Enhanced Efficiency in Thin Film Solar Cells: Optimized Design With Front Nanotextured and Rear Nanowire-Based Light Trapping Structure

This paper introduces a highly effective method to enhance the power conversion efficiency of thin-film solar cells with a microcrystalline absorber layer. The study involves the creation of a device simulation model that takes into account optical phenomena like light scattering and diffusive reflection, as well as electrical aspects related to the physics of heterointerfaces. The proposed design includes a textured front surface, silicon nanowires on the rear side of the absorber layer, and a back contact-cum-reflector composed of multiple alternative layers. To achieve optimal outcomes, it is essential to determine the ideal values for parameters such as the average width-to-height ratio of the textured front surface, the height of the backside nanowires, and the thickness and doping levels of different layers like ITO, emitter, buffer, and BSF. The findings indicate that when these parameters are set to their optimal values, the proposed structure can achieve a peak efficiency of 13.62%. This marks a substantial improvement of 34.70% when compared to the optimized flat thin-film solar cell structure.