Superlattices and Microstructures 86 (2015) 300–305

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Superlattices and Microstructures

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/superlattices

Broadband absorption enhancement in plasmonic thin-film

solar cells with grating surface
Li Liu, Yiping Huo ⇑, Kaijun Zhao, Ting Zhao, Yuan Li
School of Physics and Information Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710062, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The plasmonic thin-film solar cells with grating surface is structured and simulated by
Received 24 April 2015 Comsol Multiphysics software using finite element method. The absorption efficiency of
Received in revised form 26 July 2015 solar cells has been systemically studied by considering structure characteristic parame-
Accepted 30 July 2015
ters. The absorption of grating surface cell is much broader and stronger than that of
Available online 30 July 2015
smooth surface on a-Si at the wavelength from 400 to 700 nm. The value of total absorption
efficiency (TAE) increases from 47% to 69.3%. The embedded Ag nanoparticle array con-
Keywords:
tributes to the improvement of the absorption of a-Si at longer wavelength range. The
Surface plasmon
Solar cells
localized surface plasmon resonance is induced by Ag nanoparticles, and so that the TAE
Metallic nanoparticles is increased to 75.1% when the radius of nanoparticle is 60 nm at the bottom of a-Si with
Finite element method periodic width 200 nm. The grating surface always plays a role to suppress light scattering
from the active region, so more light can be absorbed again by a-Si in the infrared-region.
Therefore, the results have significance in providing a theoretical foundation for the appli-
cations of thin-film solar cell.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

In recent decades, photovoltaic solar cells have been extensively studied because it can convert effectively sunlight into
clean electrical power. However, the conventional thick Si solar cells have relatively high cost of manufacture and low
absorption of sunlight. For this reason, there is a great interest in second-generation Si solar cells: thin-film solar cells
(TFSCs) based on amorphous silicon/hydrogen alloys or polycrystalline compound semiconductors. TFSCs are deposited
on cheap foreign substrates such as glass, ceramics, plastic or stainless steel. They are made from variety of semiconductors.
But in all TFSC technologies, there is poor absorption efficiency around bandgap light, especially for the indirect bandgap
semiconductor Si [1]. Therefore, for the purpose of increasing the light absorption, it is very important to structure the
TFSC so that light is trapped inside.
Recent researches into the field of plasmonic show that the use of metal nanostructures is an effective method for increas-
ing the light absorption of TFSCs [2–8]. When a monolayer of Ag nano particles was deposited onto the 165 nm thick
silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photodetectors [4], a nearly factor-of-20 photocurrent enhancement was observed for light of
wavelength 800 nm. Similarly, depositing Au nanoparticles above the amorphous silicon (a-Si) film [5], Derkac et al.
observed an 8.1% increase in short-circuit current density and an 8.3% increase in energy conversion efficiency.
Subsequently Pillai et al. deposited Ag nanoparticles on 1250 nm SOI cells [6], obtaining an absorption enhancement of close

⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: yphuo@snnu.edu.cn (Y. Huo).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.spmi.2015.07.065
0749-6036/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 L. Liu et al. / Superlattices and Microstructures 86 (2015) 300–305 301

to 16-fold at a wavelength near 1050 nm and the overall photocurrent improvement of 33%. Adjusting the wavelengths of
the localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) of Ag strips to match the spectral sensitivity of the solar cell, Hallermann
et al. found that more than 50% photons can be absorbed in a-Si layer under TM-polarized illumination [7]. These results
show that the metal nanostructures make great contribution to the enhancement of absorption. When illuminated with light
of suitable frequency, metal nanoparticles exhibit the phenomenon of LSPR and are strong scatters of incident light at wave-
lengths near the plasmon resonance [8]. Due to the LSPR, light absorption of the active region can be effectively enhanced by
light scattering and light localization [9–13]. The location of the resonances depends strongly on the metal nanoparticles
characteristic parameters such as shape, size, material, and dielectric environment [14–16].
Researchers have explored the various structural thin film solar cells in order to enhance the absorption efficiency
[3,6,17–21]. Among these structures, periodic grating array is an important and simple way for effective enhancement of
absorption in TFSCs [11,16,20,21]. So in this paper, we design a grating structure thin film a-Si solar cells with Ag nanopar-
ticles array to save raw materials of a-Si, and more importantly, to get a broad and strong absorption at visible light. By
adjusting the structure parameters of a-Si solar cells such as the radius of Ag nanoparticles, the width of grating surface,
the periodic width of grating and the distance from the bottom of nanoparticles to bottom of a-Si, we demonstrate the grat-
ing surface achieves broadband absorption enhancement in the visible region. The Ag nanoparticle array structure improves
the absorption efficiency of the cell in the longer wavelength.

