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Springer Theses
Recognizing Outstanding Ph.D. Research

Christian Stefano Schuster

Diffractive Optics
for Thin-Film
Silicon Solar Cells
Springer Theses

Recognizing Outstanding Ph.D. Research

Aims and Scope

The series “Springer Theses” brings together a selection of the very best Ph.D.
theses from around the world and across the physical sciences. Nominated and
endorsed by two recognized specialists, each published volume has been selected
for its scientific excellence and the high impact of its contents for the pertinent field
of research. For greater accessibility to non-specialists, the published versions
include an extended introduction, as well as a foreword by the student’s supervisor
explaining the special relevance of the work for the field. As a whole, the series will
provide a valuable resource both for newcomers to the research fields described,
and for other scientists seeking detailed background information on special
questions. Finally, it provides an accredited documentation of the valuable
contributions made by today’s younger generation of scientists.

Theses are accepted into the series by invited nomination only

and must fulfill all of the following criteria

• They must be written in good English.

• The topic should fall within the confines of Chemistry, Physics, Earth Sciences,
Engineering and related interdisciplinary fields such as Materials, Nanoscience,
Chemical Engineering, Complex Systems and Biophysics.
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must be gained from the respective copyright holder.
• They must have been examined and passed during the 12 months prior to
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cance of its content.
• The theses should have a clearly defined structure including an introduction
accessible to scientists not expert in that particular field.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8790

Christian Stefano Schuster

Diffractive Optics
for Thin-Film Silicon
Solar Cells
Doctoral Thesis accepted by
the University of York, UK

123
Author Supervisor
Dr. Christian Stefano Schuster Prof. Thomas F. Krauss
Department of Physics Department of Physics
University of York University of York
York York
UK UK

ISSN 2190-5053 ISSN 2190-5061 (electronic)

Springer Theses
ISBN 978-3-319-44277-8 ISBN 978-3-319-44278-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-44278-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016947936

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
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the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
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It’s never as good as it seems,
and it’s never better.

George Bernard Shaw

To the photon
that entangled me with the love of my wife
Supervisor’s Foreword

Humility is a great skill for a supervisor, especially when faced with such a gifted
student as Christian Schuster. As supervisors, we have to accept that our students
will surpass us and that we will eventually learn more from them than they will
from us. By accepting this sometimes uncomfortable truth, however, we will pro-
gress much further than by insisting on our own superiority. Christian Schuster is
certainly one of the students who have taught me a great deal during their Ph.D.
project.
Having accepted this and abandoned the role of the almighty teacher, we can add
more value to our students by channelling their enthusiasm and by helping them
filter their ideas, especially if they have such abundant energy as Christian Schuster.
He would bounce into my office all excited about some new idea, and my analytical
skills required to dissect the problem were challenged more than once. I sometimes
felt like my brain might explode! During these discussions, he sometimes filled the
entire whiteboard with equations and point out where some assumptions made in
the literature might not apply, and suggested ways of improving them. I might point
out the flaws in his own argument, but this would not stop him coming back with a
better solution the next day. It was an interesting journey!
Christian’s project started in August 2012 as part of the Marie Curie Training
network “PROPHET” (Postgraduate Research on Photonics as an Enabling
Technology) which was led by the University of Cork (Ireland). We led the
Workpackage 2, “Photonics Enabling Energy Applications”, together with the
Universities of Pavia (Italy), Catania (Italy) and Lancaster (UK). Our goal was to
develop novel photonic nanostructures based on dielectric materials and to
implement them in different solar cell geometries. This work was complemented by
the work at Catania on plasmonic materials and was supported by the theoretical
and characterisation capabilities at Pavia.
Importantly, Christian spent two months on secondment at ST Microelectronics
and 3SUN, Catania (Italy), where he gained valuable insights into the manufac-
turing process of real solar cell panels. He also spent one month at Pavia in order to

ix
x Supervisor’s Foreword

learn more about modelling and simulation and in return, hosted the visit of one
of the Pavia students, Piotr Kowalczewski, in our cleanroom.
Overall, I believe that PROPHET provided a most valuable environment for a
Ph.D. student, which was further enhanced by the many workshops and meetings
we organised throughout the project.
Regarding the content of the thesis, I would like to highlight three areas where
Christian made original contributions, the diversity of topics highlighting his out-
standing ability as a scientist and as an engineer. The thesis provides sufficient
detail to allow others to follow the work, build on it and thereby hopefully enhance
their own projects.
Original Fabrication. He invented a very simple technique for releasing a thin
film of amorphous silicon from its original carrier and transferring it onto another
substrate. Importantly, the technique could be applied to patterned substrates, thus
allowing us to pattern the film from both sides, which increases the degrees of
freedom available for applying nanostructures to the light-trapping problem.
Unsurprisingly, this idea has since been taken up and developed further by a
number of others in the field.
Another technological development that the thesis reports very nicely is the
design and realisation of a simple tool for nanoimprint lithography. Nanoimprint is
a topic we considered seriously throughout the project, as it is essential for trans-
ferring any nanostructure onto a solar cell in an industrial process. The tool that
Christian developed is beautifully simple; by using a commercial high-power
UV-LED as the light source that can be bought for a few tens of euros, the tool is
accessible to a large range of research groups who may want to copy the design for
their own purposes.
Critical evaluation. While working on our own light-trapping geometries, it
occurred to Christian that there was no objective figure of merit to describe the
light-trapping efficiency; different groups tended to provide different ways of
quantifying the performance of their respective structures, which led to a myriad
of claims in the literature and which made it very difficult to compare different types
of light-trapping structures and understand which was the best one. Furthermore, it
became clear that authors made different assumptions when describing the per-
formance of their structures or that they used different models, which made it
difficult to objectively compare results. By defining the “Light-trapping Efficiency
(LTE)”, Christian managed to bring order into this very diverse field and estab-
lished a new benchmark for any future structure, as well as assessing more than
50 different structures reported in the literature. In many cases, he recalculated the
projected performance of a given structure based on the data provided in order to
ensure that all results were treated with the same model assumptions.
Experimental confirmation. During the project, there was a lot of discussion
about plasmonic (i.e. metallic) nanostructures and the many benefits they offered for
light trapping; many high-profile papers had been written about the beneficial
scattering properties of plasmonic structures. Unfortunately, we could not find a
single paper that clearly separated the beneficial scattering properties form their
detrimental absorption losses, and there was a lot of hand-waving in the
Supervisor’s Foreword xi

community. We therefore conceived a simple experiment that was designed to put

the question to bed once and for all; by comparing dielectric and plasmonic
nanostructures, both amongst the best that had been reported in the literature, and
applying them to identical amorphous silicon layers, we clearly demonstrated that
there was excessive absorption loss in the long-wavelength range in plasmonics,
more than people had expected. Christian underpinned the experimental work with
a beautifully simple model that he derived from first principles and that clearly
showed the reason for the high observed losses, namely the multipass nature of
trapped light in a thin film.
At the beginning of the journey, the world firmly believed in the benefit of light
trapping for making solar cells cheaper, as light trapping would reduce the thickness
and therefore the material required for making a solar cell. Unfortunately, the world
changed during the course of the project, and silicon prices dropped dramatically,
such that the material argument no longer applied. Nevertheless, many of the
insights and techniques developed here naturally also apply to other types of solar
cells, such as the newly emerging perovskites; tandem structures are also coming to
the fore, which will benefit greatly from the light management strategies discussed
here.
Overall, the reader interested in light trapping applied to thin-film solar cells of
any kind, its conceptual and experimental realisation, will find this thesis a rich
source of information and inspiration.

