Efficient light management scheme for thin film silicon solar cells via transparent random nanostructures fabricated by nanoimprinting

We propose the use of transparent replicated random nanostructures fabricated via nanoimprinting on glass as next-generation superstrates for thin film silicon solar cells. We validate our approach by demonstrating short-circuit current densities for p-i-n hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon solar cells as high as for state-of-the-art nanotextured ZnO front electrodes. Our methodology opens exciting possibilities to integrate a large variety of nanostructures into p-i-n solar cells and allows to systematically investigate the influence of interface morphology on the optical and electronic properties of the device in order to further improve device performance. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3432739]