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FDTD study of anti-reflective properties of photonic crystal slabs in silicon

FDTD study of anti-reflective properties of photonic crystal slabs in silicon
FDTD study of anti-reflective properties of photonic crystal slabs in silicon

Nanostructuring for the purpose of reflectance reduction has been widely investigated for Silicon based solar applications. Bare Silicon surfaces reflect between 50 and 60 % of the incident light and are thus unsuitable for absorbing significant amounts of sunlight. A typical approach to addressing this is to use an anti-reflective coating on top of the Silicon which reduces reflectance via destructive interference. Since this interference is mainly dependent on the thickness of film this type of anti-reflection layer can only be optimized for a certain wavelength and thus is inherently limited. To reduce the reflectance over a broad range of wavelengths a structuring based approach is necessary. A common approach to implementing this is by wet etching the top surface of a crystalline solar cell to create pyramid structures based on the crystalline dependence of the etching process. Since this approach exploits the crystalline structure it is most suited for crystalline Si. Dry etching based nanostructuring can offer a high level of control over the resulting structure with the crystalline dependence being less concern. One approach is to etch cylindrical holes arranged in a periodic fashion into the top surface of the device to create a photonic crystal lattice. Here we present a systematic analysis of a photonic crystal slabs in Silicon and how the geometry affect the reflectance of the device. Lumerical's FDTD solution is used to vary the pitch, diameter and depth of the cylindrical holes making up the Photonic Crystal structure. The analysis reveals that air fill fraction and hole depth are the most significant determinants of the overall reflectance.

Directionality, GaN, LEDs, Photonic crystals
0277-786X
SPIE
Mercier, Thomas M.
48bf8bb9-2952-41f6-8153-354763a06edd
Krishnan, Chirenjeevi
0d41ebc9-118a-4f89-889e-8ad28a69237e
Rahman, Tasmiat
e7432efa-2683-484d-9ec6-2f9c568d30cd
Shaw, Peter J.
dcb6c9af-bf38-4dfe-8395-8aeac2ad5cc7
Lagoudakis, Pavlos G.
ea50c228-f006-4edf-8459-60015d961bbf
Charlton, Martin D.B.
fcf86ab0-8f34-411a-b576-4f684e51e274
Freundlich, Alexandre
Sugiyama, Masakazu
Collin, Stephane
Mercier, Thomas M.
48bf8bb9-2952-41f6-8153-354763a06edd
Krishnan, Chirenjeevi
0d41ebc9-118a-4f89-889e-8ad28a69237e
Rahman, Tasmiat
e7432efa-2683-484d-9ec6-2f9c568d30cd
Shaw, Peter J.
dcb6c9af-bf38-4dfe-8395-8aeac2ad5cc7
Lagoudakis, Pavlos G.
ea50c228-f006-4edf-8459-60015d961bbf
Charlton, Martin D.B.
fcf86ab0-8f34-411a-b576-4f684e51e274
Freundlich, Alexandre
Sugiyama, Masakazu
Collin, Stephane

Mercier, Thomas M., Krishnan, Chirenjeevi, Rahman, Tasmiat, Shaw, Peter J., Lagoudakis, Pavlos G. and Charlton, Martin D.B. (2020) FDTD study of anti-reflective properties of photonic crystal slabs in silicon. Freundlich, Alexandre, Sugiyama, Masakazu and Collin, Stephane (eds.) In Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices IX. vol. 11275, SPIE.. (doi:10.1117/12.2544226).

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

Nanostructuring for the purpose of reflectance reduction has been widely investigated for Silicon based solar applications. Bare Silicon surfaces reflect between 50 and 60 % of the incident light and are thus unsuitable for absorbing significant amounts of sunlight. A typical approach to addressing this is to use an anti-reflective coating on top of the Silicon which reduces reflectance via destructive interference. Since this interference is mainly dependent on the thickness of film this type of anti-reflection layer can only be optimized for a certain wavelength and thus is inherently limited. To reduce the reflectance over a broad range of wavelengths a structuring based approach is necessary. A common approach to implementing this is by wet etching the top surface of a crystalline solar cell to create pyramid structures based on the crystalline dependence of the etching process. Since this approach exploits the crystalline structure it is most suited for crystalline Si. Dry etching based nanostructuring can offer a high level of control over the resulting structure with the crystalline dependence being less concern. One approach is to etch cylindrical holes arranged in a periodic fashion into the top surface of the device to create a photonic crystal lattice. Here we present a systematic analysis of a photonic crystal slabs in Silicon and how the geometry affect the reflectance of the device. Lumerical's FDTD solution is used to vary the pitch, diameter and depth of the cylindrical holes making up the Photonic Crystal structure. The analysis reveals that air fill fraction and hole depth are the most significant determinants of the overall reflectance.

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More information

Published date: 2 March 2020
Venue - Dates: Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices IX 2020, , San Francisco, United States, 2020-02-04 - 2020-02-06
Keywords: Directionality, GaN, LEDs, Photonic crystals

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 445610
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/445610
ISSN: 0277-786X
PURE UUID: 5bfc9de1-d0b2-45d1-9ef9-2f320d2c48f5
ORCID for Tasmiat Rahman: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6485-2128
ORCID for Peter J. Shaw: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9044-1069
ORCID for Pavlos G. Lagoudakis: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3557-5299

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 18 Dec 2020 17:30
Last modified: 16 Jul 2024 01:46

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Contributors

Author: Thomas M. Mercier
Author: Chirenjeevi Krishnan
Author: Tasmiat Rahman ORCID iD
Author: Peter J. Shaw ORCID iD
Author: Pavlos G. Lagoudakis ORCID iD
Author: Martin D.B. Charlton
Editor: Alexandre Freundlich
Editor: Masakazu Sugiyama
Editor: Stephane Collin

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