Abstract
We systematically investigate the light-trapping schemes of crystalline silicon thin-film solar cells (TFSCs) for three common grating layouts via one-dimensional super-quadratic subwavelength gratings. The effects of antireflective coating, absorber layer thickness, and grating geometry on the light-trapping performance of TFSCs are numerically studied using the finite-difference time-domain method. The results suggest that the conformal aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) coatings have better optical properties than the plane AZO coatings. For the case of only top Si gratings, the grating geometry of degree $n={4}$ can achieve a good trade-off between the shape-dependent light-trapping and antireflection properties, showing the best light-trapping effect; for the case of only bottom Ag gratings, the optical performance of TFSCs is significantly degraded as the degree $n$ increases from $n={1}$ to $n\to\infty$. The above findings are analyzed and demonstrated in detail from the optical and electrical perspectives, and they can be utilized to guide the design of light-trapping structures for TFSCs.
© 2019 Optical Society of America
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