Spatial distribution of absorption in plasmonic thin film solar cells

The spatial dependence of absorption in a structured thin film solar cell is investigated through the rigorous coupled-wave analysis method. The investigated structure allows strong localized surface plasmon and surface plasmon polaritons, simultaneously. The absorptance of silver and amorphous silicon can be separately accounted for by calculating the time-averaged energy dissipation although only the absorption of amorphous silicon contributes to the photocurrent. In our studied case, the metallic material absorbs around 15%-20% of the total impinging sunlight while the active layer absorbs only similar to 50%. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America