IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NANOTECHNOLOGY, VOL. 8, NO.

3, MAY 2009 303

Assessment of Optical Absorption in Carbon

Nanotube Photovoltaic Device
by Electromagnetic Theory
Changxin Chen, Liu Yang, Yang Lu, Gaobiao Xiao, and Yafei Zhang

Abstract—An electromagnetic (EM) scattering model is built

for a kind of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) photo-
voltaic device excited by light. In this model, the exciting light
is treated as classical EM wave with a very high frequency, and the
SWCNTs in the device were treated as a lossy dielectric cylin-
der with frequency-dependent complex permittivity. Based on the
EM scattering model, the Foldy–Lax multiple-scattering equation
for the SWCNT cylinders can be derived, and then, the absorbed
power of SWCNTs can be estimated. We also use EM simulation
software—high frequency structure simulator (HFSS)—to extract Fig. 1. Structure of CNT photovoltaic device. A directed array of monolayer
the optical absorption of SWCNTs, and then the property of opti- SWCNTs was nanowelded onto palladium (Pd) and aluminum (Al) electrodes
cal absorption of the device is studied more carefully; and the EM that are patterned on silicon wafers with a thermally oxidized layer. An Al
scattering model is also validated through HFSS simulation. From electrode is also sputtered on the back of Si substrate, through which the gate
voltage can be applied to Si substrate.
the results, some advices are given for the design of such kind of
device.
Index Terms—Electromagnetic (EM) scattering, high frequency show strong photoabsorption [2]–[4] and photoresponse [5]–[9]
structure simulator (HFSS), optical absorption, photovoltaic de- from ultraviolet to IR radiation. They possess high carrier mo-
vice, single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT).
bility [9] and low transport scattering [11], attributing to their
unique 1-D and almost defect-free structure. Previous study had
I. INTRODUCTION attempted to fabricate SWCNT films into photoelectrochemical
solar cells [12]. However, in this cell, the device structure had not
EMICONDUCTING single-walled carbon nanotubes
S (SWCNTs) are potentially an attractive material for photo-
voltaic applications [1] due to their many unique structure and
been well designed and SWCNTs were not separatedly aligned,
which cause the inefficient separation and collection of pho-
toexcited carriers. Thus, the obtained incident photo-to-current
electrical properties. They have a tunable direct bandgap, which
conversion efficiency is low. Recently, a novel SWCNT-based
solar photovoltaic microcell had been reported [1]. As shown
Manuscript received August 5, 2008; revised November 1, 2008. First pub-
lished December 12, 2008; current version published May 6, 2009. This work in Fig. 1, in this microcell, an array of carbon nanotubes are
was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China well aligned between metal electrodes, which are placed on the
under Grant 60807008, by Shanghai-Applied Materials Research and Develop- insulating substrate. The array can be composed of individual
ment Fund under Grant 08520741500, by Specialized Research Fund for the
Doctoral Program of Higher Education (SRFDP) under Grant 200802481028, SWCNTs or individual bundles of SWCNTs since SWCNTs are
by Shanghai Science and Technology under Grant 0752nm015, by the Na- prone to self-assemble into bundles [13], [14]. The electrode ma-
tional Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 50730008, and by the terial and structure parameters can be adjusted to optimize the
National Basic Research Program of China under Grant 2006CB300406. The
review of this paper was arranged by Associate Editor H. Misawa. device performance.
C. Chen and Y. Zhang are with the National Key Laboratory of A key metric for the device is the power conversion efficiency
Nano/Microfabrication Technology, Key Laboratory for Thin Film and Mi- ηconv , which can be expressed as
crofabrication of the Ministry of Education, Research Institute of Micro/Nano
Science and Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240,
China (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]).
(Im Vm ) (FFIsc Vo c )
ηconv = = (1)
Y. Lu was with the National Key Laboratory of Nano/Micro Fabrication Pm Pm
Technology, Key Laboratory for Thin Film and Microfabrication of the Min-
istry of Education, Research Institute of Micro/Nano Science and Technology, where Im and Vm are the output current and voltage of CNT
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. He is now with Rsicsh when the power generation (Im Vm ) is at maximum, Pm is the
Instrument, Shanghai 201201, China.
L. Yang was with the School of Electronic, Information and Electrical En- incident power, Isc and Vo c are short-circuit current and open-
gineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. He is circuit voltage of CNT, respectively, and FF is the fill factor
now with Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USA (e-mail: indicating the power delivery capability of the photovoltaic de-
[email protected]).
G. Xiao is with the School of Electronic, Information and Electrical En- vice, which is determined by the manufacturing process of the
gineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China (e-mail: photovoltaic device, such as the chirality of the CNTs, contact
[email protected]). resistance between CNTs and metal electrode, etc. In practi-
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. cal working process, the semiconducting CNTs of the device
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TNANO.2008.2010493 first need to absorb the photovoltaic energy to generate the
1536-125X/$25.00 © 2009 IEEE

