Suppressing light reflection from polycrystalline silicon thin films through surface texturing and silver nanostructures

This work demonstrates a novel method combining ion implantation and silver nanostructures for suppressing light reflection from polycrystalline silicon thin films. Samples were implanted with 20-keV hydrogen ions to a dose of 10¹⁷/cm², and some of them received an additional argon ion implant to a dose of 5 × 10¹⁵ /cm² at an energy between 30 and 300 keV. Compared to the case with a single H implant, the processing involved both H and Ar implants and post-implantation annealing has created a much higher degree of surface texturing, leading to a more dramatic reduction of light reflection from polycrystalline Si films over a broadband range between 300 and 1200 nm, e.g., optical reflection from the air/Si interface in the AM1.5 sunlight condition decreasing from ∼30% with an untextured surface to below 5% for a highly textured surface after post-implantation annealing at 1000 °C. Formation of Ag nanostructures on these ion beam processed surfaces further reduces light reflection, and surface texturing is expected to have the benefit of diminishing light absorption losses within large-size (>100 nm) Ag nanoparticles, yielding an increased light trapping efficiency within Si as opposed to the case with Ag nanostructures on a smooth surface. A discussion of the effects of surface textures and Ag nanoparticles on light trapping within Si thin films is also presented with the aid of computer simulations.