Influence of film formation on light-trapping properties of randomly textured silicon thin-film solar cells

The influence of film formation on light-trapping properties of silicon thin-film solar cells prepared on randomly textured substrates was studied. Realistic interface morphologies were calculated with a three-dimensional (3D) surface coverage algorithm using the measured substrate morphology and nominal film thicknesses of the individual layers as input parameters. Calculated interface morphologies were used in finite-difference time-domain simulations to determine the quantum efficiency and absorption in the individual layers of the thin-film solar cells. The investigation shows that a realistic description of interface morphologies is required to accurately predict the light-trapping properties of randomly textured silicon thin-film solar cells. (C) 2014 The Japan Society of Applied Physics