Omnidirectional and broadband absorption enhancement from trapezoidal Mie resonators in semiconductor metasurfaces

Pala, Ragip A.; Butun, Serkan; Aydin, Koray; Atwater, Harry A.

doi:10.1038/srep31451

Omnidirectional and broadband absorption enhancement from trapezoidal Mie resonators in semiconductor metasurfaces

Journal Article · Mon Sep 19 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep31451· OSTI ID:1434484

Pala, Ragip A. ^[1]; Butun, Serkan ^[2]; Aydin, Koray ^[2]; Atwater, Harry A. ^[3]

California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States); California Institute of Technology, Thomas J. Watson Laboratories of Applied Physics, Pasadena, 91125, United States
Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)

Light trapping in planar ultrathin-film solar cells is limited due to a small number of optical modes available in the thin-film slab. A nanostructured thin-film design could surpass this limit by providing broadband increase in the local density of states in a subwavelength volume and maintaining efficient coupling of light. Here we report a broadband metasurface design, enabling efficient and broadband absorption enhancement by direct coupling of incoming light to resonant modes of subwavelength scale Mie nanoresonators defined in the thin-film active layer. Absorption was investigated both theoretically and experimentally in prototypes consisting of lithographically patterned, two-dimensional periodic arrays of silicon nanoresonators on silica substrates. A crossed trapezoid resonator shape of rectangular cross section is used to excite broadband Mie resonances across visible and near-IR spectra. Our numerical simulations, optical absorption measurements and photocurrent spectral response measurements demonstrate that crossed trapezoidal Mie resonant structures enable angle-insensitive, broadband absorption. A short circuit current density of 12.0 mA/cm² is achieved in 210 nm thick patterned Si films, yielding a 4-fold increase compared to planar films of the same thickness. As a result, it is suggested that silicon metasurfaces with Mie resonator arrays can provide useful insights to guide future ultrathin-film solar cell designs incorporating nanostructured thin active layers.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0001293

OSTI ID:: 1434484

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 6; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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