Transmission line equivalent circuit model applied to a plasmonic grating nanosurface for light trapping

In this paper, we show how light absorption in a plasmonic grating nanosurface can be calculated by means of a simple, analytical model based on a transmission line equivalent circuit. The nanosurface is a one-dimensional grating etched into a silver metal film covered by a silicon slab. The transmission line model is specified for both transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations of the incident light, and it incorporates the effect of the plasmonic modes diffracted by the ridges of the grating. Under the assumption that the adjacent ridges are weakly interacting in terms of diffracted waves, we show that the approximate, closed form expression for the reflection coefficient at the air-silicon interface can be used to evaluate light absorption of the solar cell. The weak-coupling assumption is valid if the grating structure is not closely packed and the excitation direction is close to normal incidence. Also, we show the utility of the circuit theory for understanding how the peaks in the absorption coefficient are related to the resonances of the equivalent transmission model and how this can help in designing more efficient structures.