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

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep31451 · OSTI ID:1434484
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [1]
  1. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
  2. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (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.

Research Organization:
California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0001293
OSTI ID:
1434484
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Vol. 6, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 34 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (8)

Light Management with Patterned Micro‐ and Nanostructure Arrays for Photocatalysis, Photovoltaics, and Optoelectronic and Optical Devices journal April 2019
Large-Area Wide-Incident-Angle Metasurface Perfect Absorber in Total Visible Band Based on Coupled Mie Resonances journal May 2017
Semiconductor Thin Film Based Metasurfaces and Metamaterials for Photovoltaic and Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Applications journal April 2019
Realizing the Multiband Absorption in the Visible Region via the Collaboration of Fabry–Pérot, Propagating Surface Plasmons, and Void Plasmons Resonance Effects journal September 2019
Asymmetric metasurface structures for light absorption enhancement in thin film silicon solar cell journal March 2019
Perfect metamaterial absorber for applications in sustainable and high-efficiency solar cells journal April 2018
Solar cell efficiency improvement using dip-pen nanolithography journal December 2017
Absorption enhancement in thin-film solar cells using an integrated metasurface lens journal January 2018