Optical properties of gold and aluminium nanoparticles for silicon solar cell applications

The optical properties of metal nanoparticles are explored as a function of lateral size, shape, aspect-ratio and metal type. Simulations based on the discrete dipole approximation are compared with experimental measurements of arrays of metal nanoparticles fabricated by electron-beam lithography. Careful selection of experimental parameters ensures minimization of far-field and near-field coupling, and inhomogeneous broadening, thus allowing comparison with single particle simulations. The optical properties of Au nanoparticles are compared with similar Al nanoparticles for each particle type. For solar cell light-trapping applications, we require metal nanoparticles that exhibit extinction peaks near the band-edge region of the absorbing material, as well as low absorption and large optical cross-sections. Al nanoparticles are shown to be of interest for amorphous silicon solar cells, but their applications for polycrystalline solar cells is limited by the presence of an interband region in the near-infrared. The opposite is found for Au nanoparticles, which feature an interband threshold region in the visible that makes their optical properties unsuitable for amorphous silicon but very suitable for crystalline and polycrystalline silicon solar cells.