Nanoimprint lithography for light trapping applications in solar cells
type: CreativeWork
description: In this thesis, substrate conformal imprint lithography (SCIL) process is adopted to fabricate efficient light trapping structures for thin-film solar cells. The SCIL process can achieve economical and large area patterns with high fidelity sub-micron resolution over non-planar surfaces without involving intense curing processes. We study and compare both plasmonic particle arrays and dielectric diffraction grating arrays placed on the rear of thin-film cells for light trapping, and we enhance the effect further by integrating a detached silver (Ag) mirror that creates a Fabry-Perot resonance effect. The effect of the Ag nanoparticle size distribution on the performance of plasmonic polycrystalline silicon (Si) thin-film solar cells is studied. The short-circuit current enhancement for cells with a back reflector is 34% and 30% with a multi-disperse array and the mono{u00AD}dispersed array respectively, compared to 13% enhancement due to the reflector alone. The better performance of multi-disperse Ag nanoparticle arrays is attributed to a broader scattering cross-section of the array owing to a broad particle size distribution and a higher nanoparticle coverage. We present an experimental demonstration of photocurrent enhancement in thin-film recrystallised silicon solar cells using titanium dioxide (Ti0{u2082}) pillar arrays fabricated on the rear of the cells using nanoimprint lithography. A short-circuit current enhancement of 19% is measured experimentally, and excellent agreement with numerical simulations is obtained. We show numerically that by replacing the Ag capping present on the cells with a detached rear Ag back reflector the enhancement could reach 37%. We numerically investigate the light trapping properties of two-dimensional diffraction gratings formed from Ag disks or Ti0{u2082} pillars, placed on the rear of Si thin-film solar cells. By optimizing the grating geometry and the position of a planar reflector, we predict short circuit current enhanc…
abstract: In this thesis, substrate conformal imprint lithography (SCIL) process is adopted to fabricate efficient light trapping structures for thin-film solar cells. The SCIL process can achieve economical and large area patterns with high fidelity sub-micron resolution over non-planar surfaces without involving intense curing processes. We study and compare both plasmonic particle arrays and dielectric diffraction grating arrays placed on the rear of thin-film cells for light trapping, and we enhance the effect further by integrating a detached silver (Ag) mirror that creates a Fabry-Perot resonance effect. The effect of the Ag nanoparticle size distribution on the performance of plasmonic polycrystalline silicon (Si) thin-film solar cells is studied. The short-circuit current enhancement for cells with a back reflector is 34% and 30% with a multi-disperse array and the mono{u00AD}dispersed array respectively, compared to 13% enhancement due to the reflector alone. The better performance of multi-disperse Ag nanoparticle arrays is attributed to a broader scattering cross-section of the array owing to a broad particle size distribution and a higher nanoparticle coverage. We present an experimental demonstration of photocurrent enhancement in thin-film recrystallised silicon solar cells using titanium dioxide (Ti0{u2082}) pillar arrays fabricated on the rear of the cells using nanoimprint lithography. A short-circuit current enhancement of 19% is measured experimentally, and excellent agreement with numerical simulations is obtained. We show numerically that by replacing the Ag capping present on the cells with a detached rear Ag back reflector the enhancement could reach 37%. We numerically investigate the light trapping properties of two-dimensional diffraction gratings formed from Ag disks or Ti0{u2082} pillars, placed on the rear of Si thin-film solar cells. By optimizing the grating geometry and the position of a planar reflector, we predict short circuit current enhanc…
author: Wang, Er-Chien
language: en_AU
date published: 2012
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:54:30Z
provider: Australian National University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Australian National University

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/149990