TITLE:
Optimization and Modeling of Antireflective Layers for Silicon Solar Cells: In Search of Optimal Materials
AUTHORS:
Mamadou Moustapha Diop, Alassane Diaw, Nacire Mbengue, Ousmane Ba, Moulaye Diagne, Oumar A. Niasse, Bassirou Ba, Joseph Sarr
KEYWORDS:
Antireflection Layer, Reflectivity, Refractive Index, Thickness
JOURNAL NAME:
Materials Sciences and Applications,
Vol.9 No.8,
July
25,
2018
ABSTRACT: Depositing
an antireflection coating on the front surface of solar cells allows a
significant reduction in reflection losses. It thus allows an increase in the
efficiency of the cells. A modeling of the refractive indices and the
thicknesses of an optimal antireflection coating has been proposed. Thus, the
average reflective losses can be reduced to less than 8% and less than 2.4% in
a large wavelength range respectively for a single-layer and double-layer
anti-reflective coating types. However, the difficulty of finding these model
materials (materials with the same refractive index) led us to introduce two
notions: the refractive index difference and the thickness difference. These
two notions allowed us to compare the reflectivity of the antireflection layer in silicon surface. Thus, the lower the refractive index difference is, the
more the material resembles to the ideal material (in refractive index), and
thus its reflective losses are minimal. SiNx and SiO2/TiO2 antireflection layers, in the wavelength range between 400 and 1100 nm, have reduced the average reflectivity losses to
less than 9% and 2.3% respectively.