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304 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NANOTECHNOLOGY, VOL. 8, NO. 3, MAY 2009

electron-hole pairs, then convert it to electric current; thus, the

optical absorption efficiency of the device is also a very im-
portant factor to influence the power conversion efficiency. The
optical efficiency is expressed as
Pab
ηab = (2)
Pm
where Pab is the absorbed optical power. The optical absorption
efficiency ηab is determined by not only the semiconducting Fig. 2. Significance of the equivalent dielectric function of CNTs.
characteristic of SWCNTs, but also the geometry parameter of
the device, such as the length and diameter of SWCNTs, the structure. To improve the performance of CNT photoelectric
distance of the nearby two SWCNTs in the parallel array, height devices, this factor is important and need to be considered. In
of the metal electrode, etc. Thus, it is necessary and important order to carefully evaluate all scattered fields, an EM scattering
to evaluate the influence of geometry size to ηab . model needs to be built for our CNT photovoltaic device. With
However, because the SWCNTs have a thickness of only the EM scattering model, the influence of the device structures
about several nanometers, only a very small fraction of inci- on the absorption of CNTs can be well reflected. In the model,
dent power can be absorbed by SWCNTs. It is hard to ob- the carbon nanotube is treated as lossy dielectric cylinder, which
tain the accurate value of absorbed optical power for SWCNTs hides the internal quantum process behind a priori knowledge
through experimental measurement. Thus, theoretical prediction of different dielectric functions. This approximation enables us
and computer simulation are useful for tackling this problem. to carry out calculation on the level of classical EMs.
Since light is a kind of electromagnetic (EM) wave with very In EM theory, a material’s response to EM field is character-
high frequency, about several hundred terahertzs, and the optical ized by its dielectric function. Previous several works have stud-
properties of semiconducting SWCNTs can be represented by ied the dielectric function of SWCNTs, which are frequency-
anisotropic, frequency-dependent, and complex dielectric func- and polarization-dependent [15], [24]–[26]. In the EM scatter-
tion [15]; thus, EM theory and computational technology can be ing model for the device shown in Fig. 1, the SWCNTs are
used to extract the parameter of optical absorption of SWCNTs, treated as lossy dielectric cylinders with a frequency-dependent
and then the influence of geometry size of device to ηab can be and complex permittivity [15] of εp = εr (ω) + iεi (ω); it should
analyzed. be noted that the equivalent dielectric function εp of CNT plays
In this paper, an EM scattering model is built for the photo- a key role in this EM modeling process. The significance of
voltaic device, then the Foldy–Lax multiple-scattering equations εp is shown in Fig. 2. The two contact electrodes are treated
are derived according to the model, electric field in the SWCNTs as electric conductor; the exciting light is treated as common
can be obtained by solving the equations, and the absorbed op- EM wave with frequency as high as visible light, about several
tical power can then be evaluated according to the electric field hundred terahertzs.
distribution; next, the EM numerical software high frequency In order to estimate the optical absorption of the SWCNT in
structure simulator (HFSS) is used to simulate the EM scat- the photovoltaic device, we need to calculate the internal electric
tering properties for the device model. This paper is organized filed of SWCNT. For convenience, a simplified model for the
as follows. In Section II, a convenient simplified EM scatter- device shown in Fig. 1 will then be built for EM scattering
ing model is built for the device, and the Foldy–Lax multiple- analysis.
scattering equations are derived and solved. In Section III, the According to the structure of the photovoltaic device, some
software HFSS was used to validate the scattering model and the simplification for the device can be made as follows.
optical absorption properties of the device is investigated more 1) Ignore the effect brought by the multilayered substrate
carefully. Finally, concluding remarks are made in Section IV. media.
2) The two contact metal electrodes are treated as infinite
plane waveguide.
II. EM SCATTERING MODEL FOR CNT PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE 3) The SWCNT array is treated as infinite periodic array.
The optical absorption of carbon nanotubes in nature involves Then, we can get a simplified model for EM scattering anal-
the electron–photon interaction and dynamics of excitons. There ysis, as shown in Fig. 3. After the previous simplification, the
are several works using the first principle calculation to eval- problem becomes multiple scattering by lossy dielectric cylinder
uate the optical response of carbon nanotubes [21], [22]. The array placed inside a parallel plate waveguide. The problem is
approach used in these works is solving quantum mechanical conveniently formulated in terms of the dyadic Green’s function
equations to define electronic and photonic coefficients [23]. of vector cylindrical waves and expressed in terms of waveguide
However, only incident field is considered in these calculations. modal solutions [16]. In the following, a procedure is presented
The scattered fields by electrode and nanotube array are ne- for formulating Foldy–Lax multiple-scattering equations [17]
glected. For our device, the span of the carbon nanotubes is in of the problem using dyadic Green’s function.
the micrometer scale, which is comparable to the wavelength Number the cylinders in Fig. 3. The distance between cylin-
of light. This means that the propagation and distribution of der j, j = 1, 2, . . . , and cylinder 0 is jD, and the positive and
optical field will be greatly influenced by the detailed device negative symbols of j represent the two opposite directions of

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CHEN et al.: ASSESSMENT OF OPTICAL ABSORPTION IN CARBON NANOTUBE PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE BY ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY 305

Fig. 4. Translation addition theorem in the cylindrical coordinate system.