York, UK Prof. Thomas F. Krauss

July 2016
Abstract

Thin-film silicon solar cells have the potential to convert sunlight into electricity at
high efficiency, low cost and without generating pollutants. However, they need to
become more competitive with conventional energy technologies by increasing
their efficiency.
One of the key efficiency limitations of using thin silicon absorber materials
relates to the optical loss of low-energy photons, because the absorption coefficient
of silicon decreases strongly for these low-energy photons in the red and
near-infrared, such that the absorption length becomes longer than the absorber
layer thickness. If, in contrast, the incident light was redirected and trapped into the
plane of the silicon slab, a thin film could absorb as much light as a thick layer.
Diffractive textures not only can efficiently scatter the low-energy photons, but
are also able to suppress the reflection of the incident sunlight. In order to take
advantage of the full benefits that textures can offer, I outline a simple layer transfer
technique that allows the structuring of a thin film independently from both sides,
and use absorption measurements to show that structuring on both sides is
favourable compared to structuring on one side only.
I also introduce a figure of merit that can objectively and quantitatively assess
the benefit of the structuring itself, which allows me to benchmark state-of-the-art
proposals and to deduce some important design rules. Minimising the parasitic
losses, for example, is of critical importance, as the desired scattering properties are
directly proportional to these losses. To study the impact of parasitics, I quantify the
useful absorption enhancement of two different light-trapping mechanisms, i.e.
diffractive versus plasmonic, based on a fair and simple experimental comparison.
The experiment demonstrates that diffractive light-trapping is a better choice for
photovoltaic applications, because plasmonic structures accumulate the parasitical
losses by multiple interactions with the trapped light.
The results of this thesis therefore highlight the importance of diffractive
structures as an effective way of trapping more light in a thinner solar cell device,
and will help to define guidelines for new designs that may overcome the 30 %
power conversion efficiency limit.

xiii
Acknowledgements

Since no one has ever achieved anything worthwhile without help, no duty is more
urgent than that of returning thanks. I would like to thank with the following lines
all the people who made this thesis possible and supported my studies.
First and foremost, I want to thank my supervisor Prof. Thomas Krauss. He
guided me with his wide experience and deep knowledge in photonics through
many challenges of the thesis. I appreciate all the time you took for discussions
(even for long ones), admire your inspiration, sage advice, steady motivation to
solve even the most difficult research puzzle and I am extremely thankful for your
outstanding continuous help in innumerable ways. It was a privilege and honour to
perform my Ph.D. under your supervision; one simply could not wish for a better
supervisor!
A successful end of this Ph.D. project, however, would never ever have been
possible without the support, encouragement and assistance from a lot of people.
I would regret not to have listed each and every one of them, because you all helped
me to progress in my research.
For example, I would not have even started this Ph.D. without the existence
of the Marie-Curie PROPHET project. My sincere gratitude goes to David Williams
for providing and managing this enjoyable EU project. It was a unique, amazing
experience to collaborate and to work in a training network with so excellent
research partners. Of course, I will never forget our ascent of mount Etna with
Guillaume Huyet in Sicily!
I am indebted to a few invaluable team members who have supported me to
tackle scientific problems in creative ways: Marcello Ferrera, Andrea Di Falco,
William Whelan-Curtin (Liam O'Faolain), Emiliano Rezende-Martins and
Christopher Reardon. I have enjoyed the opportunity to watch and learn from your
knowledge and experience.
It has also been a privilege to work closely with Daan Stellinga and Graham
Triggs; the atmosphere of our office was always motivating and never boring and
I like to add big thanks to Annett Klemm and Bryan O’Regan—when shall we bag
the next munro?

xv
xvi Acknowledgements

I further owe Peter Reader-Harris and Christian Reimer a debt of gratitude for
the many lively and philosophical discussions at the harbour of St. Andrews—
during unforgettable lunch breaks that truly refilled our research engines. I also like
to take this opportunity to acknowledge the ideas from Kezheng Li, Alberto
Jimenez and Mark Scullion, who turned my Yorkshire breaks into inspiring
brainstorms. Many thanks to all of you!
Actually, most of the results described in this thesis would not have been
obtained without a close collaboration with few laboratories.
I am greatly thankful of the wise counsel of Prof. Lucio Andreani and Dr. (!)
Angello Bozzola from the University of Pavia (Italy), and I am very proud of what
we have achieved together. It was also a great learning curve for me to study
important modelling and simulation aspects from Marco Liscidini and Piotr
Kowalczewski—thank you so much! My sincere thanks to Maddalena Patrini and
Scott Robertson for their friendly and immeasurable support.
The joint research efforts with the CNR-IMM Catania (Italy) were only a suc-
cess, because of Isodiana Crupi, Manuel Mendes and Seweryn Morawiec. I have
learned a lot about plasmonics from you. Thank you for all your patience, but also
for preparing me the best Paella dinner of my life.
One of the most interesting and instructive interactions I had was with the
members of the research team of 3SUN in Catania (Italy), who became a second
family to me. It is my greatest pleasure to thank Cosimo Gerardi, Andrea Canino,
Dario Rapisarda, Giuseppe Condorelli and Marina Foti for giving me useful and
superb insights of “real photovoltaics” and I am even lost for words to express my
gratitude to Anna Battaglia. All the good moments we have shared (and that were
many) will be always with me.
Andrea Cattoni from the CNRS/LPN Marcoussis (France) deserves a sincere and
huge thank you, because you have given me invaluable support in setting up my
nanoimprint process when good advice was hard to find. Many thanks go to Andy
West, who helped me in characterising the spectrum of the nanoimprint tool in the
York Plasma Institute Laboratories (YPIL). I also wish to thank Marco Vogler from
Microresist (Germany), who kindly provided me with a free sample of nanoresist.
I extend my thanks to Ounsi ElDaif, who made one of my conference visits to a
memorable success.
However, I could not have done this thesis without the many brilliant techni-
cians. In fact, the technical support was far beyond duty many times. I send my
deep thanks to Steven Balfour, Callum Smith, George Robb, Dave Coulthard, Mark
Laughton, Bob Hide and Neil Johnson. I am so thankful that you shared your skills
and time with me—not only at work. However, although your contributions to this
dissertation are very vital, I keep the mistakes in it for my own. Honestly, I do not
know how I could have finished my Ph.D. without you.
Most of all, very special thanks to all my old and new friends outside of the
university world for their never-ending support. Harrold, how can I now start a day
without you and the best guide dog on Earth? Huge thanks to Gordon and Greg
for all the awesome weekends together. You were the best neighbours I have ever
had—I am missing you soooo much! However, how could I have survived without
Acknowledgements xvii

