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Surface Plasmon Enhancement of Optical Absorption in Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells

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Abstract

Strong electromagnetic field enhancement that occurs under conditions of the surface plasmon excitation in metallic nanoparticles deposited on a semiconductor surface is a very efficient and promising tool for increasing the optical absorption within semiconductor solar cells and, hence, their photocurrent response. The enhancement of the optical absorption in thin-film silicon solar cells via the excitation of localized surface plasmons in spherical silver nanoparticles is investigated. Using the effective medium model, the effect of the nanoparticle size and the surface coverage on that enhancement is analyzed. The optimum configuration and the nanoparticle parameters leading to the maximum enhancement in the optical absorption and the photocurrent response in a single p-n junction silicon cell are obtained. The effect of coupling between the silicon layer and the surface plasmon fields on the efficiency of the above enhancement is quantified as well.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research of Singapore; the Australian Research Council; Center for Waves and Complex Systems of the University of Sydney; CSIRO; and the Institute of High Technologies of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (Kharkiv, Ukraine).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Photonics and Plasmonics Group, Institute of High Performance Computing, 1 Fusionopolis Way, #16-16 Connexis, Singapore, 138632, Singapore

    Yu. A. Akimov & E. P. Li

  2. CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, P. O. Box 218, Lindfield, New South Wales, 2070, Australia

    K. Ostrikov

  3. Plasma Nanoscience and Nanoplasmonics, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, 2006, Australia

    K. Ostrikov

Authors
  1. Yu. A. Akimov
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  2. K. Ostrikov
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  3. E. P. Li
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Correspondence to Yu. A. Akimov.

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Akimov, Y.A., Ostrikov, K. & Li, E.P. Surface Plasmon Enhancement of Optical Absorption in Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells. Plasmonics 4, 107–113 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-009-9080-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-009-9080-8

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