Step 1): In the coordinate system shown in Fig. 4, internal

field of cylinder j has the following form:

+∞


 
j TM d
cTM kρ , kz , ρ − ρj , z +

Fig. 3. Simplified model for the CNT photovoltaic device, a parallel periodic Hint (r) = n RgH n
dielectric SWCNT cylinder array placed inside an infinite PEC waveguide. The n =−∞ k z
2
diameter of each cylinder is a, the length of each cylinder is d, and the periodic  
distance of cylinder array is D. Each cylinder is of permittivity εp (ω). TE d
+ cTE
n RgH n kρ , kz , ρ − ρj , z +
2
(3)
cylinder j, j = 1, 2, . . . , displaced from cylinder 0. The Foldy– j
−

jωεp Eint (r)
Lax multiple-scattering equation states that the field exciting
cylinder l is the sum of incident wave and scattered waves from
+∞
  
TM d
all cylinder j, except j = l. = −jωεp cTM
n RgE n kpρ , kz , ρ − ρj , z +
2
Since the SWCNT array is treated as infinite periodic cylinder n =−∞ k z
array, each cylinder has the same exciting wave and internal  
TE d
field; therefore, it is enough to calculate the internal field of + cTE
n RgE n kpρ , kz , ρ − ρj , z + (4)
2
cylinder 0 in the array. To determine the exciting field of cylinder
0 and scattered field from other cylinders, then formulate the  √
Foldy–Lax multiple-scattering equation for cylinder 0, we can where kpρ = kp2 − kz2 , kp = ω µ0 ε0 εr , and εp is the equiva-
use the following procedure, which is trivial and can be found
lent dielectric function of SWCNT cylinder; and cTMn , and cn
TE
in [15] and [16].
are unknown internal field coefficients to be determined self-
1) Write down expression of the internal field for cylinder
consistently.
j = 0 in terms of waveguide modal solutions expressed TM (E ) TM (E )
with vector cylindrical waves with unknown coefficients. In (3) and (4), the symbols of RgH n and RgE n
2) Use Green’s function to find the scattered field from cylin- represent the waveguide modal solutions in terms of cylindrical
der j. The Green’s function is expressed in terms of waveg- waves (see the Appendix) for magnetic field and electric field.
uide modal solutions expressed with vector cylindrical Step 2): The scattered field from cylinder j can be obtained
waves. It should be noticed that the vector cylindrical from the internal field expression by applying Huygens principle
waves are centered at rj , which is the coordinate of the
 −d/2  2π
center of cylinder of j. s(j )  
dφρρ j a − jωεp [ρ̂ × E int ( r )
 
3) Use vector translation addition theorem [18] to express H (r) = dz
d/2 0
the vector cylindrical waves centered at rj .
  
• G( r , r ) + ρ̂ρρ j × H int ( r ) • ∇ × G( r , r )]
    
4) Equate exciting field of cylinder 0 to the incoming (5)
wave that includes incident and scattered fields from all
cylinders j, j = 1, 2, . . . , from step 3, then obtain self-
where a is the radius of SWCNT cylinder, and φρρ j , ρ̂ρρ j are po-
consistent Foldy–Lax multiple-scattering equation.
In waveguide, magnetic dyadic Green’s function is more lar coordinates with center at ρj (Fig. 4). In (5), G is the dyadic
widely used; here, we first calculate the internal magnetic field Green’s function between two perfect conductors. It is conve-
of cylinder step by step, and the internal electric field can be nient to expand the dyadic Green’s function using waveguide
TM (E ) TM (E )
obtained readily from the internal magnetic field. modal solutions RgH n and RgE n ; then, we have

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306 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NANOTECHNOLOGY, VOL. 8, NO. 3, MAY 2009


for z > z  
kρ2 kpρ
+ jcTM
n
(j )
P Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ 
a)
   k
G( r , r )
2 
kpρ kρ
η
(−1)n + l   − εr J (k 
a)J 
(k a)
=− 2 fl (1 + e2j k z (z +d/2) )e−j k z (z +d/2) kp
n pρ n ρl
4d kρl
n ,l  
  TM d
TM d  × Hn kρl , kz l , ρ − ρj , z +
×H n kρl , kz l , ρ−ρj , z− Rgm−n (kρl , kz l , ρ −ρj )e−j n φ 2
2    2
kpρ kρ
−jη
(−1)n +l   + jcnTE(j ) R εr Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ 
a)
− 2 fl (1 + e2j k z (z +d/2) )e−j k z (z +d/2) k
4d kρl 
n ,l 2
kpρ kρ 
  − Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ a) 
TE d  kp
×H n kρl , kz l , ρ−ρj , z− Rgn−n (kρl , kz l , ρ −ρj )e−j n φ
2 
TM (j )
nkρ2 kz 
(6) + cn εr R  Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ a)
kkp a
and for z < z  2 
nkpρ kz 

+ jεr P J (k
n ρl a)J (k
n pρ a)

