Enhanced Photon Management of Thin‐Film Silicon Solar Cells Using Inverse Opal Photonic Crystals with 3D Photonic Bandgaps

Experimental demonstration of silicon inverse opal photonic crystals (PhCs) as a wave-optics-based back reflector for polycrystalline silicon solar cells is shown. Using a novel S5 process, crack-free three dimensional PhCs are fabricated, which are free-standing and have good optical properties. An efficiency enhancement of 10% is measured for 1.5 μm-thick commercial silicon solar cells, matching reasonably well with simulations. As a service to our authors and readers, this journal provides supporting information supplied by the authors. Such materials are peer reviewed and may be re-organized for online delivery, but are not copy-edited or typeset. Technical support issues arising from supporting information (other than missing files) should be addressed to the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.