Decoupled textures for broadband absorption enhancement beyond Lambertian light trapping limit in thin-film silicon-based solar cells

We present a modelling study of thin silicon-based solar cells endowed with periodic and decoupled front/back textures. After careful optimization, the proposed device models exhibit absorption beyond the Lambertian light trapping limit for a wide range of light angles of incidence. The advanced light management scheme is applied to (nano)crystalline silicon solar cells, where the benefits of texturing the absorber rather than the supporting layers is clear, and to barium (di)silicide solar cells, which could achieve an implied photocurrent density of 41.1 mA/cm2 for a thickness of only 2 μm.