Abstract

In this Letter, we experimentally demonstrate a hybrid structure consisting of metal nanoparticles deposited onto a subwavelength structure (SWS), which further increases the absorption of thin amorphous silicon (a-Si) and can possibly lead to a reduction in the minimum required thickness of the a-Si layer. Experimental results show that backscattering of the silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) deposited on the top surface can be suppressed dramatically (by 85.5%) by the Ag NPs deposited on the SWS. We also experimentally prove that the thin a-Si SWS only lowers the surface reflectivity and does not increase the absorption rate of the material. The absorption of the thin a-Si layer can be increased by depositing Ag NPs onto a thin a-Si SWS, which not only reduces the backscattering of the metal NPs but also increases the light-trapping effect within thin a-Si through localized surface plasmon resonance properties. This decrease of reflection and increase in the light-trapping effect of Ag NPs on cone-shaped thin a-Si SWSs leads to extremely high average absorption (86.14%) within a 400 nm thick a-Si layer.

© 2013 Optical Society of America

Localized surface plasmon resonance with broadband ultralow reflectivity from metal nanoparticles on glass and silicon subwavelength structures

Chee Leong Tan, Sung Jun Jang, and Yong Tak Lee
Opt. Express 20(16) 17448-17455 (2012)

Light trapping enhancement induced by bimetallic non-alloyed nanoparticles on a disordered subwavelength flexible thin film crystalline silicon substrate using metal-assisted chemical etching

Soo Kyung Lee, Chee Leong Tan, and Yong Tak Lee
Opt. Lett. 42(3) 431-434 (2017)

AuAg bimetallic nonalloyed nanoparticles on a periodically nanostructured GaAs substrate for enhancing light trapping

Soo Kyung Lee, Chee Leong Tan, Gun Wu Ju, Jae Hong Song, Chan Il Yeo, and Yong Tak Lee
Opt. Lett. 40(24) 5798-5801 (2015)

Light trapping in periodically textured amorphous silicon thin film solar cells using realistic interface morphologies

Vladislav Jovanov, Ujwol Palanchoke, Philipp Magnus, Helmut Stiebig, Jürgen Hüpkes, Porponth Sichanugrist, Makoto Konagai, Samuel Wiesendanger, Carsten Rockstuhl, and Dietmar Knipp
Opt. Express 21(S4) A595-A606 (2013)

Enhanced optical absorption in nanohole-textured silicon thin-film solar cells with rear-located metal particles

Yankun Chen, Weihua Han, and Fuhua Yang
Opt. Lett. 38(19) 3973-3975 (2013)