my house mates Susan and John? Many thanks to Sierra, Gaynor and Dougie, who
made my life looking bright in Fife. Marco and Kerim, thank you for sharing with
me the best glide sides in Sicily and UK. Thank you Vivian (Zhan Wei Scullion) for
your support and your friendship, thank you Stefan for introducing me the best
board games on the planet, thank you Martin for your enormous friendship and for
everything you did for me you are all making even the dullest day seem merrier.
Last but not least, my final and greatest thanks go to my beloved parents, Laura
and Werner, and my brother Marco for their constant love, never-ending support
and care throughout my many years of studies (far away from home) and through
the process of researching and writing this Ph.D. thesis. You encouraged me to do
what makes me happy and to follow where my heart takes me. And finally, Sara,
you are my foundation, please hold my hand and heart forever.
Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 The Potential of Photovoltaics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 Light Trapping for Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3.1 The NIR Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3.2 The Light-Trapping Potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Scope and Outline of This Thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2 Nanostructures for Enhanced Light-Trapping
in Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 The Main Light-Trapping Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.1 Non-diffractive Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.2 Refractive Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2.3 Diffractive Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3 The Lambertian Scatterer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3.1 Absorption Enhancement by a Lambertian
Backscatterer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. 20
2.3.2 The Maximum Absorption Enhancement . ............. 25
2.4 Assessment of Light-Trapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. 28
2.4.1 How to Assess Light-Trapping Structures
for Solar Cells? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.4.2 The Light-Trapping-Efficiency (LTE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.5 State of the Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.5.1 Important Milestones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.5.2 The State of the Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

xix
xx Contents

2.6 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

2.6.1 Phase Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.6.2 Dual Structuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.6.3 Electrical Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3 Fabrication and Characterisation of Diffractive Nanostructures . . . . 53
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.2 Nanolithography Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.2.1 Electron Beam Lithography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.2.2 Nanoimprint Lithography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.3 Pattern Transfer by Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.3.1 Dry-Etching in the RIE-System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.4 Absorption Measurements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.4.1 Reference Measurement – Thin Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4 Achievements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.2 Dual Gratings by a Simple Layer Transfer Technique . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.2.1 Why Dual Gratings? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.2.2 A Novel Layer-Transfer Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.2.3 Proof of Principle Demonstration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.3 Plasmonic and Diffractive Nanostructures for Light
Trapping—An Experimental Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.3.1 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.3.2 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.3.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.3.4 Comparison of the Two Different Approaches . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.3.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
5 Conclusions and Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.1 General Conclusions and Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.1.1 Limitations and Future Work Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.1.2 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5.2 Can Solar Power Solve the World’s Energy Crisis? . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Appendix A: A Home-Made UV Nanoimprint Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Appendix B: Absorption Measurement Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Chapter 1
Introduction

1.1 Introduction

This chapter tries to answer the question why research into silicon photovoltaics is
important in Sect. 1.2, to quantify the potential of light trapping in Sect. 1.3 and will
outline the content and scope of my thesis in Sect. 1.4.

1.2 The Potential of Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics is able to convert sunlight directly into electricity and so allows to

create an independent power supply. Solar cells can generate power in remote areas,
because they do not rely on energy sources other than sunlight. In principle, the
average sunshine over an area only as large as Wales (UK) would already be sufficient
to supply the world’s electricity needs.1 Photovoltaics thus has a great potential to
address the world’s energy requirement in the long run, in contrast to conventional
resources, which are either finite or which generate pollutants. However, in order to
compete with conventional energy technologies, solar cells still need to prove higher
power conversion efficiencies and lower costs.
If I first consider what limits the conversion efficiency of sunlight into electricity,
optical losses are identified as one of the main loss mechanisms, which will be the
focus of this thesis. Thermal loss mechanisms, such as Joule heating, are another
key factor affecting the power conversion efficiency. The need for good electrical
transport properties does not tolerate material impurities or fabrication imperfections,
hence electrical loss mechanisms are also important, especially as the cost-pressure
in the solar industry makes it often too expensive for industry to use high purity
materials.

1 Own calculations, based on 2.4 kWh/m2 on an average day from sun.

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 1
C.S. Schuster, Diffractive Optics for Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells,
Springer Theses, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-44278-5_1
2 1 Introduction

While my work does not explicitly address the electrical loss mechanisms, I note
that the optical light trapping techniques studied in this thesis allow us to use less
material, thereby reducing the impact of material defects, as thinner films make it
easier for charge carriers to be collected. I also note that a more efficient usage of
silicon is not the cost driver any more, because the raw material now is only 20 % of
the module cost and less than 10 % of the total cost of a photovoltaic system [1].
As performance increases and manufacturing costs decline over time, the ratio of
cost to performance, expressed in US Dollars per peak Watt generated by a module
(US$/Wp ), is taken as a standardized figure-of-merit to quantify the improvements in
photovoltaics. Figure 1.1 uses this definition to illustrate how photovoltaics has con-
tinued to follow a trend, that makes the technology ever more competitive, especially
as the cost of fossil fuels tends to increase (despite the drop in oil price in 2015),
leading now to grid parity in the southern part of Europe [2]. Grid parity means that
the cost of solar electricity is equal to the cost of electricity from the national grid
transmission network.
If research and development in photovoltaics aims to follow this trend curve, nei-
ther high efficiency nor cost reduction is sufficient to displace the current technology.
I cite two examples to illustrate this point.
1. High efficiency. Using a 1 µm thick GaAs slab, the US based company Alta
Devices set a world record efficiency of 29 %. Nevertheless, high efficiency is not
enough, as the GaAs slab is more expensive to produce than comparable silicon
cells (in terms of US$/Wp ). Hence, these world record cells are now not used in
solar farms, but in consumer electronics instead, where surface area is premium.

Fig. 1.1 The ratio of cost to generated power in US$/Wp is used to quantify the improvement in
photovoltaics. The graph illustrates the case of silicon wafer technology, which represents ca. 90 %
of the global market share. The trend curve is indicated by a black line and highlights the rapid
growth rate of the cumulative capacity worldwide: for each doubling of production volume, the
average selling price of solar modules has fallen by 20 % [2]
1.2 The Potential of Photovoltaics 3

Alta Devices was recently sold to the Chinese company Hanergy, who intend to
use this technology as a solar gadget [3].
2. Cost reduction. Nanosolar, Abound Solar and Solyndra tried to commercialize
low-cost solar modules. The companies were able to increase the throughput of
their manufacturing plants by improving the speed of their deposition process,
producing high quality CIGS and CdTe material very efficiently. When the mod-
ules were ready for the market, the prices for crystalline silicon modules had
dropped in the meantime, and the loss of cost advantage ultimately forced the
companies to shutdown [4].
A new development in photovoltaics therefore needs to move below the trend curve
of silicon wafers; in order to be competitive and to justify investments.
One way to achieve this is to reduce the material thickness, thereby reducing
material cost, while maintaining cell efficiency. This is the strategy of the US com-
pany Solexel [5], who are aiming to introduce a 22 % efficient silicon solar cell with
only 35 µm silicon thickness, aiming for 0.42 US$/Wp . This means that their cells
would be as efficient or better than State-of-the-Art bulk silicon cells, while costs
are lower. Their cell rely on light-trapping, i.e. on increasing the absorption length
by efficiently scattering the light inside the cell.

1.3 Light Trapping for Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells

Light trapping aims to overcome the problem of low absorption of red and near-
infrared photons (the NIR problem) in silicon. This low absorption is a particular
problem for thin silicon absorbers. I will first analyse the problem in terms of the
optical depth that defines the onset of photon absorption, i.e. the optical bandgap of
a material. Light-trapping can then be understood as a means of lowering the optical
bandgap of silicon. This interpretation will allow me to provide a more general
discussion about the potential benefit of light-trapping in terms of higher power
conversion efficiencies.

