2. Simulation model and methodology
2.1. Description of the simulation model
Nanostructured thin-film solar cells, composed of semiconductor
material with possible light-trapping structures,
absorb the incident sunlight and generate the electrons and
holes inside the active layer, which can be extracted to realize
photon-electricity conversion. It is obvious that the
whole conversion mechanism is a photoelectrical coupling
process. Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagrams of two typical
nanostructures consisting of NPillars (Fig. 1(a) and (c))
and NHoles (Fig. 1(b) and (d)) in the application of thin-
film solar cells. The semiconductor material is crystalline
silicon (c-Si). The top surface of silicon is etched with a
two dimensional periodic nanopillars array or nanoholes
array with the square symmetry. As illustrated from the