Optimization of Antireflective Layers of Silicon Solar Cells: Comparative Studies of the Efficiency Between Single and Double Layer at the Reference Wavelength

Abstract

The deposition of an antireflection coating (ARC) on the front side of the solar cells allows a significant reduction of the losses by reflection. It thus allows an increase in the efficiency of the cells. Various materials are used as an antireflection layer. For our studies, we focused on the deposition of some materials as an antireflection layer on the solar cell such as SiO₂, Si₃N₄, TiO₂, Al₂O₃, MgF₂, and studied the efficiency of the latter. A theoretical study of antireflection layers has shown that a single antireflection layer does not have as low a reflectivity as a double antireflection layer over a large wavelength range. Thus, our interest was focused on double and multiple antireflection layers. The influence of parameters such as the thickness of the layer (s) as well as the associated refractive indexes on the optical properties of the antireflective structure has been studied. It was found that there are optimal thicknesses and refractive indices for which the reflectivity of the antireflective system is almost zero over a wider or shorter range of wavelengths. The same phenomena are noted in the study of the external quantum efficiency of the solar cell with these materials.