Antireflection Coatings Combining Silicon Nitride with Silicon Nanoparticles

In this work, solar cell antireflection coatings (ARC) combining silicon nitride layer with silicon nanoparticles are investigated. Two configurations are considered: silicon nanoparticles on a SiNX layer surface and partially embedded in a SiNX layer. Numerical results show that this ARC concept performs better in the configuration where silicon nanoparticles are placed on the dielectric layer. A silicon nitride refractive index of 2.3 is found to be more advantageous, yielding a low weighted reflectance of 2.1% in the wavelength range 300 – 1100 nm. The stability of the reflectance for oblique incidence with angles lower than 40° was also observed. With this new ARC concept, a relative increase of 8.6% in the short circuit current density over a solar cell with the standard Si3N4 coating can be expected.