Influences of InGaP conical frustum nanostructures on the characteristics of GaAs solar cells

Abstract

Conical frustums with quasihexagonal nanostructures are fabricated on an InGaP window layer of single junction GaAs solar cells using a polystyrene nanosphere lithography technique followed by anisotropic etching processes. The optical and photovoltaic characteristics of the conical frustum nanostructured solar cells are investigated. Reflectance of the conical frustum nanostructured solar cells is significantly reduced in a wide range of wavelengths compared to that of the planar sample. The measured reflectance reduction is attributed to the gradual change in the refractive index of the InGaP conical frustum window layer. An increase of 15.2% in the power conversion efficiency has been achieved in the fabricated cell with an optimized conical frustum nanostructure compared to that of the planar cell. © 2013 Nguyen Dinh Lam et al.