Incorporation of a light and carrier collection management nano-element array into superstrate a-Si:H solar cells

Superstrate a-Si:H solar cells incorporating a nano-column array for light and photocarrier collection have been fabricated and evaluated. It is found that the short circuit current density (JSC) is significantly increased while the open circuit voltage and fill factor are not detrimentally affected by this architecture. Numerical analysis of JSC matches experiment and shows that the enhanced JSC observed is due to both effective absorber thickness and photonic-plasmonic effects. Further analysis shows that this nano-column architecture can lead to a 42% increase in conversion efficiency over that of the planar control for a 200 nm absorber thickness cell.