Optimized size and period of Al nanoparticles for thin film GaAs solar cells.

In this paper, a structure is proposed consisting of Al nanoparticle array, thin GaAs layer and silicon dioxide as back reflector. The finite difference time domain (FDTD) numerical simulation method was used to calculate optical absorption and current density of thin film GaAs solar cells having Al nanoparticle array. By optimizing the radius and period of Al nanoparticles to maximize plasmonic scattering effect, a significant enhancement in optical absorption and current density is achieved. Simulation results show that average absorption was enhanced by 28% and current density integrated over solar spectrum by 29% as compared to bare GaAs solar cells at optimized radius of 80nm and period 300nm. An enhanced conversion efficiency of about 1.31 is also obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]