Plasmonic periodic nanostructures for enhanced photovoltaic response in thin film GaAs solar cells

Nanostructures supporting surface plasmon resonance are crucial for efficiency enhancement in thin film solar cells. A plasmonic nanostructure over GaAs layer consisting of Al nanospheres on the front surface and Ag nanocylinders on the rear surface of the GaAs layer with SiO2 as the back contact is studied for the first time. Using the finite-difference time-domain method, it is found that the optimal nanostructure enhances the short circuit current density by 45.38% and 14.76% in comparison to bare and Si3N4-coated thin film GaAs solar cells, while the enhancement in efficiency (eta) is 46.83% and 15.11%, respectively. The plasmonic scattering by nanostructure and propagation of waveguide modes at the metal/dielectric interface are mainly responsible for these enhancements. (c) 2020 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)