G( r , r )
 kkp a
 
−η
(−1)n +l  
× Hn
TE
kρl , kz l , ρ − ρj , z +
d
= 2 fl (1+e−2j k z (z −d/2) )ej k z (z −d/2) d 2
(9)
4d kρl
n ,l
  where P , Q, and R are
TM d 
×H n kρl , kz l , ρ−ρj , z+ Rgm−n(kρl , kz l , ρ −ρj )e−j n φ
2  z      
d d
jη
(−1) n +l P = dz  2 cos kz z  + cos kz z  + ej k z d
−
 
fl (1 + e−2j k z (z −d/2) )ej k z (z −d/2) −d/2 2 2
2
4d
n ,l
kρl  d/2      
  d   d
  + dz 2 cos kz z − cos kz z +
TE d  2 2
×H n kρl , kz l , ρ−ρj , z+ Rgn−n (kρl , kz l , ρ −ρj )e−j n φ z
2 (10)
(7)  z      
d d
Q= dz  2 sin kz z  + sin kz z  + ej k z d
TM TE −d/2 2 2
where the symbols of H n and H n represent the waveg-
 d/2      
uide modal solutions in terms of vector cylindrical waves, and   d   d
Rgmn and Rgnn represent vector cylindrical waves (see the + dz 2 sin kz z − sin kz z +
z 2 2
Appendix); fl is
(11)
      
 z
d d
 1, l=0 R= dz  2 cos kz z + sin kz z + ej k z d
fl = 2 (8) −d/2 2 2
       
1, l = 1, 2, . . . . d/2
d d
 
+ dz 2 cos kz z − sin kz 
z + .
z 2 2
Using the dyadic Green’s functions (6) and (7), the Foldy–
Lax multiple-scattering equations can be decoupled among (12)
the waveguide modes, and therefore can be solved for each
mode separately. Substitute (3) and (4) into (5), we then Step 3): We next use the translation addition theorem (see
have Appendix B) to express vector cylindrical waves centered at rj
in terms of vector cylindrical waves centered at r0 to derive
expression of exciting field at cylinder 0 due to the scattered
π
(−1)l field from cylinder j (Fig. 4); then, (9) can be rewritten as
Hjs = −ak 2 fl
2d kρl follows:
n ,l

 
nkρ2 kz π
(−1)l



× −cTE(j
n
)
P J (k a)Jn (kpρ
 a n ρl
a) Hjs = −ak 2 fl

kk p 2d kρl  
kz n ,l n kz

2   
nkpρ kz 
nkρ2 kz 
+Q Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ a) × −cn
TE(j )
P Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ a)
kkp a kkp a

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CHEN et al.: ASSESSMENT OF OPTICAL ABSORPTION IN CARBON NANOTUBE PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE BY ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY 307

2 
nkpρ kz 
the boundary between cylinder 0 and free space, another rela-
+Q J (k a)J (k a) tionship between aTM TE TM TE
n , an and cn , cn can be obtained (see
n ρl n pρ
kkp a
 2  Appendix A). From the earlier two relationship, we can get the
kρ kpρ Foldy–Lax multiple-scattering equation for cTM and cTE
+ jcnTM (j )
P Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ 
a) n n
k AM M TM
cn (l) + AM E TE
n cn (l)
2  n
kpρ kρ 
− εr  Jn (kpρ a)Jn (kρl a)  π (−1)l


(1)
kp = −ak 2 fl Hn −n  (kρl ρj )
2d kρl
    n k z j = 0
d  
(1)
× Hn  −n (kρl ρj )RgH n TM
kρl , kz l , ρ, z + 2 
nkρl kz
2 TE(j )  
× cn  (kz ) −P 
Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ a)
  
kkp a
kpρ kρ2   2 
+ jcTE(jn
)
R εr Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ 
a) 2
nkpρ kz l kρl kpρl
k −Q 
Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ a) + jcn 
TM (j ) 
(kz )P
2  kkp a k
kpρ kρ 
− Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ a) 
2 
kp kpρ kρl
× Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ

a) − εr 

Jn (kpρ a)Jn (kρl a)
 kp
nkρ2 kz 
+ cTM (j )
ε r R Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ a) + δ(l) (17)
n
kkp a
2  where
nkpρ kz  
+ jεr P Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ a) 1, l=0
kkp a δ(l) =
  0, l = 0
d
(1)
× Hn  −n (kρl ρj )RgH n TE
kρl , kz l , ρ, z + . (13)
2
AEM TM EE TE
n cn (l) + An cn (l)
Step 4): To obtain self-consistent multiple-scattering equa-
π (−1)l


(1)
tion, we expressed the exciting field of cylinder 0 in terms of = −ak 2 fl Hn −n  (kρl ρj )
waveguide modal solutions (see Appendix A) 2d kρl   n k z j = 0

+∞
      2
TM d TE(j )  kpρ kρl
H ex ( r ) = aTM × jcn  Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ

n RgH n kρ , k z , ρ, z + (kz )R εr a)
n =−∞ k z
2 k
  2   2 
TE d kpρ kρl   TM (j )  nkρl kz
+ aTE RgH k , k , ρ, z + (14) − J (kρl a)J n (k a) + c  (k ) Rε r
n n ρ z
2 kp n pρ n z
kkp a
2 
where aTM and aTEn are unknown coefficients. In addition, the 
nkpρ kz l 
n
×Jn (kρl a)Jn (kpρ a) + jεr P Jn (k ρl a)J n (k a)
exciting field is also the sum of the scattered fields from cylinder kkp a pρ

j, j = 0, and incident field, i.e.

