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2011
Conference Paper
Titel
Effects of metallic nanoparticle arrays in Si solar cell structures
Abstract
Metallic inclusions in layered structures can have noticeable effects onto scattering and absorption due to the coupling of the external electromagnetic field and local charge oscillations. These effects are strongly related to both the geometry of the individual particle as well as to the array structure. Having in mind the efficiency improvement of silicon solar cells due to plasmonic effects, we report on the modeling and the fabrication of periodic arrays of metallic nanoparticles on planar substrates. Different characterization techniques as atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and optical measurements are applied which provide particular information with respect to the fabricated structures, each. Special emphasis is placed on the clarification of the dominant features of the optical characterization by detailed numerical analysis. This allows identifying significant modes of the planar geometry which is complemented by the nanostructures, whose interplay with the radiation field does establish changes of the absorption in the silicon layer, finally. These findings may be helpful for optimization and clarification of specific details of technology, later on.