Light trapping in solar cells at the extreme coupling limit

We calculate the maximal absorption enhancement obtainable by guided mode excitation in a weakly absorbing dielectric slab over wide wavelength ranges. The slab mimics thin film silicon solar cells in the low absorption regime. We consider simultaneously wavelength-scale periodicity of the texture, small thickness of the film, modal properties of the guided waves and their confinement to the film. Also we investigate the effect of the incident angle on the absorption enhancement. Our calculations provide tighter bounds for the absorption enhancement but still significant improvement is possible. Our explanation of the absorption enhancement can help better exploitation of the guided modes in thin film devices.Comment: accepted for publication in JOSA

Molybdenum oxide MoOₓ: a versatile hole contact for silicon solar cells

This letter examines the application of transparent MoOₓ (x < 3) films deposited by thermal evaporation directly onto crystalline silicon (c-Si) to create hole-conducting contacts for silicon solar cells. The carrier-selectivity of MoOₓ based contacts on both n- and p-type surfaces is evaluated via simultaneous consideration of the contact recombination parameter J oc and the contact resistivity ρ c. Contacts made to p-type wafers and p⁺ diffused regions achieve optimum ρ c values of 1 and 0.2 mΩ·cm², respectively, and both result in a Joc of ∼200 fA/cm². These values suggest that significant gains can be made over conventional hole contacts to p-type material. Similar MoOₓ contacts made to n-type silicon result in higher Joc and ρc with optimum values of ∼300 fA/cm² and 30 mΩ·cm² but still offer significant advantages over conventional approaches in terms of contact passivation, optical properties, and device fabrication.This project was partially funded by The Australian Renewable Energy Agency

Evolution of the charge density wave superstructure in ZrTe3{\mathrm{ZrTe}}_{3} under pressure

The material ZrTe3 is a well-known example of an incommensurate periodic lattice distortion (PLD) at low temperatures due to a charge density wave (CDW). Previous studies have found a sharp boundary as a function of pressure between CDW below 5 GPa and bulk superconductivity above this value. We present a study of low-temperature-high-pressure single crystal x-ray diffraction along with ab initio density functional theory calculations. The modulation vector qCDW is found to change smoothly with pressure until the PLD is lost. Fermi surface calculations reproduce these changes, but neither these nor the experimental crystal lattice structure show a particular step change at 5 GPa, thus leading to the conclusion that the CDW is lost accidentally by tipping the balance of CDW formation in the Fermi surface nesting that stabilizes it

Exciton Condensation Driving the Periodic Lattice Distortion of 1T-TiSe₂

We address the lattice deformation of 1T-TiSe₂ within the exciton condensate phase. We show that, at low temperature, condensed excitons influence the lattice through electron-phonon interaction. It is found that at zero temperature, in the exciton condensate phase of 1T-TiSe₂, this exciton condensate exerts a force on the lattice generating ionic displacements comparable in amplitude to what is measured in experiment. This is thus the first quantitative estimation of the amplitude of the periodic lattice distortion observed in 1T-TiSe₂ as a consequence of the exciton condensate phase

Angular behavior of the absorption limit in thin film silicon solar cells

We investigate the angular behavior of the upper bound of absorption provided by the guided modes in thin film solar cells. We show that the 4n^2 limit can be potentially exceeded in a wide angular and wavelength range using two-dimensional periodic thin film structures. Two models are used to estimate the absorption enhancement; in the first one, we apply the periodicity condition along the thickness of the thin film structure but in the second one, we consider imperfect confinement of the wave to the device. To extract the guided modes, we use an automatized procedure which is established in this work. Through examples, we show that from the optical point of view, thin film structures have a high potential to be improved by changing their shape. Also, we discuss the nature of different optical resonances which can be potentially used to enhance light trapping in the solar cell. We investigate the two different polarization directions for one-dimensional gratings and we show that the transverse magnetic polarization can provide higher values of absorption enhancement. We also propose a way to reduce the angular dependence of the solar cell efficiency by the appropriate choice of periodic pattern. Finally, to get more practical values for the absorption enhancement, we consider the effect of parasitic loss which can significantly reduce the enhancement factor

19.2% Efficient InP Heterojunction Solar Cell with Electron-Selective TiO2 Contact.

We demonstrate an InP heterojunction solar cell employing an ultrathin layer (∼10 nm) of amorphous TiO2 deposited at 120 °C by atomic layer deposition as the transparent electron-selective contact. The TiO2 film selectively extracts minority electrons from the conduction band of p-type InP while blocking the majority holes due to the large valence band offset, enabling a high maximum open-circuit voltage of 785 mV. A hydrogen plasma treatment of the InP surface drastically improves the long-wavelength response of the device, resulting in a high short-circuit current density of 30.5 mA/cm2 and a high power conversion efficiency of 19.2%

Quasi one-dimensional Ag nanostructures on Si(331)–(12 × 1)

We report on the deposition of sub-monolayer Ag on the Si(331)–(12 × 1) surface. The growth of one-dimensional Ag nanostructures is observed by means of low- temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and low energy electron diffraction. We find that the deposited Ag is organized in nanostructures consistently taking “sawtooth” shapes. While the structures are not perfectly organized, their back edges are atomically straight. The limitations of this system in terms of faceting are also discussed

A new structural model for the Si(331)-(12x1) reconstruction

A new structural model for the Si(331)-(12x1) reconstruction is proposed. Based on scanning tunneling microscopy images of unprecedented resolution, low-energy electron diffraction data, and first-principles total-energy calculations, we demonstrate that the reconstructed Si(331) surface shares the same elementary building blocks as the Si(110)-(16x2) surface, establishing the pentamer as a universal building block for complex silicon surface reconstructions