Comparative Study of Polarization‐Dependent Conversion Efficiency of GaAs and Si Solar Cells at Oblique Incident Angles Using Surface DLAR Coating of MgF2/ZnSe

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of this work is to minimize reflection losses in order to increase the efficiency of solar cells by using anti‐reflection coatings (ARCs). Despite extensive research on improving solar cell conversion efficiency at normal incidence, development at angle of incidence has received little attention. Thus, the reflectivity of single‐layer ARC (SLARC) MgF2 and ZnSe, double‐layer ARC (DLARC), MgF2/ZnSe on Si, and GaAs substrates at transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes of polarization in the visible and near‐IR regions for different angles of incidence is analyzed. The optical and electrical properties of Si and GaAs solar cells are analyzed by using the reflectance spectra of SLARC and DLARC at various angles of incidence for the TM and TE modes of polarization under the solar power spectrum (AM1.5). The achieved results due to the effect of DLARC are compared for Si and GaAs solar cells. From these analyses, it is concluded that MgF2/ZnSe is an appropriate DLARC for the range of wavelengths 400–800 nm at 10°–30° angles of incidence in TM mode for tuning the optical and electrical properties of Si and GaAs substrates for terrestrial applications.