(18)
H ex ( r ) = H s(j ) ( r ) + H inc ( r )
  
(15) where AM M
, AM E EM EE
n n , An , and An are the coupling coeffi-
j = 0
cients (see Appendix A), and ρj = |j ∗ D|.
 
where H s(j ) ( r ) is expressed in (13) and H inc ( r ) is the main It is convenient to solve (17) and (18) by iteration. Let
mode in plate waveguide cTE TE(1st)
δ(l) + cnTE(H )
n = cn (19)

 
d cTM =TM (1st)
δ(l) + cTM (H )
(20)
H inc = RgHnTM kρ0 , kz 0 , ρ − ρj , z + . (16) n n n
n
2
where superscript 1st denotes first-order solution, which repre-
The main mode in plate waveguide is TEM mode that has sents the internal field of cylinder 0 excited directly by incident
much similar propagating properties as the incident plane wave, field and h denotes higher order solution, which represents the
so it is proper to choose TEM mode in this plate waveguide of internal field of cylinder 0 excited by the scattered field by
the device model (Fig. 3) as the incident field, and such setting cylinder j, j = 0.
is also convenient for solving the multiple-scattering equation. In this problem, since the polarization of incident electric field
By matching the coefficient of the two different expression is parallel to the axis of the cylinder, and thus the coefficient cTE
n
of exciting field (14), (15), and equating the exciting field of diminished, and (17) and (18) become more concise.
cylinder 0 to its internal field at the boundary between cylin- For considering the influence of geometry structure to
der and free space, we can obtain the following relationship absorbed power, first-order and second-order solutions of
between the exciting field unknown coefficients aTM n and aTE
n , internal field coefficients are sufficient. By substituting (19)
TM TE
and internal field coefficients cn and cn ; additionally, ac- and (20) into multiple-scattering equations (17) and (18),
cording to the boundary of electric field and magnetic field at and matching the coefficients before δ(l), we can obtain the

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308 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NANOTECHNOLOGY, VOL. 8, NO. 3, MAY 2009

TABLE I
ABSORBED POWER OF EACH SWCNT AS D VARIES

Fig. 5. Absorbed power of each SWCNT for parallel polarized incident light as
D varies. The parameters are f = 300 THz, εp = (20 + i20)ε0 , d = 500 nm,
and a = 15 nm.

first-order solutions of the internal field. The second-order

solutions for the internal field coefficients are obtained by
solving (17) and (18) with the first-order solutions substituted
into the summation items of (17) and (18). Then, the internal
electric field can be obtained by the superposition of electric
waveguide model solutions with coefficient cTE n
+∞


 
 TM TM d
Eint ( r ) = cn RgE n kpρ , kz , ρ, z + (21)
−∞
2
l
TM (1st) TM (2nd) Fig. 6. HFSS simulation model for the CNT photovoltaic device. The top face
where cTM
n = cn + cn , then the absorbed power is
 of the whole box is assigned radiation-incident boundary condition, and the side
face is assigned master–slave periodic boundary condition; the geometry size
Pa = 2
σ|Eint |dv and dielectric constant of each component of the device could be adjusted if
Vcnt needed.
 d/2  a  2π
ρ dϕ(ε0 Img(εr )ω|Eint ( r )|2 )

= dz dρ
−d/2 0 0 III. RESULTS OF HFSS SIMULATIONS AND DISCUSSION
(22) In this section, a more careful investigation is made for
where σ = ωε0 Img(εr ) is the conductivity of dielectric cylin- the influence of geometry structure of device to the absorbed
ders for SWCNTs and Vcnt is the volume of single SWCNT. power Pa of SWCNTs using EM simulation software HFSS,
A MATLAB program is developed to solve the self-consistent and the scattering model of the device is also validated. The
Foldy–Lax multiple-scattering equations and estimate the power HFSS simulation model for the device is shown in Fig. 6. From
absorption. In the program, we choose the simulation parameters the EM simulation of this model, we can get the following
of the device as follows. results.
1) The radius of the SWCNT a = 30 nm, the length of the
SWCNT d =500 nm.
A. Influence of the Polarization of Incident Light on Pa
2) The frequency of the incident wave f = 300 THz.
3) The equivalent dielectric function of SWCNT In Section II, we developed a MATLAB program to compute
r = 20 + i20 . the absorbed power of single SWCNT in the device when the
4) The periodic distance of the parallel array in the device electric field of incident light is parallel to the tube axes; how-
model (Fig. 3) D changes from 300 nm to two or three ever, when the electric field of the light is perpendicular to the
times of the incident wavelength, then the influence of the tube axis, the scattered field will not be isotropic and will be
value of D to the power absorption is investigated. angle-dependent, and the internal field in SWCNT cylinder will
The absorbed power Pa of each single SWCNT in different also become irregular; thus, it will be much harder to compute
periodic distance D is shown in Fig. 5 and Table I. From the Pa based on Foldy–Lax multiple-scattering equation. In this
figure, we find that there are strong peaks of Pa , where D = part, we use HFSS to extract the absorbed power for both par-
n ∗ λ, n = 1, 2, . . ., and the value of Pa is sensitive to D near allelly and perpendicularly polarized incident light, and some
these peaks. analyses are also made.