2. Structural model and simulation method

The 3-D periodic model for thin-film a-Si solar cells here proposed is depicted in Fig. 1. As a front contact, the upper part
of the cell is a 20 nm high ITO [22]. The active region is a 300 nm high a-Si with grating surface, and the width of grating
surface and its height are defined as a and 100 nm, respectively. The Ag nanoparticles array is embedded in the active region,
and the radius of the nanoparticle is defined as r. The d means the distance from bottom of a-Si to the bottom of Ag nanopar-
ticle. A 200 nm high Al layer is considered as the back contact at the bottom of the thin film solar cells. The w is the periodic
width. All these simulation optical data such as the refractive (n, k) of a-Si, Ag, Al, and ITO are taken from the SOPRA database
[23].
This model for plasmonic solar cell is simulated by Comsol Multiphysics software [24]. The software solves the 3-D
Maxwell’s equations by finite element method [3]. The incident light is a TM plane wave of unit amplitude with wavelengths
from 400 to 950 nm, and the plane wave is placed above the grating surface. The model is periodically distributed along the x
and y axis [25]. The perfectly matched layer (PML) boundary condition are used for upper and lower boundary conditions to
approximate the infinite space and infinite bottom contact respectively. The periodic conditions are used for the front, the
back, the right and the left of the cell. It is easy to create the grating surface on the a-Si by the imprinting method [26].
The absorption efficiency AE(k) of solar cells, as shown by Eq. (1), which is defined as the ratio of the power of the
absorbed light Pabs ðkÞ to that of the incident light Pin ðkÞ within the a-Si substrate. For the broad spectrum of incident elec-
tromagnetic radiation, the total absorption efficiency TAE, which takes the solar spectral irradiance into account, determines
the overall absorption efficiency of the solar cell [24]. The TAE is calculated using Eq. (2).
AEðkÞ ¼ Pabs ðkÞ=P in ðkÞ ð1Þ
R kmax k
kmin hc
AEðkÞIAM1:5G ðkÞdk
TAE ¼ R kmax ð2Þ
k
kmin
I
hc AM1:5G
ðkÞdk

Fig. 1. Structure of TFSCs with Ag nanoparticles array, (a) view of the 3-D model, and (b) the cross-section view with parameters.
302 L. Liu et al. / Superlattices and Microstructures 86 (2015) 300–305

where k is the wavelength of light in free space, Pabs is the light absorption of the active region, P in is the intensity of the
incident light which is 1 in the simulation. IAM1:5G is the air mass 1.5 (AM1.5G) solar spectrum [27], h is Planck’s constant
and c is the speed of light in the free space. Both the absorption efficiency AE(k) and total absorption efficiency TAE are cal-
culated in all designs.

