Browsing by Author "Yan, Sheng Lun"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7

Aperiodic and randomized dielectric mirrors: alternatives to metallic back reflectors for solar cells
(2014-05-05)
Lin, Albert
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Zhong, Yan-Kai
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Fu, Sze-Ming
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Tseng, Chi Wei
;
Yan, Sheng Lun
Dielectric mirrors have recently emerged for solar cells due to the advantages of lower cost, lower temperature processing, higher throughput, and zero plasmonic absorption as compared to conventional metallic counterparts. Nonetheless, in the past, efforts for incorporating dielectric mirrors into photovoltaics were not successful due to limited bandwidth and insufficient light scattering that prevented their wide usage. In this work, it is shown that the key for ultra-broadband dielectric mirrors is aperiodicity, or randomization. In addition, it has been proven that dielectric mirrors can be widely applicable to thin-film and thick wafer-based solar cells to provide for light trapping comparable to conventional metallic back reflectors at their respective optimal geometries. Finally, the near-field angular emission plot of Poynting vectors is conducted, and it further confirms the superior light-scattering property of dielectric mirrors, especially for diffuse medium reflectors, despite the absence of surface plasmon excitation. The preliminary experimental results also confirm the high feasibility of dielectric mirrors for photovoltaics. (C)2014 Optical Society of America
Approaching conversion limit with all-dielectric solar cell reflectors
(2015-02-09)
Fu, Sze Ming
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Lai, Yi-Chun
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Tseng, Chi Wei
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Yan, Sheng Lun
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Zhong, Yan Kai
Metallic back reflectors has been used for thin-film and wafer-based solar cells for very long time. Nonetheless, the metallic mirrors might not be the best choices for photovoltaics. In this work, we show that solar cells with all-dielectric reflectors can surpass the best-configured metal-backed devices. Theoretical and experimental results all show that superior large-angle light scattering capability can be achieved by the diffuse medium reflectors, and the solar cell J-V enhancement is higher for solar cells using all-dielectric reflectors. Specifically, the measured diffused scattering efficiency (D.S.E.) of a diffuse medium reflector is >0.8 for the light trapping spectral range (600nm-1000nm), and the measured reflectance of a diffuse medium can be as high as silver if the geometry of embedded titanium oxide(TiO2) nanoparticles is optimized. Moreover, the diffuse medium reflectors have the additional advantage of room-temperature processing, low cost, and very high throughput. We believe that using all-dielectric solar cell reflectors is a way to approach the thermodynamic conversion limit by completely excluding metallic dissipation. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America
Arbitrarily-Wide-Band Dielectric Mirrors and Their Applications to SiGe Solar Cells
(2015-08-01)
Zhong, Yan Kai
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Fu, Sze Ming
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Yan, Sheng Lun
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Chen, Po Yu
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Lin, Albert
The dielectric mirror is an important optical component for optoelectronic devices, passive photonic devices, and solar cells. Unfortunately, the reflection bandwidth of distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) and high-index contrast mirrors (HCGs) are limited by the index contrast of the material system used. Here, an aperiodic design for dielectric mirrors is proposed, and it is shown that for a fixed index contrast, the bandwidth of the reflection band can be arbitrarily widened by simply incorporating more dielectric layers. This is pronouncedly different from the fixed bandwidth of HCGs and DBRs. The physics behind the broadband reflection for the aperiodic stacking is identified as the photonic bandgap widening due to the annihilation of the quasi-guided modes in nonperiodic structures. This observation applies very well to aperiodic auto-cloned 3-D photonic crystal reflectors, to aperiodic DBRs, and even to diffuse dielectric mirrors that have recently emerged to be very promising for solar cells due to their zero plasmonic absorption nature. Experimentally, the white paint diffuse medium reflectors are applied to SiGe solar cells to confirm their high reflectance and the feasibility of enhancing solar cell efficiency.
Low Cost All-Dielectric Thin-Film Solar Cell Using Diffuse Medium Reflectors
(2014)
Tseng, Chi Wei
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Fu, Sze Ming
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Lai, Shih-Yun
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Lai, Wei-Ming
;
Yan, Sheng Lun
Diffuse reflectors can be beneficial for solar cells, due to no plasmonic loss, higher reflectance, decent light scattering, and low cost. Experimental and theoretical works are presented here to demonstrate its feasibility for photovoltaics.
Non-reciprocal meta-surfaces for nanophtonic light trapping: optical isolators versus solar cells
(2015)
Fu, Sze Ming
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Zhong, Yan Kai
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Yan, Sheng Lun
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Ju, Nyan Ping
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Chen, Po Yu
Nano-photonic concept has been shown to be very effective for boosting solar cell conversion efficiency. In this work, the novel concepts of non-reciprocality and chiral meta-surface are demonstrated to be very useful for photovoltaics. The asymmetric chiral patterns are designed and optimized using genetic algorithm. The enhanced optical absorption is observed and it is attributed to the non-reciprocal nature of the solar cell front meta-surface. The asymmetric solar cell front surface enhances the anti-reflection and, at the same time, forbids the photon escape once it enters the devices. This concept is very similar to optical isolators where one-way transmission is intentionally designed for enhanced optical diode effect. Preliminary experimental results are supplied to confirm the superiority of asymmetric chiral design. The ongoing experimental effort is adjusting the PECVD deposition conditions to boost the efficiency on patterned substrates.
Photonic Density of State (PDOS) Enhancement by Brillouin Zone Engineering
(2015)
Fu, Sze Ming
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Zhong, Yan Kai
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Yan, Sheng Lun
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Ju, Nyan Ping
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Chen, Po Yu
The material absorption can be enhanced by increased photonic density of state(PDOS). Here we demonstrate that through the design in the Brillouin zone of nanophotonic light trapping structures, the PDOS can be effectively increased. The theoretical work using rigorously coupled wave calculation shows the increased spectral absorption and the optimal quasi-guided mode excitations in terms of their quality factors and the number of excited modes. The experimental work is currently ongoing and the preliminary result confirms enhanced short circuit current if the PDOS is properly adjusted. Unlike random structures, the proposed Brillouin zone engineered structures are more feasible from modeling and device process viewpoints.
The Coupled Electrical-Optical Simulation of Solar Cell J-V Degradation with Grating Heights
(2014)
Lin, Yu Chiun
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Zhong, Yan-Kai
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Fu, Sze Ming
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Tseng, Chi Wei
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Lai, Shih-Yun
Solar cell with grating structure is used frequently for increased optical absorption, but it can lead to electrical degradation. Here coupled simulation is conducted to clarify the physical reason causing this J-V degradation.