1.3.1 The NIR Problem

The near-infrared (NIR) problem stands for the loss of opacity by a thinner silicon
slab. If the amount of material is reduced, low-energy photons are less likely to be
absorbed, because they require a longer absorption length in a silicon slab compared
to more energetic photons.
In order to distinguish the threshold for photon absorption from the electronic
bandgap E g , authors often quote the optical bandgap E o instead. Although both
quantities are understood as independent of the absorber thickness, thin-film silicon
4 1 Introduction

solar cells suffer from optical losses in the NIR, because the onset E o essentially
depends on the layer thickness, as illustrated in Fig. 1.2 for silicon.
The thickness dependence of E o is caused by the indirect nature of the electronic
bandgap. In an indirect bandgap material such as silicon, a transition always involves
both photons and phonons, as schematically shown in Fig. 1.3.
If an electron absorbs a photon, it first occupies a metastable state within the
bandgap from where it will then scatter into the conduction band via phonon inter-

Fig. 1.2 The optical bandgap E o is defined as the threshold for photon absorption (A > 0.1 %), i.e.
when the optical depth τdB = −10 · log (1 − A) exceeds 0.01 dB, which is cited as the theoretical
loss factor of modern optical fibre communication [6]. The optical depth is the product of the
absorber thickness and the wavelength dependent absorption coefficient. The thinner the silicon
absorber layer, the lower the optical depth and the higher the optical bandgap, consequently, the
more low-energy photons will pass through the medium without being absorbed
1.3 Light Trapping for Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells 5

Fig. 1.3 In a semiconductor with indirect bandgap E g , like silicon, the charge carriers in the
valence and conduction band differ by a (reciprocal) lattice vector k. Since momentum has to be
conserved in band-to-band transitions, the absorption of a photon with energy E γ requires the supply
of a lattice vibration (phonon) with momentum k and energy E  . The optical threshold is then
given by E γ = E g − E  . The phonon energy is usually small, and tends to get neglected at room
temperature (E   E g )

action. The wavelength dependent absorption coefficient α(λ) could thus be derived
from the probability of all relevant inter-particle interactions [7]. In consequence,
transitions between the valence and conduction band are less likely compared to a
direct bandgap material like GaAs, because direct transitions do not require phonon
interactions.
Since the probability of a transition scales as the slab thickness d, the product αd
is called the optical depth of a medium

d
τ (λ) ≡ α(λ, x) · dx (1.1)
0

and is expressed in units of decibels. The optical depth τ quantifies the opacity of a
material for a particular wavelength λ. For example, a medium is called transparent
when its optical depth is 0 dB for radiation passing through it. Reducing the absorber
thickness d while maintaining a high optical depth is therefore a key goal of light-
trapping.
The optical depth, for a given material thickness, can be increased by increasing
the path integral in Eq. 1.1. For example, the addition of light trapping increases the
path inside the absorber material, thereby increasing the path integral and the optical
depth. Since a larger optical depth translates into a higher absorption, especially of
low energy photons, light-trapping can be understood as a means of lowering the
optical bandgap E o .
6 1 Introduction

It is then a valid question, whether and to what extend the potential benefit of
a lower optical bandgap translates into a higher power conversion efficiency of a
silicon solar cell. The impact of light-trapping on the power conversion efficiency is
therefore analysed next.

1.3.2 The Light-Trapping Potential

Solar cells convert the absorbed solar energy into an electric charge with the potential
to drive a load. The maximum potential energy that can be delivered to a load is
estimated by the energy eVoc when the load remains unconnected in the electric
circuit, i.e. at open circuit conditions. If a solar cell is operated at open circuit, the
converted energy from sunlight can neither generate an electric current flow nor
deliver a voltage across the load. Consequently, all the energy absorbed from the sun
would be balanced (ideally) by an equivalent emitted energy flux back towards the
sun, which is well-known as Kirchhoff’s equilibrium law of radiation.
Since the rate at which photons are absorbed is then equal to their rate of emission,
the photons in the absorber are in a thermodynamic equilibrium with the excited
charge carriers. In this equilibrium, the probability of creating an electron-hole pair
e + h (by the absorption of a photon) must be equal to the probability of photon
emission γ (by the recombination of an electron-hole pair):

γ  e + h

Since the potential for a particle to undergo a reaction is quantified by its chemical
potential, the chemical potential of the emitted photons μγ in the absorber must be
equal to the chemical potential of the electron-hole pairs, which is the maximum
potential energy that can be delivered to a load eVoc ,

μγ = eVoc in photon equilibrium,

assuming no heat loss occurs. P. Würfel [8] explains this chemical equilibrium in
analogy to a hypothetical hydrogen fuel cell, where water molecules are split by
high-energy photons into oxygen and twice as many hydrogen molecules. As long as
the decomposition occurs at the same rate as the reverse reaction, and neither water,
hydrogen nor oxygen molecules are removed (closed system), the chemical potential
of all reaction partners is non-zero under irradiation.
The average number of photons in a certain energy interval is given by the Bose–
Einstein distribution function, such that the flow equilibrium (Kirchhoff relationship)
between absorbed and emitted photons now reads

∞ ∞
ε2 ε2
A(ε) · dε ∝ A(ε) · dε. (1.2)
e ε/k B TS − 1 e(ε − eVoc )/k B T − 1
Eo Eo
1.3 Light Trapping for Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells 7

Here, A stands for the silicon absorption, ε for the photon energy, E o is the optical
bandgap or the threshold for photon absorption, k B the Boltzmann constant, T the
temperature of the absorber and TS the temperature of the sun. For silicon, it is
E o − eVoc  k B T and Eq. 1.2 simplifies to

∞ ∞
ε2 eVoc /k B T
A(ε) · dε ∝ e · A(ε) ε2 e−ε/k B T · dε. (1.3)
e ε/k B TS − 1
Eo Eo

If at open circuit, the illuminated absorber is in a non-thermal equilibrium with the

surroundings, the Voc quantifies the offset from the thermal-equilibrium situation: the
larger the Voc , the greater the photon emission rate at constant absorber temperature T .
In order to quantify the effect of light trapping on the open-circuit voltage Voc ,
the analysis of the Kirchhoff relationship is more conveniently formulated in terms
of electric currents, instead of the absorbed and emitted photon fluxes (Eq. 1.3):
1. The number of absorbed photons is measured by a solar cell under short circuit
conditions, i.e. when the absorbed solar energy is converted into an electric current
without potential energy to drive a load eVoc = 0. In consequence, the short-
circuit current Isc also quantifies the maximum number of emitted photons when
all photogenerated charge carriers recombine at open circuit conditions (under
solar illumination), i.e. the left hand side of Eq. 1.3.
2. As in a thermal equilibrium the electron-hole pairs are coupled to the phonons,
the potential of the photons μγ in the absorber must also be equal to the potential
of the phonon system