3. Results and discussion

Firstly, we discuss the effect of the width of grating surface on absorption efficiency. We calculate the absorption effi-
ciency AE(k) for our model with the periodic width 200 nm. The width of grating surface varies from 0 to 120 nm. The
AE(k) and TAE for all designs are given in Fig. 2. From Fig. 2(a) we can see, the absorption efficiency of designed grating sur-
face a-Si solar cells is increased about 20% than that of smooth surface a-Si solar cells in the wavelength range from 400 nm
to 700 nm. Fig. 2(b) shows the TAE for all designs. It can be easily found that the maximum TAE is about 69.3% when the
width of grating surfaces a equals to 80 nm, and the absorption peaks are at the wavelengths of 580 nm and 680 nm.
Fig. 2(c) gives two electric field distributions of the two peaks. For the first absorption peak at 580 nm, the electric distribu-
tion displays that grating surface can inhibit light scattering from the a-Si bulk, the gratings focus the incoming light, and
subsequently spread it inside the a-Si layer [28,29]. And on the other hand, most energy of the solar radiation in AM1.5 global
spectrum is concentrated between 400 and 700 nm, the positive effect helps to improve light trapping. For the second
absorption peak at 680 nm, the electric distribution exhibits a Bloch mode-like diffraction pattern with a periodicity in
the horizontal x axis direction [28].
Secondly, we investigate the effect of distance from the bottom of a-Si to the bottom of Ag nanoparticles on absorption
efficiency. Keeping the width of grating as 80 nm and periodic width as 200 nm, we calculate the absorption efficiency when
the particle is at the bottom of a-Si (d = 0 nm), in the middle of a-Si (d = 50 nm) and close to grating surface (d = 100 nm).
Fig. 3 illustrates the absorption efficiency of a-Si and the electric field distribution of the absorption peaks for Ag nanoparticle
at the above-mentioned distances. Simultaneously, the TAE is listed in Table 1 for different d, and we find the TAE reaches its
maximum value when nanoparticles are at the bottom of a-Si (d = 0 nm).
For the three different d, Fig. 3(a) shows that the AE(k) of the active region is almost the same in the wavelength from 400
to 600 nm, but the AE(k) has somewhat difference at the longer wavelength. When nanoparticle is at the bottom of a-Si
(d = 0 nm), the absorption spectra is more wider than that of the other two distances, and there are two inflection points
at wavelength of 820 nm and 900 nm. At the first inflection point 820 nm, from the electric filed distribution in Fig. 3(b)
one can see that there is weak interaction between particles with its adjacent cells. For the second absorbed inflection point
at 900 nm, the Ag nanoparticles array at the bottom of a-Si contributes more to the absorption of the cell due to the LSPR of
Ag particles. The interaction between grating surfaces is similar to the situation at wavelength 580 nm with grating surfaces
a = 80 nm, this also can be seen from the similar electric field distribution in Figs. 2(c) and 3(b).
From above discussion, we know the TAE reaches its maximum value when nanoparticles are at the bottom of a-Si
(d = 0 nm) with a = 80 nm. So in the following, keeping d = 0 nm and a = 80 nm, we study the effect of nanoparticle radius
or the periodic width on absorption efficiency. As shown in Fig. 4(a), with the same periodic width 200 nm, the nanoparticle
radius is changed from 40 to 70 nm at intervals of 10 nm. At the same time, the specific TAE for considered r is shown in
Table 2, and we find the TAE reaches the maximum value when r equals to 60 nm. From Fig. 4(a) one can see that the absorp-
tion spectrums are completely the same in the wavelength from 400 nm to 650 nm. But there is a bit difference in the wave-
length from 650 to 950 nm. In other words, the absorption spectrums show a red-shift with the increasing radius of Ag
nanoparticles beyond the wavelength 800 nm. It is because dynamic depolarization and radiation attenuation become
important factors in correcting the quasi-static equation [30–32] for the large enough radius of Ag nanoparticle, and there
are higher exciting states of Ag nanoparticles [33]. More precisely, for larger Ag nanoparticles, scattering cross section is

Fig. 2. (a) The absorption efficiency of all designs. (b) The TAE for different wavelengths. (c) Electric field distribution of absorption peak for a = 80 nm.
 L. Liu et al. / Superlattices and Microstructures 86 (2015) 300–305 303

Fig. 3. (a) The absorption efficiency of a-Si. (b) Electric field distribution of absorption inflections for d = 0 nm.

