Surface Nanostructure Optimization for GaAs Solar Cell Application

Numerical simulation of optical absorption characteristics of gallium arsenide (GaAs) thin-film solar cells by the three-dimensional finite element method is presented, with emphasis on optimizing geometric parameters for nanowire and nanocone structures to maximize the ultimate photocurrent under A...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 2012-10, Vol.51 (10), p.10ND13-10ND13-3
Main Authors: Hong, Lei, Rusli, Yu, Hongyu, Wang, Xincai, Wang, Hao, Zheng, Hongyu
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Numerical simulation of optical absorption characteristics of gallium arsenide (GaAs) thin-film solar cells by the three-dimensional finite element method is presented, with emphasis on optimizing geometric parameters for nanowire and nanocone structures to maximize the ultimate photocurrent under AM1.5G illumination. The nanostructure-based GaAs thin-film solar cells have demonstrated a much higher photocurrent than the planar thin films owing to their much suppressed reflection and high light trapping capability. The nanowire structure achieves its highest ultimate photocurrent of 29.43 mA/cm 2 with a periodicity ($P$) of 300 nm and a wire diameter of 180 nm. In contrast, the nanocone array structure offers the best performance with an ultimate photocurrent of 32.14 mA/cm 2 . The results obtained in this work provide useful guidelines for the design of high-efficiency nanostructure-based GaAs solar cells.
ISSN:0021-4922
1347-4065
DOI:10.1143/JJAP.51.10ND13