μγ  0 in phonon equilibrium,

since the energy per phonon is negligible small. The maximum number of ther-
mally excited electrons and holes is measured by the short-circuit current Id in
a dark environment. Consequently, the short-circuit current Id also quantifies the
maximum number of emitted photons when all thermally excited charge carriers
recombine at open circuit conditions (in a dark environment), which is given by
the right hand side of Eq. 1.3 with eVoc = 0.
From Eq. 1.3, it now follows that the knowledge of E o and A fixes the open-
circuit voltage Voc . However, E o and A also define the ideal short-circuit current
under light conditions Isc , which is given by the left hand side of Eq. 1.3, and under
dark conditions Id, which is given by the right hand side of Eq. 1.3 with eVoc = 0.
Together, this yields:
   
eVoc Isc (E o )
Isc (E o ) ∝ Id (E o ) · exp =⇒ Voc ∝ ln (1.4)
kB T Id (E o )

The open-circuit voltage therefore increases with a higher photon emission rate in
photon equilibrium (nominator) or with a lower photon emission rate in phonon
8 1 Introduction

equilibrium (denominator). The maximum potential energy that can be delivered to

a load is thus a measure of the highest operating point of a solar cell away from its
thermal equilibrium position—because this equilibrium is perturbed at open-circuit
conditions by sunlight.
Since light-trapping aims to enhance the absorption properties A of a thin-film
by lowering its optical bandgap E o , it enhances both the absorption rate of photons
from the sun (a) and the emission rate of photons into the surroundings (b):
(a) The absorption enhancement in the spectral region of the optical bandgap E o
is favourable in terms of electric current, because more charge carriers will be
generated under sunlight (higher Isc ).
(b) The absorption enhancement in the spectral region of the optical bandgap E o ,
however, also increases the number of excited charge carriers under dark condi-
tions (higher Id ), thus enhances the photon emission of thermally excited charge
carriers and hence reduces the offset between the phonon and the photon equi-
librium. Accordingly, light trapping is then unfavourable in terms of voltage.
In fact, Sandhu et al. [9, 10] present a modelling approach of nanophotonic
solar cells that elucidates the physics of open-circuit voltage enhancement; they
indeed show, that the enhancement was related to the absorption suppression in
the immediate spectral region of the bandgap.
I am now able to discuss the potential benefit of light-trapping in terms of power
conversion efficiencies: while the incident optical power of the AM1.5G solar spec-
trum is 100 mW/cm2 , the converted power is proportional to the product of Isc and
Voc . I therefore calculated the short-circuit current Isc and open-circuit voltage by
solving Eq. 1.3 for Voc , using the intrinsic material function for silicon [11], the stan-
dard AM1.5G solar spectrum and an ambient spectrum at temperature 300 K. The
outcome is shown in Fig. 1.4 and allows to study the electrical performance as a
function of light trapping.
In summary, I answered the question, whether and to what extend light-trapping
affects the principal operation of a silicon solar cell device by considering Kirchhoff’s
radiation law and the thickness dependency of the optical bandgap: light-trapping in
the NIR increases the optical depth and thereby the short-circuit current of a silicon
slab, while it reduces the limiting open-circuit voltage at the same time. However, as
the current enhancement is larger than the reduction in voltage, light-trapping proves
to be an effective solution for the NIR-problem and allows to achieve higher power
conversion efficiencies. For example, the efficiency of a 6 µm thin-film of silicon
would improve by 25 %, if light trapping allows to reduce its optical bandgap by
4 %, i.e. from 1.19 eV (1040 nm wavelength) to 1.14 eV (1090 nm wavelength).
1.4 Scope and Outline of This Thesis 9

Fig. 1.4 The benefits of light-trapping for solar cells. Light-trapping is able to lower the absorption
threshold, to increase the photon absorption in the NIR and, therefore, very attractive for thin-film
silicon solar cells with E o > E g . Here, the optical bandgap E o of silicon is used as a measure for
the degree of light-trapping (bottom axis); the higher the absorption, the lower E o . For comparison,
the dependence of Isc and Voc on the optical depth for a single traversal is shown as a function of
the absorber thickness (top axis). While light-trapping directly translates into a higher short-circuit
current Isc (red solid lines), it tends to reduce the open-circuit voltage Voc (blue solid lines) due to
the enhanced emission of photons close to E o . The black dotted line refers to the power conversion
efficiency under 1 sun illumination, which is proportional to the product of Isc and Voc . Light
trapping proves to be an effective solution to achieve higher power conversion efficiencies, because
the efficiency scales with a lower optical bandgap. All calculations are based on ideal conditions,
i.e. zero surface reflection, a perfect mirror at the back side, no electrical loss mechanisms and a
maximum possible fill-factor of 88 % [12]

1.4 Scope and Outline of This Thesis

As light trapping for thin-film solar cells has attracted a lot of research interest over
the last few decades, I first present an overview over some of the main light trapping
techniques in Chap. 2 before focussing on diffractive light trapping approaches.
In general, light-trapping aims to increase the material absorption of incident
sunlight, which naturally leads to the question of whether or not a limiting absorp-
tion enhancement factor exists. Comparing the performance of a structure against
such a limiting value can then help to establish some design rules for light-trapping
structures. Therefore, I will introduce and analyze the Lambertian Scatter as a useful
benchmark model and a general method for the assessment of a structure, which is
independent of the material, fabrication method or technology used. Applying the
method to numerous proposals found in the literature then allowed me to identify
the most promising light-trapping structures.
Next, in Chap. 3 and Sect. 3.4, I will introduce the methodological aspects for the
fabrication and characterization of the structures used in my experiments. Although
most of my diffractive structures are realized via electron beam lithography and dry
10 1 Introduction

etching techniques, I will also show how nanostructures can be made by nanoimprint
lithography. To this end, I designed, constructed and successfully tested a home-made
UV nanoimprint lithography tool.
Chapter 4 finally outlines two key experiments performed in my Ph.D. project.
The first experiment highlights a simple, effective but novel layer transfer technique.
In a proof-of-principle, I demonstrated the ability to pattern a silicon thin-film inde-
pendently from both sides. My technique could support the study of more efficient
light trapping designs without being constraint by design parameters. The second
experiment concentrates on a fair assessment of two different light-trapping mecha-
nisms, i.e. diffractive versus plasmonic. This comparison is jointly undertaken with
colleagues from the University of Catania and it highlights the importance of avoiding
any optical loss mechanisms in novel light-trapping designs.
The global conclusions of my work, some critical remarks and possible future
developments are then presented in Chap. 5.

References

1. M. Ejder, R.T. Carlsen, Cost drivers in the photovoltaic solar industry. KTH – School of Indus-
trial Engineering and Management, Stockholm (SE) (2011). (Bachelor thesis) http://urn.kb.se/
resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-58790
2. A. Jäger-Waldau. Pv status report 2014. European Union (2014). doi:10.2790/941403
3. Roeder-Johnson Corporation. Hanergy completes acquisition of alta devices. Press informa-
tion (2015). http://www.altadevices.com/press-releases/hanergy-completes-acquisition-of-
alta-devices/
4. Wikipedia. Nanosolar, abound solar, solyndra. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (2015)
5. M. Kerstens, Solexel unveils ultra-thin, high-performance silicon solar cell at intersolar. Press
release (2012). http://www.appliednanotech.net/news/Solexel_Press_Release.php
6. M. Lucki, T. Zeman, Dispersion Compensating Fibres for Fibre Optic Telecommunication
Systems. InTech (2015). doi:10.5772/59152
7. J. Noffsinger, E. Kioupakis, C.G. Van de Walle, S.G. Louie, M.L. Cohen, Phonon-assisted
optical absorption in silicon from first principles. Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 167402 (2012). doi:10.
1103/PhysRevLett.108.167402
8. P. Würfel, in Physics of Solar Cells (Wiley, New York, 2005). doi:10.1002/9783527618545
9. S. Sandhu, Z. Yu, S. Fan, Detailed balance analysis of nanophotonic solar cells. OpEx 21(1),
1209–1217 (2013). doi:10.1364/OE.21.001209
10. S. Sandhu, Z. Yu, S. Fan, Detailed balance analysis and enhancement of open-circuit voltage
in single-nanowire solar cells. Nano Lett. 14(2), 1011–1015 (2014). doi:10.1021/nl404501w
11. M.A. Green, M.J. Keevers, Short communication: optical properties of intrinsic silicon at 300
k. Prog. PV: Res. Appl. 3, 189–192 (1995). doi:10.1002/pip.4670030303
12. M.A. Green, Solar cell fill factors: general graph and empirical expressions. Solid-State Elec-
tron. 24, 788–789 (1981). doi:10.1016/0038-1101(81)90062-9
Chapter 2
Nanostructures for Enhanced
Light-Trapping in Thin-Film
Silicon Solar Cells

