Abstract we present the design, processing and characterization of Si-on-insulator thin film
solar cells integrated with textured photonic backside reflector. A processing method was
successfully developed to integrate the photonic structure to SOI solar cells. Cells at all
thicknesses demonstrated significant external quantum efficiency (EQE) enhancement due
to the back reflector.

Herein the authors report the experimental application of a powerful light trapping scheme,
the textured photonic crystal (TPC) backside reflector, to thin film Si solar cells. TPC
combines a one-dimensional photonic crystal as a distributed Bragg reflector with a
diffraction grating. Light absorption is strongly enhanced by high reflectivity and large angle
diffraction, as designed with scattering matrix analysis. 5 μ m thick monocrystalline thin film
Si solar cells integrated with TPC were fabricated through an active layer transfer technique …