Enhancing thin film GaAs solar cell performance with antireflection coatings

Abstract

The effects of single and double layer antireflection coatings on the performance of thin film GaAs solar cells are investigated by finite difference time domain (FDTD) numerical simulation method. The reflection and short circuit current density of thin film GaAs solar cells are calculated over the wavelength range from 400 to 900nm. Results show that the reflectivity can be greatly reduced using single and double layer antireflection coatings. The current density attains a maximum value of 25.25mA/cm2 for double layer antireflection coatings of MgF2 / TiO2 while for single layer antireflection coating of Ta2O5 it attains a value of 23.85mA/cm2.