2.1 Introduction

The demand for low-cost, high-efficiency solar cells along with the never-ending
promises of modern technology have caused an increase of research into photo-
voltaics, particularly into the control of light at the subwavelength scale. In fact, the
now well known Shockley and Queisser paper about the limiting efficiency of solar
cells [1] was a “sleeping beauty” for almost 40 years of slow reception [2].
Accordingly, a multiplicity of light-trapping concepts has been proposed with
the intent of enhancing the optical depth of thin-film absorbers; the more light-
trapping approaches are developed, the more marketable options will be explored,
with the more promising ones having an impact on thin-film solar cells: nanophotonis
therefore drives the vision of a new generation of photovoltaic devices.
Before I focus on the diffractive designs I pursued in my project, I will first give
a brief overview of the main techniques in Sect. 2.2. I then analyse the model of
an ideal scattering structure in Sect. 2.3, called Lambertian texture, which led me to
introduce a figure-of-merit in Sect. 2.4, called the light-trapping efficiency (LTE), that
can purely assess the performance of a light-trapping technique itself – irrespective
of the material, fabrication method and technology used. Before I apply the LTE
to state-of-the-art proposals to identify the most promising strategies, I will review
the important milestones of light-trapping for photovoltaics in Sect. 2.5 and finally
conclude with some specific remarks regarding future trends in Sect. 2.6.

2.2 The Main Light-Trapping Approaches

2.2.1 Non-diffractive Techniques

Maximizing the surface-to-volume ratio is the most intuitive way of enhancing the
probability of photon absorption. Silicon nanowires are examples for such light-
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 11
C.S. Schuster, Diffractive Optics for Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells,
Springer Theses, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-44278-5_2
12 2 Nanostructures for Enhanced Light-Trapping in Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells

Fig. 2.1 Schematic of a

Heterojunction with Intrinsic
Thin Layer (HIT) radial
junction silicon solar cell
with 10 % power conversion
efficiency [4]. A 30◦ tilted
top-view image of a
fabricated device is shown in
the inset. The indicated scale
bar as well as the pillar’s
length are 10 µm

trapping strategies, where the electronic transport properties may additionally benefit
from a radial junction, as illustrated in Fig. 2.1. Solar cell devices with conversion
efficiencies of around 12 % were reported for a nanowire junction geometry [5, 6]
whereas the use of nanowires as an anti-reflection texture for 300 µm thick substrates
enabled device efficiencies of 18 % [3, 7].
However, too many research challenges still need to be addressed, before a com-
mercial product based on nanowires can be introduced: mainly, the stability of the
junction formation and the effective surface passivation, but also practical issues,
such as the rapid scaling and the integration of nanowires into modules, need to be
better understood and further improved.
Another method for enhancing the photon absorption takes advantage of the plas-
monic resonance of metal nanoparticles. Metal nanoparticles can exhibit a very high
polarizability at the resonance wavelength, and efficiently scatter the incident light
into the thin-film. Here, the particle dimensions are a key parameter for the tuning
of the resonance condition.
Solar cells with plasmonic scatterers have attracted a lot of attention [8], but
the proposed effect turned out to be very sensitive to the material parameters. While
enhancements of up to 30 % in the power conversion efficiency were reported for plas-
monic thin-film silicon solar cells, the absolute power conversion efficiency remained
below 10 % [9–13].
One of the issues I study later (see Sect. 4.3) is the dissipative loss of such plas-
monic structures; therefore, if the plasmonic scatterers were replaced by dielectric
structures, the dissipative optical losses could be greatly reduced.
In fact, dielectric Mie resonators were recently proposed by Spinelli et al. [14].
The authors could demonstrate almost perfect impedance matching from the ultra-
violet to the near-infrared spectral range using Si nanopillar arrays, i.e. less than 3 %
reflectivity was obtained over the entire spectral range 450–900 nm by 150 nm long
nanowires with a 0.5 µm array pitch and 60 nm thick Si3 N4 overlay coating.
To characterize the wavelength dependent scattering efficiency Qsca , the scattering
cross section σsca is usually normalized to the geometrical area of the structure σgeom .
For dielectric Mie resonators, scattering efficiencies Qsca = σsca /σgeom up to 10 have
been demonstrated so far [14].
2.2 The Main Light-Trapping Approaches 13

In addition, it has also been demonstrated that Mie-resonators could even be placed
on top of an already completely finished thin-film solar cell for enhancing its power
conversion efficiency [15].
Thin and transparent dielectric coatings are a further and well-known anti-
reflective technique. Commonly used materials are SiOx , Si3 N4 , and some conductive
oxides like SnO2 , ZnO or tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) to name but a few [18]. Since
the Fresnel-reflection  
n1 − n2 2
R = (2.1)
n1 + n2

strongly depends on the refractive index contrast of two bordering media with refrac-
tive indices n1 an n2 , an intermediate ‘buffer’ layer can be used to reduce the reflection.
√
For example, if a coating with refractive index nAR = n1 · n2 is chosen a quarter
wavelength thick λ/4nAR , the incident and reflected waves will largely cancel each
other out by destructive interference. Anti-reflective coatings can thus be understood
as optical-impedance matching layers at the interface between two bordering mate-
rials, e.g. air/semiconductor.
Ideally, the refractive index would vary continuously in the transition region from
air to silicon, because one single coating can not meet the requirement for a broadband
anti-reflective quality. Such an inhomogeneous refractive index profile is approxi-
mated by multiple coatings, increasing the refractive index stepwise. A triple layer
system of ZnS/MgF2 /SiO2 , for example, has shown to reduce the silicon reflectance
down to 2 % in the wavelength range from 440 to 960 nm [19].
However, the fabrication of such multilayer coatings is often too expensive for
most commercial solar cells. In addition, the anti-reflection effect is very sensitive to
the layer’s thickness as well as to the angle of the incident light. For oblique incident
light, the performance of thin film coatings can indeed dramatically change.

