Influence of Refractive Index on Antireflectance Efficiency of Thin Films

Abstract

In today’s world, scientific development is tremendously strengthened by imitating natural processes. This development remarkably validates progressive and efficient operation of multifunctional thin films in variable ecological circumstances. We use TFCalc thinfilm software, a reliable and trustworthy simulation tool, to design antireflective (AR) coatings for solar cells that can operate in varying environmental conditions and can be functional according to user-defined conditions. Silicon nearly reflects 36% light in the 550 nm wavelength region, causing a significant loss in solar cell efficiency. We used silicon as the substrate on which we designed and fabricated a trilayer inorganic oxide AR thin films, and this reduced it reflectance to <4% in the 300~800 nm wavelength range. Because of their distinguishing physical physiognomies, we used a combination of different inorganic oxides, comprising high-, low-, and medium-refractive indices, to model AR coatings in the desired wavelength range. Experimental implementation of the designed AR thin films in the present study unlocks new techniques for production of competent, wideband-tunable AR coatings that are applicable in high-performance photovoltaic applications.

Antireflection Enhancement by Composite Nanoporous Zeolite 3A–Carbon Thin Film

“…The disordered nanotextured carbon materials have broad absorption properties over the entire range from mid-IR to UV, as shown in [44]. Zeolite 3A-carbon layers evidenced a marked enhancement of the broadband absorption [21]. The extinction spectra for zeolite 3A-carbon coatings are characterized the sum of value absorbed and scattered light [25], as showed in Figure 4b.…”

“…In order to achieve broadband AR coatings for solar cells, a straightforward and scalable process is desirable [21,22,23,24]. Thus, the proposed deposition technique is highly promising because of easy transferal to mass production, cost-effectiveness, and compatibility with integrated circuit technology.…”

Template-Free Fabrication of Refractive Index Tunable Polysiloxane Coating Using Homogeneous Embedding Strategy: Application in High-Power Laser System

“…Thus, a coating system that has the capability to enhance the transmission energy both at 1053 and 527 nm was needed. Theoretical calculations from optical design software TFCalc TM [32][33][34] showed that the polysiloxane coating with RI around 1.37 and thickness about 131nm, accompanied with an AR coating whose RI was about 1.23 and thickness around 144nm, could achieve ultrahigh transmission at 1053 nm (>99.5%) and 527 nm (>99.5%), simultaneously (shown in Figure 6b). Optimized from the previous work in this study, a polysiloxane coating with an MSN embedding proportion of 3 was fabricated under the spin velocity of 650 rpm and time of 20 s. The RI and thickness of such coating were measured to be 1.368 and 132 nm after UV curing, respectively.…”

Nanopatterned silk fibroin films with high transparency and high haze for optical applications

“…7a). 50,51 In other words, beside the high haze effect, the gradual change of the refractive index by silk broin helps to improve the photodiode efficiency as well.…”