High absorption photovoltaic material and methods of making the same

Abstract

A high absorption photovoltaic material and method of making the material for use in a solar cell are disclosed. The photovoltaic material includes a surface modified with a layer of repeating photonic crystal structures. The photonic crystal structures are approximately inverse conically shaped and have a curved sidewall that has an approximately Gaussian shape. The photonic crystal structures generally have a high vertical depth and sidewall angle. The structures also have a gradient refractive index profile and exhibit the parallel-to-interface refraction light trapping effect. An anti-reflective coating is disposed over the photonic crystal structure layer. The photovoltaic material exhibits near unity light absorption over a broad range of visible and near infrared wavelengths and incidence angles, even at reduced thicknesses. The photovoltaic structures are formed via a combined photolithography and reactive-ion etching method at low power with a gas mixture having a high ratio of an etchant component to a passivation component.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A high absorption photovoltaic material comprising:
 a photovoltaic material including a photovoltaic material surface and an opposite second surface; and   a photonic crystal structure layer at said photovoltaic material surface, said photonic crystal layer including photonic crystal structures having an approximately inverse conical shape including an approximately Gaussian-shaped side wall having a gradient refractive index profile;   wherein said photonic crystal structures have a substantially simple cubic symmetry.   
     
     
         2 . The material according to  claim 1 , wherein said gradient refractive index profile is substantially continuous. 
     
     
         3 . The material according to  claim 1 , wherein said photonic crystal structures have a width (a) and a depth (d), wherein a value of d/(a/2) for said photonic crystal structures is greater than 2. 
     
     
         4 . The material according to  claim 3 , wherein said photonic crystal structures have a width of about 1.2 μm and a depth of about 1.4 μm. 
     
     
         5 . The material according to  claim 1 , wherein said photonic crystal structures have a sidewall angle greater than about 55 degrees. 
     
     
         6 . The material according to  claim 1 , further comprising an anti-reflective coating on said photonic crystal structure layer. 
     
     
         7 . The material according to  claim 6 , wherein said anti-reflective coating is SiO 2 , ZnO, AlO 3 , Si 3 N 4 , or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         8 . The material according to  claim 6 , wherein said anti-reflective coating has a thickness less than about 0.1 μm. 
     
     
         9 . The material according to  claim 1 , wherein said photovoltaic material includes a thin layer photovoltaic material having a thickness less than about 10 μm. 
     
     
         10 . The material according to  claim 1 , wherein said photovoltaic material is composed of inorganic materials such as crystalline silicon, multi-crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, GaAs, CIGS, CdTe, perovskite, organic photovoltaic materials, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         11 . A method of making a high absorption photovoltaic material comprising:
 providing a photovoltaic material including a photovoltaic material surface and an opposite second surface;   applying a photoresist layer to said photovoltaic material surface, said photoresist layer having an array of holes extending through said photoresist layer; and   dry etching said photovoltaic material surface having said photoresist layer using a gas mixture including an etchant component and a passivation component at a predetermined wattage for limiting etching damage and surface roughness;   wherein said gas mixture has a high ratio of said etchant component to said passivation component.   
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 11 , further comprising
 removing said photoresist layer from said photovoltaic material surface after dry etching; and   depositing an anti-reflective coating on said photovoltaic material surface.   
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12 , wherein said anti-reflective coating is SiO 2 , ZnO, AlO 3 , Si 3 N 4 , or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein said etchant component and said passivation component each include a fluorine or a chlorine. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein said etchant component and said passivation component are SF 6  and CHF 3  or Cl 2  and BCl 3 . 
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein said dry etching is a reactive-ion etching process. 
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein said predetermined wattage is less than 100 watts. 
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein said high ratio of said etchant component to said passivation component is at least about 3 to 1 etchant component to passivation component. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein dry etching said photovoltaic material surface further comprising dry etching to a depth of about 1 μm to about 1.5 μm. 
     
     
         20 . A high absorption photovoltaic material comprising:
 a photovoltaic material including a photovoltaic material surface and an opposite second surface, said photovoltaic material having a thickness; and   a photonic crystal structure layer at said photovoltaic material surface, said photonic crystal layer including photonic crystal structures having an approximately inverse conical shape including an approximately Gaussian-shaped side wall having a gradient refractive index profile;   wherein said photovoltaic material maintains an average absorption percentage from λ=400-1000 nm of up to about 98.5% when said thickness is about 500 μm, and said photovoltaic material maintains an average absorption percentage from λ=400-1000 nm of up to about 94.7% when said thickness is about 10 μm.