Enhanced Absorption and <1% Spectrum-and-Angle-Averaged Reflection in Tapered Microwire Arrays
Abstract
We report ordered, high aspect ratio, tapered Si microwire arrays that exhibit an extremely low angular (0° to 50°) and spectrally averaged reflectivity of <1% of the incident 400–1100 nm illumination. After isolating the microwires from the substrate with a polymer infill and peel off process, the arrays were found to absorb 89.1% of angular averaged incident illumination (0° to 50°) in the equivalent volume of a 20 μm thick Si planar slab, reaching 99.5% of the classical light trapping limit between 400 and 1100 nm. We explain the broadband absorption by enhancement in coupling to waveguide modes due to the tapered microstructure of the arrays. Time-resolved microwave photoconductivity decay measurements yielded charge-carrier lifetimes of 0.75 μs (more than an order of magnitude higher than vapor–liquid–solid-grown Si microwires) in the tapered microwires, resulting in an implied Voc of 0.655 V. In conclusion, the high absorption and high aspect ratio in these ordered microwire arrays make them an attractive platform for high-efficiency thin-film crystalline Si solar cells and as well as for the photoelectrochemical production of fuels from sunlight.
- Authors:
-
- California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
- California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States); NGNext, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities Division
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1579830
- Grant/Contract Number:
- EE0004946; SC0004993; AC02-05CH11231
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- ACS Photonics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 3; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 2330-4022
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 42 ENGINEERING; silicon; microwires; reflection; absorption; waveguide; ICPRIE; carrier lifetime; surface passivation
Citation Formats
Yalamanchili, Sisir, Emmer, Hal S., Fountaine, Katherine T., Chen, Christopher T., Lewis, Nathan S., and Atwater, Harry A. Enhanced Absorption and <1% Spectrum-and-Angle-Averaged Reflection in Tapered Microwire Arrays. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00370.
Yalamanchili, Sisir, Emmer, Hal S., Fountaine, Katherine T., Chen, Christopher T., Lewis, Nathan S., & Atwater, Harry A. Enhanced Absorption and <1% Spectrum-and-Angle-Averaged Reflection in Tapered Microwire Arrays. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00370
Yalamanchili, Sisir, Emmer, Hal S., Fountaine, Katherine T., Chen, Christopher T., Lewis, Nathan S., and Atwater, Harry A. Mon .
"Enhanced Absorption and <1% Spectrum-and-Angle-Averaged Reflection in Tapered Microwire Arrays". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00370. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1579830.
@article{osti_1579830,
title = {Enhanced Absorption and <1% Spectrum-and-Angle-Averaged Reflection in Tapered Microwire Arrays},
author = {Yalamanchili, Sisir and Emmer, Hal S. and Fountaine, Katherine T. and Chen, Christopher T. and Lewis, Nathan S. and Atwater, Harry A.},
abstractNote = {We report ordered, high aspect ratio, tapered Si microwire arrays that exhibit an extremely low angular (0° to 50°) and spectrally averaged reflectivity of <1% of the incident 400–1100 nm illumination. After isolating the microwires from the substrate with a polymer infill and peel off process, the arrays were found to absorb 89.1% of angular averaged incident illumination (0° to 50°) in the equivalent volume of a 20 μm thick Si planar slab, reaching 99.5% of the classical light trapping limit between 400 and 1100 nm. We explain the broadband absorption by enhancement in coupling to waveguide modes due to the tapered microstructure of the arrays. Time-resolved microwave photoconductivity decay measurements yielded charge-carrier lifetimes of 0.75 μs (more than an order of magnitude higher than vapor–liquid–solid-grown Si microwires) in the tapered microwires, resulting in an implied Voc of 0.655 V. In conclusion, the high absorption and high aspect ratio in these ordered microwire arrays make them an attractive platform for high-efficiency thin-film crystalline Si solar cells and as well as for the photoelectrochemical production of fuels from sunlight.},
doi = {10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00370},
journal = {ACS Photonics},
number = 10,
volume = 3,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Sep 19 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Mon Sep 19 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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