Efficient light incoupling into silicon thin-film solar cells by anti-reflecting MgO/high-compact-AZO with air-side textured glass

Light incoupling effects have been enhanced at front interfaces of silicon (Si) thin-film solar cells. Firstly, a MgO thin film was introduced at glass substrate/Al-doped ZnO (AZO) interface for anti-reflection effect. We additionally found that the surface morphology of AZO films grown on MgO film after texture-etching is dependent on the compactness of AZO. For high-compact AZO films, the texture-etched MgO/AZO double layer exhibited significantly enhanced light-scattering capability. Secondly, we made textured surfaces at air/glass interface through simple plasma-etching without sacrificial layers or masks by optimizing the etching pressure. The additional air-side texture contributed to further improvement of total light scattering from the MgO/AZO-coated glass substrate. Fabricated microcrystalline Si thin-film solar cells employing the MgO coated glass with air-side surface texture showed decreased cell reflectance and increased quantum efficiency. The Jsc increased from 21.7 to 26.5 mA cm−2 and final efficiency of 9.49% was achieved. Based on our experimental results, the suggested structure, the MgO coating on glass substrate of which air-side surface is texture-etched, can offer a promising approach to improve the light incoupling and efficiency of Si thin-film solar cells.