A new bioinspired pit texture to enhance the light-coupling efficiency of silicon solar cells

Pit and hillock textures enhance the light-coupling efficiency of silicon solar cells. In a bioinspired pit/hillock texturing scheme, inspired by the compound eye of the common housefly, the surface of the silicon solar cell is textured as an array of parallel and equally spaced grooves/prisms whose cross-section is a circular segment that is decorated further by smaller equally spaced circular grooves/prisms. Complementary examples of both textures had been recently analyzed over the wavelength range [400,1100] nm under the rubric of geometrical optics. Here, we consider a new bioinspired pit texture and show that it leads to a light-coupling efficiency significantly greater than that of a flat silicon surface but intermediate between those of the previously analyzed hillock and pit textures.