High Efficiency Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells With Novel Light Trapping

(Cont.) To prove the theory on the intended application, top-contacted thin film Si solar cells integrated with the TPC back reflector are successfully fabricated using Si-on-insulator material through an active layer transfer technique. All cells exhibit strong absorption enhancement, similar to that predicted by simulation. The 5 [mu]m thick cells gained 19% short circuit current density improvement, despite machine problems during fabrication. The textured photonic crystal back reflector design can be applied directly to single and poly-crystalline Si solar cells, and its principle is broadly applicable to other materials systems.