Plasmon Enhanced Solar Cells

As silicon is an expensive material, there is significant research into thin-film silicon solar cells that use less silicon to reduce the cost of solar panels.  However, with thinner silicon regions, less incident light is absorbed.  To combat the associated decrease in solar cell efficiency, there is intense interest in using metallic nanoparticles on the surface of thin film silicon solar cells in order to improve device efficiencies.

Learn how nanoparticles can boost efficiency ⇒

Textured Surface Solar Cells

The high index contrast between most semiconductor materials and air results in large back reflections of solar radiation from the upper surface of solar cells.  To reduce this unwanted back reflection, optical designers have explored introducing microscale surface texturing on solar cell surfaces.

Learn how texturing can reduce back reflections ⇒

Solar Cell Simulation Video

Learn how to simulate the optical and electrical properties of your solar cells with FDTD Solutions and DEVICE