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CHEN et al.: ASSESSMENT OF OPTICAL ABSORPTION IN CARBON NANOTUBE PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE BY ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY 309

Fig. 8. Absorbed power of each SWCNT for perpendicularly polarized in-

cident light. The curves show the relationship between Pa and εp when the
radius of SWCNT a is 5, 10, and 15 nm. The parameters are f = 300 THz,
εp = (20 + i20)ε0 , and d = 500 nm.

much when the real part of dielectric function changes as the

imaginary part of dielectric function is fixed.
Actually, such effect is caused by the long-thin structure of
SWCNT. To explain this effect, we can treat the single SWCNT
as a long-thin time-harmonic electric dipole inducted by the
electric field of incident light. Such dipole does not give an in-
tensive radiation because of the long distance between the center
of the separated positive and negative polarized electric charge.
Thus, the real part of dielectric function does not influence Pa
obviously. This effect is also called “polarization effect” [20].
From Fig. 7(a)–(c), we can also find that when the diameter
of SWCNT decreases, Pa is less dependent on the real part of
dielectric function; this is because the polarization effect will
become more influential as the ratio of diameter to length of
SWCNT decreases.
In Fig. 8, we plot the absorbed power of single SWCNT for
perpendicular polarized incident light for different SWCNT di-
ameters and dielectric function. From Fig. 8, we can find that Pa
for perpendicular polarized incident light is about only 1% of
the Pa for parallel polarized incident light. This phenomena can
also be explained through polarization effect, i.e., the distance
between the center of the separated positive and negative po-
larized electric charge of the dipole for perpendicular polarized
incident light is much less than Pa for parallel polarized inci-
dent light, and then the radiation of the dipole for perpendicular
incident light becomes more intensive; thus, Pa decreases a lot.
A more visualized understanding of polarization effect can be
Fig. 7. Absorbed power of each SWCNT for parallel polarized incident light. got through Fig. 9(a) and (b), which are the distribution of elec-
The curve in (a)–(c) shows the relationship between P a and εp (ω) at different
value of a. The parameters are f = 300 THz, εp = (20 + i20)ε0 , and d = tric field near SWCNT in parallel and perpendicular polarized
500 nm. conditions, respectively. Comparing these two figures, we can
find that electric field strength near SWCNT in perpendicular
In Fig. 7(a)–(c), we plot the absorbed power of single SWCNT polarized condition is much less than that in parallel polarized
for a parallelly polarized incident light for different SWCNT condition; thus, the absorbed power of SWCNT will also be
diameters and dielectric constant. From these three figures, it is much less in perpendicular polarized condition. The simulation
not difficult to find that the absorbed power Pa does not change results and the theoretical prediction agree well.

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310 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NANOTECHNOLOGY, VOL. 8, NO. 3, MAY 2009

TABLE II
HFSS SIMULATION RESULTS

Fig. 10. Absorbed power for parallel polarized incident light. The curves
show the relationship between Pa and height of electrode. The parameters are
f = 300 and 600 THz, εp = (20 + i20)ε0 , d = 500 nm, and D = 300 nm.

C. Influence of the Height of Electrode on Pa

In this section, the influence of electrode height to power
absorption is taken into account. In Fig. 10, we plot Pa for
parallel polarized incident light as a function of the height of
Fig. 9. Image of scattering field near SWCNT for (a) parallel and (b) perpen-
dicular polarized incident light. The parameters are d = 500 nm, a = 15 nm, electrode in two different incident wavelengths of 1000 and
and D = 300 nm. 500 nm. From Fig. 10, we can find that there is a peak of power
absorption when the height of electrode is near 150 nm. Such
effect can be explained as follows.
Fig. 11(a) shows the electric field distribution when the elec-
B. Influence of the Period of CNT Array on Pa trode height is as low as the diameter of SWCNT, and Fig. 11(b)
From the polarization analysis in Section III-A, we have found shows the electric field distribution when the electrode height
that there is a better absorption efficiency of SWCNT in the is high enough. In these two figures, we find that the wave near
device in parallelly polarized condition. So, it is more important SWCNT is approximately plane wave, and now let us go back
to study the influence of geometry structure of the device to to Fig. 9(a), where the electrode height is between the electrode
power absorption in parallel polarized condition. In this section, height in Fig. 11(a) and (b), where we can find that the elec-
the influence of the period D of CNT array to power absorption tric field strength near SWCNT is intensified. This is because
is studied through HFSS simulation. in Fig. 9(a), there are some high-order modes of electric field
As D increases, it will cost much more to compute the Pa excited by the edge of electrode when the device is exposed to
through full-wave simulation. In Table II, we provide the value the incident light, and these high-order modes will surely give
of Pa as D varies from 300 to 1000 nm; in this simulation, a positive effect to the power absorption of SWCNT. Thus, it is
the geometry structure of the device model is consistent with totally reasonable that a peak of Pa will appear at a proper value
Table I. Comparing the data in Table II with that in Table I, we of the electrode height.
can find that Pa in these two tables varies in a similar way as According to HFSS simulation results and the relevant expla-
D increases though the values of Pa are not equivalent exactly, nation presented in Section III-A–C, the following short con-
and there are two peaks for Pa when D = in these two tables. clusions could be made.

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CHEN et al.: ASSESSMENT OF OPTICAL ABSORPTION IN CARBON NANOTUBE PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE BY ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY 311

Fig. 12. Absorbed power of each SWCNT for parallel polarized incident light.
The curves show the relationship between Pa and volume of each equivalent
cylinder. The parameters are f = 300 THz, εp = (20 + i20)ε0 , D = 300 nm,
and a = 15 nm.

