Analysis of short circuit current gains by an anti‐reflective textured cover on silicon thin film solar cells

Abstract

The influence of a retro-reflective texture cover on light in-coupling and light-trapping in thin film silicon solar cells is investigated. The texture cover is applied to the front glass of the cell and leads to a reflectance as low as r % 3% by reducing the reflection at the air/glass interface and indirectly also reducing the reflections from the internal interfaces. For weakly absorbed light in the long wavelength range, the texture also enhances the light-trapping in the solar cell. We demonstrate an increase of the short circuit current density of exemplary investigated thin film silicon tandem solar cells by up to 0.95 mA cm À2 and of the conversion efficiency by up to 0.74% (absolute). For a planar microcrystalline solar cell, the enhancement of light-trapping was determined from the reduced reflection in the long wavelength range to be up to 17%, leading to an increase of the external quantum efficiency of up to 12%.

Microcrystalline silicon oxide (μc-SiOx:H) alloys: A versatile material for application in thin film silicon single and tandem junction solar cells

“…5 shows the quantum efficiency curves for tandem solar cells prepared with and without intermediate reflector. The cells were prepared with anti-reflection layer [11]. It can be seen that QE for the top cell is enhanced in the wavelength region between 500 nm and 750 nm when μc-SiO x :H intermediate reflector is used, providing the J QE of the top cell at the high level of 14.2 mA/cm 2 .…”

Light-induced degradation of adapted quadruple junction thin film silicon solar cells for photoelectrochemical water splitting

“…The solar cells were characterized in the initial and stabilized states (after 1000 h light-soaking) by current-voltage (J-V) measurements at standard test conditions (100 mW/cm 2 , 25°C) using a double source (Class A) AM 1.5 sun simulator with an antireflection foil on top of the front glass [20]. Light-induced degradation (LID) was performed under open-circuit conditions at 55°C under simulated sun spectrum (1000 W/m 2 ) during 1000 h.…”

Key Points in the Latest Developments of High‐Efficiency Thin‐Film Silicon Solar Cells

“…Additional anti‐reflection (AR) structures can be employed on top of devices to improve their J SC . The origins of the anti‐reflection effect can be either geometrical optics or wave‐optics (moth‐eye feature) . Such AR structures are often used in record efficiency cells …”