Optical absorption losses in metal layers used in thin film solar cells

The standardized techniques to characterize the optical properties of thin films are of high importance for development, optimiza-tion and reliable production of thin film solar cells. We apply op-tical transmittance & reflectance spectroscopy, photothermal de-flection spectroscopy (PDS) and laser calorimetry (LC) to evalu-ate optical absorption losses at rough interface between rough thin conductive oxide (TCO) and metal films used as backreflec-tors and electrical contacts in thin film solar cells. The dielectric function of the rough metal can be calculated in Landau-Lifshitz-Looyenga model fitting only one unknown parameter which greatly simplifies modelling of the optical properties of thin film solar cells.