2.2.2 Refractive Approaches

A varying refractive index at the interface of two bordering materials may be mim-
icked by a surface texture. The eye of a moth, for example, is inherently covered
with sub-wavelength cone-shaped structures, helping moths to evade detection by
predators and maximizing light capture for vision.
For wavelengths much larger than the typical feature sizes, the effect can be under-
stood by a breakdown of the texture into multiple layers; the aspect-ratio thereby cor-
responds to the transition region from air to silicon. Approximately, and in analogy to
anti-reflection multi-layer coatings, such textures can be described as a medium with
an effective index stepwise increasing from air to silicon, as illustrated in Fig. 2.2a.
On the other hand, textures with dimensions of a few tens of micrometer can also
reduce the external reflection of sunlight. If the wavelengths are much smaller than
the structural feature sizes, radiation will generally bounce onto the textured surface
multiple times (rather than out to the surrounding air), as illustrated in Fig. 2.2b.
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 ASTOLPH.

Will you leave

The Monastery?

CARLOMAN.

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ASTOLPH.

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ASTOLPH.

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I left it open.

CARLOMAN.

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ASTOLPH.

[checking him]
No, stay a little. Are you still the friend
Of Zacharias?

CARLOMAN.
 He is great.

ASTOLPH.

No doubt—
And most sagacious, for he seeks your brother
To win him with the bribe of sacred oil
As vassal and ally against myself.
I started here from Rome the hour I heard
That Zacharias had crept out by night
To travel northward and defeat my hopes.
You must arrive before him! I am come
Sure, from report, that you will help my cause,
You, who have been a ruler. I contend
No supernatural power should have control
Of lands and cities, troops and civil rights,
Matters distinct from God, as from the world
The service he requires. Life is so easy
If we will keep it human—quarrel, murder,
And then make friends: we have so short a time
To sin together ... but this hate deferred,
These pestilential menaces!—

CARLOMAN.

The Pope
Shall never injure France!

ASTOLPH.

It lies with you

To break the threatened treaty. You have owned
Power over Pepin?

CARLOMAN.
 Yes; tho’ tardily,
He followed all my counsels.

ASTOLPH.

Ride, and stop

This treaty. If you ride you will forestall
The Pontiff’s slower march; and I meantime
Will press the siege of Rome ... you must not mind
The ache of stiffened muscles.

CARLOMAN.

Hills and plains

And trees—the olives, cypresses and vines;
Then France with nuts and poplars! But you keep me
In one great palpitation.

ASTOLPH.

Zacharias,
Besetting me from north and southward, crushes
My strongest forces. What a splendid thing
For the old man to travel in the heat
So far to work my ruin!

CARLOMAN.

But the world

Is for the young, my Astolph.

ASTOLPH.
 Carloman,
I love you. Why, I feel a lad, eighteen,
When looking on you. Come, we two must kiss;
We may not burn together, flame in flame,
Again—so we must kiss.

CARLOMAN.

My blessed one,
Would I could cleave to you! You give me freedom,
A gift so rarely thought of.

ASTOLPH.

[calling a monk] Fetch the Prior,

The brethren, now—this instant. We must start.

CARLOMAN.

Grant me beside the freedom for myself

Salvation for another.

ASTOLPH.

What, a monk
Still half of you! Such trouble for men’s souls—
But have your wish. Once on the battlefield,
Men will become your prey. This solid jaw
Means grip you will not loose. O Carloman,
If I can circumvent the Pope, and then
Stretch him a bleeding quarry at my feet—

CARLOMAN.
 What, Zacharias!
But I plead for France;
Popes must not meddle with her.

ASTOLPH.

[as the Prior and Monks re-enter] I require

The services of Carloman: another
Whom he will choose attends him.

DAMIANI.

Impious wretch,
You steal from God His servants!

[Astolph laughs and moves up the courtyard to summon his men: Damiani
and Rachis talk to each other; the monks listen in a scared group.]
CARLOMAN.

[drawing Marcomir to the front] Marcomir,

Come from this graveyard.

MARCOMIR.

No, I must not come,

I dare not; she is yours.

CARLOMAN.
 Is mine? You wrong her—
Not yours nor mine. Earth’s wisdom will begin
When all relationships are put away,
With their dull pack of duties, and we look
Curious, benignant, with a great compassion
Into each other’s lives.

MARCOMIR.

It is not so
I look; I have a lust to gratify,
A lust for very shame I loathe to mix
With Geneviva’s image.

CARLOMAN.

Faugh! because
You think that I possess her! Cursèd bonds,
Cursed law that makes this riot in the heart!
Come forth; all will be gentle out of doors.
Gird up your habit.

MARCOMIR.

She?—

CARLOMAN.

Is but herself,
O Marcomir, we tarry—and the leaves
Are tossing through the air—

[Astolph throws his scarlet riding-cloak over Carloman, who seizes

Marcomir with an impetuous movement and draws him toward the horses
that champ at the gate.]
 ACT IV
Scene: The Hall of the Frankish Palace. Early morning; the remains of a
banquet on the table, drinking-cups, wine bottles, faded leaves.
[A Servant is wiping away the stains of wine from the floor.]
SERVANT.

It is a cheerful thing to make all clean

When one is brisk and cool: this early air
Before the sun gets up is fit for men
To breathe when they are working.
Spot on spot!
A stranger to the revel of last night
Would take it there had been a massacre
To daub the floor so thickly.

[Enter another Servant.]

2ND SERVANT.

What a strew
Of glass and muddy wine-drops! Come up close
And listen. There’s a curious monk outside
Who asks to see the King—almost a beggar,
And yet a red embroidered riding-cloak
Flaunts round his ragged sackcloth; while his voice
Has such a wanton ring we need not trouble
Lest he should take the scandal of this room
Too much to heart. The jolly soul can pipe!

[A voice is heard richly humming.]

Wine is for drinking,
Glasses for chinking—
Fellowship, pleasure,
Of the full cup:
Lift it up, lift it up!
And let us be gay and be friends without measure.

1ST SERVANT.

A monk indeed! Why we must drink again!

A minstrel!

2ND SERVANT.

And his comrade took the horses

As he had been a squire.

1ST SERVANT.

Oh, but the song!

I never heard another one like this.

2ND SERVANT.

Man, they are all the same: but then he sings it

As if he had just learnt that grapes have juice,
That makes it sound so well. You’re pouring wine?

1ST SERVANT.

Yes, he must drink for that. Ho, there again!

Have you not caught the line?

[They join in as the voice sings]

 These are the treasure
Of the full cup;
Lift it up, lift it up!
And let us be gay and be friends without measure.
Ha, ha!

2ND SERVANT.

Come in!

[Enter Carloman.]

You praise deep drinking—you ...

For shame! A churchman! But ...
How thin!

1ST SERVANT.

What eyes!

CARLOMAN.

Shall I have long to wait? Is Pepin ill,

Or is he grown luxurious? I would say
That I remember how your King is famed
For industry. He does not lie abed?

1ST SERVANT.

No, father.

CARLOMAN.
 Call me brother if you will.
Why do you choke with laughter? I am ready
To laugh with you, to laugh to very tears
At what I am and have been. Do not hide
A thing so good and bright as laughter—Eh?

2ND SERVANT.

Mad! It were best to leave him to himself.

[They draw back.]

CARLOMAN.

[Looking round the room]

Throw the door wide open. Here we need
Fresh air even more than water. How the wine
Cries from the ground—shut in with walls, and cast
Below men’s feet, a slough where animals
Might wallow, and so sour! Let in the breeze.
Let in the dawn outside there!

1ST SERVANT.

[propping the door] After all

He is abstemious and sad at sin.
Look how profoundly sad!