3) Pa is also influenced by the height of electrode, and there

is a peak of Pa at a proper value of electrode height.
Thus, the photovoltaic device can achieve a better optical
absorption by adjustment of electrode height.
4) In Fig. 12, we plot the absorbed power Pa as a func-
tion of the diameter of SWCNT in different dielectric
constants, and there is an approximately linear relation-
ship between Pa and square of diameter. It implies that
the electric field strength in SWCNT should be approx-
imately uniform, which means that the exciting field to
SWCNT is approximately uniform. Thus, it is reasonable
to choose TEM mode in plate waveguide as H inc in (15) in
Section II.

Fig. 11. Image of scattering field near SWCNT when the height of electrode
is (a) 30 and (b) 500 nm for parallel polarized incident light. The parameters are IV. CONCLUSION
f = 300 THz, εp = (20 + i20)ε0 , D = 300 nm, and a = 15 nm.
In this paper, we develop an EM scattering model to an-
alyze the optical absorption of dispersively aligned CNT ar-
ray in photovoltaic device. The optical absorption of CNTs
1) The absorbed power Pa is mainly dependent on the imag- in the device depends on the characteristic of CNTs, the po-
inary part of dielectric function, and the real part of di- larization of incident light, and the geometry structure of the
electric function influences Pa much more when the in- device, such as the alignment period of CNT array and the
cident light is perpendicularly polarized than when paral- height of metal electrodes; through EM modeling and numer-
lelly polarized; additionally, the power absorption in par- ical simulation, the optical absorption of the device is studied
allelly polarized condition is much higher than in per- carefully. According to the simulation results, some advices
pendicularly polarized condition. This phenomenon is are also proposed for the design of such kind of photovoltaic
called “polarization effect.” Because of this effect, this device.
photovoltaic device could act as an optical polarization A more accurate model may include both quantum mechan-
detector. ical treatment of carbon nanotubes and classical description of
2) Pa varies in a periodic way (Fig. 5), and there are peaks scattered optical field. To do this, one needs to couple quantum
when D is an integer multiple of the incident wavelength. mechanical equations self-consistently with classical electrody-
In addition, the value of Pa is sensitive to the value of D namics equations. This proposes additional complexity in mod-
near these peaks. Thus, this photovoltaic device could also eling work and simulation techniques, but will be definitely an
act as an optical wavelength detector. interesting topic in future researches.

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312 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NANOTECHNOLOGY, VOL. 8, NO. 3, MAY 2009

APPENDIX A where η is the intrinsic impedance in dielectric media.

VECTOR CYLINDRICAL WAVES, WAVEGUIDE MODAL According to the boundary conditions of the continuity of
 
SOLUTIONS, AND COUPLING COEFFICIENTS ρ̂ × E and ρ̂ × ∇ × E at ρ = a, we have the coupling equation
Vector cylindrical waves are useful when considering scat- [19] between exciting field coefficients aTM TE
n , an , and internal
TM TE
tering from one cylinder to another in multiple-scattering prob- field coefficients cn , cn
lem. The expressions of vector cylindrical waves and waveguide aTM = AM M TM
cn + AM E TE
n n n cn (36)
modal solutions in terms of vector cylindrical waves used in this
paper are listed here. aTE
n = AEM TM
n cn + AEE TE
n cn (37)
For the scalar wave equation, the solution in a cylindrical
 where the coupling coefficients are
coordinate system r = (ρ, φ, z) that is regular at origin is 
jπa
n = 0, ±1, ±2, . . .
Rgψn (kρ , kz , r ) = Jn (kρ ρ)eik z z +in φ , kpρ Jn (kpρ a)Hn (kρ a)
 MM
An =
(23) 2
2 
where Jn is a Bessel function of order n and Rg stands for kpρ 
regular. The outgoing cylindrical wave is − Jn (kpρ a)Hn (kρ a) (38)
kρ
ψn (kρ , kz , r ) = Hn(1) (kρ ρ)eik z z +in φ

(24) 
jπa nkz
(1)
AM
n
E
= Jn (kpρ a)Hn (kρ a)
where Hn is a Hankel function of the first kind. The vector 2 kp a
cylindrical wave functions are Ln , N n , and M n , where 2 
nkz kpρ
− Jn (kpρ a)Hn (kρ a) (39)
RgLn (kρ , kz , r ) = ∇ψn (kρ , kz , r )
 
(25) kp kρ2 a
1 
RgM n (kρ , kz , r ) =

∇ × RgN n (kρ , kz , r )

(26) jπa nkz
k AEM
n = Jn (kpρ a)Hn (kρ a)
2 ka
RgN n (kρ , kz , r ) = ∇ × [ z ψn (kρ , kz , r )].
  
