramid gratings, which were fabricated either by photolithography or by nanoimprint lithography. The gratings are compared in terms of the total and the specular reflectance, which determine their diffraction capabilities, i.e.The feature responsible for increasing the absorption. The pyramid grating showed the highest diffuse reflection of light compared to the half-sphere structure and the blazed grating. The diffraction efficiency measurements were in agreement with the numerical simulations. The validated model enables designing such metal/polymer back reflectors for other type of solar cells by refining the optimal dimensions of the gratings for different wavelength ranges.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | A331-A340 |
Journal | Optics Express |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 19 Mar 2018 |
Publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Publication forum classification
- Publication forum level 2
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics