Numerous studies have reported performance enhancement of a thermophotovoltaic (TPV) system
when an emitter is separated by nanoscale gaps from a TPV cell. Although a p-n-junctionbased
TPV cell has been widely used for the near-field TPV system, a Schottky-junction-based
near-field TPV system has drawn attention recently with the advantage of the easy fabrication.
However, existing studies mostly focused on the generated photocurrent only in the metal side due
to the fact that required energy for the metal-side photocurrent (i.e., Schottky barrier height) is
smaller than the bandgap energy. Here, we suggest the precise performance analysis model for the
Schottky-junction-based near-field TPV system, including photocurrent generation on the semiconductor
side by considering the transport of minority carriers within the semiconductor. It is
found that most of the total photocurrent in the Schottky-junction-based near-field TPV system
is generated in the semiconductor side. We also demonstrate that further enhancement in the
photocurrent generation can be achieved by re-absorbing the usable photon energy in the metal
with the help of a backside reflector. The present work will provide a design guideline for the
Schottky-junction-based near-field TPV system taking into account three types of photocurrents.