Optical Modeling and Analysis of Organic Solar Cells with Coherent Multilayers and Incoherent Glass Substrate Using Generalized Transfer Matrix Method

Abstract

We present optical modeling and physical analysis results of thin-film organic solar cells (OSCs) based on a generalized transfer matrix method, which can calculate, with a simple matrix form, the mixed coherent and incoherent interaction of an incoherent glass substrate with other coherent layers. The spatial distribution of the electric field intensity, power density, and power dissipation are calculated in both coherent and incoherent layers with respect to the optical spacer thickness. By decomposing the power density and power dissipation into forward-propagating, backward-propagating, and their interference components, we demonstrate that the dependence of the spacer thickness on the total device reflectance plays an important role in determining the light absorption efficiency of the OSC. (C) 2011 The Japan Society of Applied Physics