Impact of the Single-Layer Anti-Reflective Coating (Slarc) on the Photovoltaic Properties of ZnO/AlGaAs/Si Solar Cells

A triple heterojunction solar cell is reported to achieve high efficiency with appropriate parameters. In this study, a zinc oxide/aluminium gallium arsenide/silicon (ZnO/AlGaAs/Si) solar cell was incorporated into a new triple heterojunction solar cell design to investigate the performance of the solar cell. Furthermore, applying an anti-reflective coating (ARC) on top of the cell can enhance its performance by reducing light reflectance. In this work, silicon dioxide, ZnO, and silicon nitride were selected as materials for a single-layer anti-reflective coating (SLARC). The thickness and refractive index values for each material were calculated to determine the optimum values for wavelengths between 250 and 1,200 nm. The device was analyzed using a personal computer 1-dimensional simulation under AM1.5G conditions at one-sun illumination. The reflectance of Si3N4 was higher than that of the cell without ARC. Moreover, Si3N4 only achieved lower reflectance than the other materials over a narrow wavelength of approximately 300 nm. The cell efficiency increased from 21.98% to 24.08% after applying an SLARC using silicon dioxide.