Photonic crystals and optical mode engineering for thin film photovoltaics

International audienceIn this paper, we present the design, analysis, and experimental results on the integration of 2D photonic crystals in thin film photovoltaic solar cells based on hydrogenated amorphous silicon. We introduce an analytical approach based on time domain coupled mode theory to investigate the impact of the photon lifetime and anisotropy of the optical resonances on the absorption efficiency. Specific design rules are derived from this analysis. We also show that, due to the specific properties of the photonic crystal resonances, the angular acceptance of such solar cells is particularly high. Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis simulations show that the absorption in the a-Si:H active layers, integrated from 300 to 750nm, is only decreased from 65.7% to 60% while the incidence angle is increased from 0 to 55°. Experimental results confirm the stability of the incident light absorption in the patterned stack, for angles of incidence up to 50°