November 22, 2012

Speaker: Dr. Marco Liscidini, University of Pavia (Italy)

Title: Towards the Lambertian Limit in Thin Films Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract: Trapping of solar light into active semiconductor materials is gaining large interest in order to find a way to increase absorption in thin film solar cells, while keeping reasonable conversion efficiency and reducing the manufacturing costs. In this seminar I will present a theoretical study of light trapping in thin film crystalline silicon solar cells with ordered and disordered photonic structures. The general aspects of these two complementary optical designs are discussed, focusing on the absorption in the active material and on the resulting photo generated current, which are assumed as the figures of merit. We will show that the optimal photonic configuration from the point of view of light trapping is neither perfectly ordered nor totally random and that an engineered combination of both order and disorder is able to approach the ideal Lambertian light trapping.