Novel R2R Manufacturable Photonic-Enhanced Thin Film Solar Cells; January 28, 2010 -- January 31, 2011

Final subcontract report for PV Incubator project 'Novel R2R Manufacturable Photonic-Enhanced Thin Film Solar Cells.' The goal of this program was to produce tandem Si cells using photonic bandgap enhancement technology developed at ISU and Lightwave Power that would have an NREL-verified efficiency of 7.5% on 0.25 cm2 area tandem junction cell on plastic substrates. This goal was met andexceeded within the timeframe and budget of the program. On smaller area cells, the efficiency was even higher,9.5% (not verified by NREL). Appropriate polymers were developed to fabricate photonic and plasmonic devices on stainless steel, Kapton and PEN substrates. A novel photonic-plasmon structure was developed which shows a promise of improving light absorption in thin film cells, a betterlight absorption than by any other scheme.