Surface texturing by solution deposition for omnidirectional antireflection

Abstract

Surface texturing by solution deposition has been developed for antireflection in solar cells. The surface texture is formed by a monolayer of microscale silica particles partially immersed into a spin-on-glass film with a thickness less than the height of the particles. When the silica particles have a spherical shape, the low reflectance from this coating becomes omnidirectional, a desirable feature in fixed-orientation solar panels. It has been experimentally found that the coating improves the transmittance of a quartz wafer in the spectral range of 400–1100 nm and in the incident-angle range of surface normal to at least 30°. The surface texture can be applied to different types of solar cells as an add-on coating.