DocumentCode :
58905
Title :
Multilayer Broadband Antireflective Coatings for More Efficient Thin Film CdTe Solar Cells
Author :
Kaminski, P.M. ; Lisco, F. ; Walls, Jeffrey M.
Author_Institution :
Centre for Renewable Energy Syst. Technol., Loughborough Univ., Loughborough, UK
Volume :
4
Issue :
1
fYear :
2014
fDate :
Jan. 2014
Firstpage :
452
Lastpage :
456
Abstract :
Reflection losses limit the efficiency of all types of photovoltaic devices. The first reflection loss occurs at the glass-air interface of the photovoltaic module. If no light trapping mechanism is used about 4% of the solar energy is lost at this surface. Currently, most commercial thin-film CdTe solar modules are manufactured using NSG TEC10 glass, with no light trapping mechanism addressing the reflection at the interface of the glass with the atmosphere. To minimize the losses, a broadband multilayer thin-film coating has been designed and deposited onto the glass surface of a thin-film CdTe solar cell. The coating consisted of four dielectric layers of alternating thin films of ZrO2 and SiO2 . The layers were deposited by using high-rate-pulsed dc magnetron sputtering. Spectrophotometer measurements confirm that the transmission increased by between 2% and 5% over the spectrum utilized by the thin-film CdTe solar cell. The weighted average reflection reduced from 4.22% to 1.24%. Standard test conditions (STC) solar simulator measurements confirmed a 0.38% increase in absolute efficiency and a 3.6% relative increase in efficiency.
Keywords :
II-VI semiconductors; antireflection coatings; cadmium compounds; multilayers; semiconductor thin films; silicon compounds; solar cells; spectrophotometers; sputter deposition; zirconium compounds; CdTe; NSG TEC10 glass; STC; SiO2; ZrO2; broadband multilayer thin-film coating; dielectric layers; glass surface; glass-air interface; high-rate-pulsed dc magnetron sputtering; multilayer broadband antireflective coatings; photovoltaic devices; photovoltaic module; reflection losses; solar energy; solar simulator measurements; spectrophotometer measurements; standard test conditions; thin film CdTe solar cells; Broadband communication; Coatings; Glass; Nonhomogeneous media; Photovoltaic cells; Surface treatment; Antireflective coating (ARC); CdTe; photovoltaics (PVs); solar cells; sputtering;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
2156-3381
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2284064
Filename :
6637049
Link To Document :
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