(27) 2 
nkz kpρ
− Jn (kpρ a)Hn (kρ a) (40)
When there is no Rg sign, then the Besell function is to be kkρ2 a
replaced by a Hankel function of the first kind. Note that RgM n 
jπa kp
and RgN n satisfy the vector wave equation, while RgLn is curl AEE
n = kpρ Jn (kpρ a)Hn (kρ a)
free and can only contribute to the field in the source region; 2 k
thus, RgM n and RgN n are enough to expand the field while 2 
kkpρ 
tackling the problem in Section II, and the expression is − Jn (kpρ a)Hn (kρ a) . (41)
kp kρ
RgM n (kρ , kz , r ) = Rgmn (kρ , kz , ρ)eik z z +in φ
 
(28)
  ik z z +in φ
APPENDIX B
RgN n (kρ , kz , r ) = Rgnn (kρ , kz , ρ)e (29) VECTOR CYLINDRICAL WAVES TRANSLATION
with ADDITION THEOREM
in 
The vector cylindrical waves centered at r j can be expressed
Jn (kρ ρ) − φ̂kρ Jn (kρ ρ)

Rgmn (kρ , kz , ρ) = ρ̂ (30)
ρ 
in terms of vector cylindrical waves centered at r l . This vector
ikρ kz  nkz translation addition theorem is applied to derive the expression
Jn (kρ ρ) − φ̂

Rgnn (kρ , kz , ρ) = ρ̂ kρ of exciting field at cylinder l due to the scattered field from cylin-
k kρ
der j in Section II. We make use of scalar translation addition
kρ2 theorem [18], and use Fig. 4
× Jn (kρ ρ) + ẑ
Jn (kρ ρ). (31)
k
RgM m (kρ , kz , r − r j )
 

The magnetic field wave and electric field modal solutions

are defined as follows:

+∞

TE  1 ik z a 
= Jn −m (kρ |ρj − ρl |)e−ik z (z j −z l )−in (n −m )φ j l
RgH n (kρ , kz , ρ, z) = [e Rgnn (kρ , kz , ρ) n =−∞
2η
× RgM n (kρ , kz , r − r l )
 
(42)
− e−ik z a Rgnn (kρ , −kz , ρ)]ein φ (32)


RgN m (kρ , kz , r − r j )
 
TM  −i ik z a 
RgH n (kρ , kz , ρ, z) = [e Rgmn (kρ , kz , ρ)
2η

+∞
= Jn −m (kρ |ρj − ρl |)e−ik z (z j −z l )−in (n −m )φ j l
+ e−ik z a Rgmn (kρ , −kz , ρ)]ein φ (33)

n =−∞
TE i TE
× RgN n (kρ , kz , r − r l ).
 
∇ × RgH n (kρ , kz , ρ, z)
 
RgE n (kρ , kz , ρ, z) = (34) (43)
ωε
TM i TM For outgoing vector cylindrical waves, similar relations hold;
∇ × RgH n (kρ , kz , ρ, z)
 
RgE n (kρ , kz , ρ, z) = (35) however, there are two expressions depending on the relative
ωε

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CHEN et al.: ASSESSMENT OF OPTICAL ABSORPTION IN CARBON NANOTUBE PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE BY ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY 313

magnitudes of |ρj − ρl | and |ρ − ρl |. Since we need the exciting [18] W. C. Chew, Waves and Fields in Inhomogeneous Media. New York:
 Van Nostrand, 1990.
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vol. 40, no. 11B, pp. L1229–L1231, Nov. 2001. Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, in 2007.
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pp. 114 311-1–114 311-5, Jun. 2006. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in
[16] L. Tsang and J. A. Kong, Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves, Advanced electrical engineering at Louisiana State University,
Topics. New York: Wiley, 2001. Baton Rouge.
[17] L. Tsang, K. H. Ding, and J. A. Kong, “Backscattering enhancement and His current research interests include computa-
clustering effects of randomly distributed dielectric cylinders overlying tional electromagnetics, nanophotonics, and theory
a dielectric half space based on Monte-Carlo simulations,” IEEE Trans. and simulation of plasmonic devices.
Antennas Propag., vol. 43, no. 5, pp. 488–499, May 1995.

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314 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NANOTECHNOLOGY, VOL. 8, NO. 3, MAY 2009

Yang Lu received the B.S. degree in electrical and Yafei Zhang received the B.Sc., M.S., and Ph.D. de-
computer engineering and the M.S. degree in micro- grees in condensed physics from Lanzhou University
electronics and solid-state electronics from Shanghai of China, Lanzhou, China, in 1982, 1986, and 1994,
Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, in 2005 and respectively.
2008, respectively. From 1996 to 1998, he was a Research Scien-
He is currently a Device Engineer with Rsicsh In- tist and a Visiting Professor at the Centre of Super-
strument, Shanghai. His current research interests in- Diamond and Advanced Films, City University of
clude the theory and modeling of nanoscale electronic Hong Kong. From 1998 to 2001, he was a Senior
devices, especially carbon-nanotube-based field ef- Research Scientist at Japan National Institute for Re-
fect transistors, photonic devices, and development search in Inorganic Materials. In 2001, he joined
of algorithms for semiconductor characterization the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China,
instruments. where he established a research team in the field of nanomaterials and nano-
electronics, and is currently the Chair Professor of nanomaterials and nanoelec-
tronics in the National Key Laboratory of Nano/Microfabrication Technology,
Key Laboratory for Thin Film and Microfabrication of the Ministry of Edu-
cation, Research Institute of Micro/Nano Science and Technology. His current
research interests include nanoelectronic devices by nanomaterials arrangement,
single-wall carbon nanotubes and related sensors, nanoireland single electronic
devices, mutibarrier electron tuning devices, SiC nanowhiskers and related func-
Gaobiao Xiao, photograph and biography not available at the time of tional devices, Si nanowires, and photocatalytic films of TiO2. He is the author
publication. or coauthor of more than 150 papers. He is the holder of 30 patents.

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