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Optical modelling of incoherent substrate light-trapping in silicon thin film multi-junction solar cells with finite elements and domain decomposition

Please always quote using this URN: urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-50410
  • In many experimentally realized applications, e.g. photonic crystals, solar cells and light-emitting diodes, nano-photonic systems are coupled to a thick substrate layer, which in certain cases has to be included as a part of the optical system. The finite element method (FEM) yields rigorous, high accuracy solutions of full 3D vectorial Maxwell's equations [1] and allows for great flexibility and accuracy in the geometrical modelling. Time-harmonic FEM solvers have been combined with Fourier methods in domain decomposition algorithms to compute coherent solutions of these coupled system. [2,3] The basic idea of a domain decomposition approach lies in a decomposition of the domain into smaller subdomains, separate calculations of the solutions and coupling of these solutions on adjacent subdomains. In experiments light sources are often not perfectly monochromatic and hence a comparision to simulation results might only be justified if the simulation results, which include interference patterns in the substrate, are spectrally averaged. In this contribution we present a scattering matrix domain decomposition algorithm for Maxwell's equations based on FEM. We study its convergence and advantages in the context of optical simulations of silicon thin film multi-junction solar cells. This allows for substrate light-trapping to be included in optical simulations and leads to a more realistic estimation of light path enhancement factors in thin-film devices near the band edge.

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Author:Martin Hammerschmidt, Daniel Lockau, Lin Zschiedrich, Frank Schmidt
Document Type:ZIB-Report
Tag:domain decomposition; finite element method; incoherent layers; incoherent light-trapping; multi-junction solar cells; rigorous optical modeling; thin-film silicon solar cells
MSC-Classification:65-XX NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
78-XX OPTICS, ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY (For quantum optics, see 81V80)
PACS-Classification:40.00.00 ELECTROMAGNETISM, OPTICS, ACOUSTICS, HEAT TRANSFER, CLASSICAL MECHANICS, AND FLUID DYNAMICS
Date of first Publication:2014/03/06
Series (Serial Number):ZIB-Report (14-21)
ISSN:1438-0064
Published in:Appeared in Proceedings of the SPIE Volume 8980
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2036346
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung-Nicht kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung
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