Table 1
The specific TAE for different distances d.

d (nm) 0 50 100
TAE (%) 74.9 73.0 72.9

Fig. 4. (a) The absorption efficiency of the a-Si with different r. (b) The absorption efficiency of the a-Si with different w. (c) The electric field distribution of
absorption inflection point when r = 60 nm.

Table 2
The specific TAE for different r.

r (nm) 0 40 50 60 70
TAE (%) 69.3 74.0 74.9 75.1 74.1

bigger than absorption cross section [30], more light is scattered again into a-Si, and that is to say more light can be trapped
in a-Si. But the problem is that the cell is infinite, the distance between Ag nanoparticles will decreases with the increasing
size of Ag nanoparticles, and the interaction between adjacent particles will become stronger [34], thus a part of light is
trapped by the particle itself but not in the a-Si. Therefore the TAE must have a maximum value which is agree with that
of Table 2. Electric field distribution of the absorption inflection point when r equals to 60 nm is showed by Fig. 4(b).
There does exist a strong interaction between adjacent particles. Furthermore, the electric field distribution of gratings in
Fig. 4(b) is also similar to that of in Fig. 2(c) at wavelength 580 nm with a = 80 nm.
304 L. Liu et al. / Superlattices and Microstructures 86 (2015) 300–305

Table 3
The specific TAE for different w.

w (nm) 250 225 200 175 150

TAE (%) 73.7 73.4 75.1 74.7 69.3

According above discussion, the TAE reaches to the maximum value when a, d and r are set to 80 nm, 0 nm and 60 nm,
respectively. Based on that, for different w, we calculate the effect of absorption efficiency of a-Si in Fig. 4(c). The value of w is
changed from 150 to 250 nm at intervals of 25 nm. Fig. 4(c) shows that the absorption spectra first become broad and then
become narrow with increasing periodic width. The reason for this phenomenon is similar to the circumstance when
increasing the Ag nanoparticle radius. For the very narrow w, the interaction between adjacent nanoparticles is so strong
that a part of light is trapped by Ag nanoparticle. On the contrary, for the very wide w, the interaction between nanoparticles
is too weak to trap light in a-Si. So there must be a proper periodic width which will lead to a maximum TAE. By calculating
the TAE as shown in Table 3, we find the TAE reaches the maximum value at the periodic width 200 nm for all designs. The
max total absorption is 75.1% from the data from Tables 1–3. The result is larger than 62.3% in Ref. [2], 66.5% in Ref. [11],
62.5% in Ref. [15], and 62.35% in Ref. [25]. In order to check the validity of our optimization procedure, we compare our
results with others in literature that are available for the same structure. For example, the results of 300 nm thick a-Si solar
cell reported by Ref. [25] are in good agreement with our results.

4. Conclusion

In this paper, we design the plasmonic thin-film a-Si solar cells with grating surface. This model for plasmonic solar cell is
simulated by Comsol Multiphysics software using finite element method. The absorption efficiency of solar cells has been
systemically studied by considering structure characteristic parameters. The following conclusions can be drawn.

(1) The absorption of grating surface is much broader and stronger than that of smooth surface on a-Si at the wavelength
from 400 to 700 nm. The value of TAE increases from 47% to 69.3%. And Ag nanoparticle array in a-Si layer can increase
absorption efficiency at the infrared region.
(2) Due to the LSPR induced by Ag nanoparticle array in the a-Si, the TAE is increased to 75.1% when the radius of embed-
ded nanoparticle is 60 nm at the bottom of a-Si and periodic width is 200 nm.
(3) The grating surface always plays a role to suppress light scattering from the active region. LSPR of Ag nanoparticles is
excited, and more light can be absorbed again into a-Si in the infrared-region. Therefore, the model can be applied
effectively into plasmonic thin-film solar cell.

Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (GK201002038) and Natural
Science Basis Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (2011JQ1014).

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