The use of the adding-doubling method for the optical optimization of planar luminescent down shifting layers for solar cells.

To enhance the efficiency of solar cells, a luminescent down shifting layer can be applied in order to adapt the solar spectrum to the spectral internal quantum efficiency of the semiconductor. Optimization of such luminescent down shifting layers benefits from quick and direct evaluation methods. In this paper, the potential of the adding-doubling method is investigated to simulate the optical behavior of an encapsulated solar cell including a planar luminescent down shifting layer. The results of the adding-doubling method are compared with traditional Monte Carlo ray tracing simulations. The average relative deviation is found to be less than 1.5% for the absorptance in the active layer and the reflectance from the encapsulated cell, while the computation time can be decreased with a factor 52. Furthermore, the adding-doubling method is adopted to investigate the suitability of the SrB4O7:5%Sm2 + ,5%Eu2 + phosphor as a luminescent down shifting material in combination with a Copper Indium Gallium Selenide solar cell. A maximum increase of 9.0% in the short-circuit current can be expected if precautions are taken to reduce the scattering by matching the refractive index of host material to the phosphor particles. To be useful as luminescent down shifting material, the minimal value of the quantum yield of the phosphor is determined to be 0.64.