Design and fabrication of photonic crystals in epitaxy-free silicon for ultrathin solar cells

Xianqin Meng (1) , Valerie Depauw (2) , Guillaume Gomard (1, 3) , Ounsi El Daif (2) , Christos Trompoukis (2) , Emmanuel Drouard (1) , Alain Fave (3) , Frederic Dross (2) , Ivan Gordon (2) , Christian Seassal (1)

1 INL - Photonique - INL - Nanophotonique
2 IMEC - IMEC
3 INL - PV - INL - Photovoltaïque

In this paper, we present the integration of an absorbing photonic crystal within a thin film photovoltaic solar cell. Optical simulations performed on a complete solar cell revealed that patterning the epitaxial crystalline silicon active layer as a 1D and 2D photonic crystal enabled to increase its integrated absorption by 37%abs and 68%absbetween 300 nm and 1100 nm, compared to a similar but unpatterned stack. In order to fabricate such promising cells, a specific fabrication processes based on holographic lithography, inductively coupled plasma etching and reactive ion etching has been developed and implemented to obtain ultrathin patterned solar cells.

Mots clés: Thin-film devices and applications; Epitaxial crystalline silicon; Holographic lithography; Photovoltaics; Photonic crystals

Domaines: Optique / photonique

Xianqin Meng, Valerie Depauw, Guillaume Gomard, Ounsi El Daif, Christos Trompoukis, et al.. Design and fabrication of photonic crystals in epitaxy-free silicon for ultrathin solar cells. Asia Communications and Photonics Conference and Exhibition, Nov 2011, Shanghai, China. pp.831207-831207-7, ⟨10.1117/12.904383⟩. ⟨hal-00666247⟩