2ND SERVANT.
 Such twins of temper
Are frequent with the crazy. Now he drops
His mantle, have you ever seen such limbs—
A very scare-crow’s!

1ST SERVANT.

But a kindly smile.

2ND SERVANT.

He touches things and lifts them up and down

Just like an idiot. We must warn the King.

[Exeunt.]

CARLOMAN.
 A feast, how nasty! Dabbled vine-leaves, vessels
Broken to shivers, the inspiring juice
Black on the boards—a feast! Can happiness
Leave refuse such as this? It visits slaves,
And then its track is loathsome. Ah, the air
Has entered like a wedge, keen, reaching me
Through all the mustiness ... and now I breathe!
The door is not enough, the windows too ...
[opening one]
There! How it enters!
[turning toward another window]
In this room I lived;
It is not altered? No, the fireplace, east;
My chair in front, and hers ... but they are crowned
At present; and my name upon that bench.
It is more terrible than nightmare—this
Besieging of one’s life by chairs and walls
And memories. Ah yes, the walls, the walls,
They do the mischief; and this reek of age
From every corner sickens worse than stale
Imprisoned fumes of wine. More air!

[He throws wide all the windows: then leans out of the last. While his back
is turned, Geneviva staggers drowsily in, reels to the board, tries to drink,
then flings herself against the throne sleeping.]

O Earth,
How beautiful to think I travelled on
And on, yet rode against no wall, so freely
The outworks of your sky gave up their space.
My brain is tired with interest: what men do
Or speak enthrals me, I who often paced
This room as blind to anything alive
As if a child unborn.
 [Impulsively beginning to pace.]

And yet, my God,

How great a Captain thou wilt have in me
If this bond-King, this Pepin can be freed;
If I can do this thing, while Astolph batters
The very gates of Rome.

[pausing at sight of Geneviva.]

But who is this

Strange, beautiful, wild woman?
Oh, how delicious
Her arms, her bosom! Through the sodden hair,
Trailing the ground, what glitter, and how clean
This naked shoulder lies against the floor.
Why, this is Sleep itself!

[He comes close.]

O Geneviva,
So you too have learnt freedom, and are grown
How marvellous in beauty!—Marcomir!—

[Marcomir stands at the door.]

He must not see her drunken and so flushed;

He shall not.
[moving quickly to the door.]

I am looking every moment

For Pepin; do not enter.
 [Marcomir turns and goes out.]

Oh, my shame,
If she should open her gray eyes on me,
And find me frocked and tonsured ... for the sun
Strikes sheer across her face.

[He bends over her; she wakes, looks up, laughs in his face, and then
speaks.]
GENEVIVA.

So young a guardian!
Most holy father, but I am not dead;
Do not bring rosemary, or sprinkle me
With holy drops.
[rubbing her eyes] They call this morning sleep
A beauty sleep. You must not stare so hard.

CARLOMAN.

But do not laugh.

GENEVIVA.

I must; you are a monk

Shame-faced and awkward. [rising] Have you travelled far?

CARLOMAN.

I came on embassy: the Lombard King ...

GENEVIVA.
These kings and princes! But whoever rules
Young men must have their pleasure. You and I—
Shall we not drink together?

[She pours wine into a goblet—he drinks]

God, what thirst!

Now you must rest awhile.

CARLOMAN.

Who are you, lady?

GENEVIVA.

So should a novice lisp. I am a woman.

CARLOMAN.

Glorious!

GENEVIVA.

And you? [she laughs.]

CARLOMAN.

Oh, do not jest with me;

You bring a devil to the paradise
It is to gaze on you. I am escaped
From convent-walls, the wrong, the bitterness!

GENEVIVA.
 These monks are cruel, cruel, and I shudder
At their embrace; yet if I have a joy
It is to bring their manhood back to them.
Ha, ha! To see them look the murderer’s guilt
After a moment’s pleasure in my arms.
You shall not slip me.

CARLOMAN.

I have left the convent

A novice, as you say. But who are you
So terrible in pity that you touch
My hand and draw me to you, though my habit
And shaven hair insult you worse, more grossly
Than the most wanton bearing you have met
In any other man? I am ashamed
That you should see me thus.

GENEVIVA.

My dearest lovers
Forsook me to be monks. You are as one
That comes to bring me tidings of the dead,
The holy dead who have no evil thoughts
Or trouble from temptation.
[She laughs bitterly] For their sakes
You are beloved.

CARLOMAN.

Then put away all speech:

When love draws on me put it by as scholars
Their task when night falls thick upon the page.
Bend over me and kiss me. Do not laugh—
I love you.
 GENEVIVA.

Did you ever love before?

CARLOMAN.

Never.

GENEVIVA.

Then I must tell you who I am:

A harlot ... in my palace—Do not wince!

[she looks at him doubtfully]

I had a husband counted me a temptress

And fled: I laugh now to remember it.
I loved once; he I loved became a monk,
And therefore I make sport of holy men.
I would not scoff at you, not tempt you even.
You have deep, burning eyes.

CARLOMAN.

He was a monk?
His name, who fled you? Would you have your pleasure
With me, his name!

GENEVIVA.

[to herself, shaking her head]

He had oblivious eyes!
[vindictively]
My lover’s name was Marcomir.
 CARLOMAN.

The monk
Who journeys with me on this embassy
Is Marcomir. If you are amorous still
Of him ...

GENEVIVA.

Not now—no more. I am afraid ...

Who are you? You are surely of my race,
Have known me in my youth. A flushing shame
Breaks on me—

CARLOMAN.

And to find you are beloved

Moves you?

GENEVIVA.

Not that! I hear it every day.

It is too stale a story. Could I love——

CARLOMAN.

[Observing Marcomir passing and re-passing the windows]

How dare he watch us! But I recollect

You told me he had been your paramour.

GENEVIVA.

You come ... he comes, I mean, from Mount Soracte—

Then ... yes, I will have speech with him.
 CARLOMAN.

[bitterly] Oh, gossip,

The convent’s gossip. I can furnish that.
If you desire him carnally, I yield;
But if ...

GENEVIVA.

He knows so much of long ago.

CARLOMAN.

[impulsively]
Then he shall speak.

GENEVIVA.

Not now; you must not call!

Not now; for he remembers—

CARLOMAN.

Ay, the harlot

Was once a girl, the monk was once a man.
If you would speak of life
Before it was apprenticed to these trades—
Of life and youth, virginity and love,
My ear will be as ripe for your confession
As his. We all remember; but our wisdom
Is to forget: our powers of penitence
Must be enfranchised, sin itself set free,
No clog or fetter on us!

GENEVIVA.
 Carloman,
My husband!

CARLOMAN.

Your free lover. Oh, I burn,

Burn toward your beauty! How can you forgive
The years I simply owned you!

GENEVIVA.

Am I sweet,
So sweet to you—these lips so many men
Have kissed, this body.... But you bid me speak
Of life and youth, virginity and love,
And by a miracle I can. We two
Can argue of such matters.

[As Marcomir passes she calls] Marcomir!

[She restrains Carloman and goes to the door.]

No, I must summon him.

[Marcomir enters.]

Were we not happy,

Those days we sat together quite alone
Praising and talking of him? We adored,
We each adored him, but we had no part
In that lone heart of his. Now all is changed
He loves me—

MARCOMIR.