Multilayer antireflection coating design for GaAs0.69P0.31/Si dual-junction solar cells

In this paper, we systematically investigate the use of multilayer antireflection coatings (ARC) on GaAs0.69P0.31/Si dual-junction solar cells for achieving broadband reflection suppression. We incorporate dispersion, absorption, and both coherent and incoherent interference, by modeling the solar cell as a multilayer medium of thin films and a substrate, using the transfer matrix method. The analytical model is verified through reflectance measurements on a GaAs(1-x)Px/GaP stack. Our results show that optimized double-and triple-layer ARCs can minimize reflectance to below 5% within the spectral range of similar to 400-945 nm, with the latter maintaining this performance over a broader spectrum of 390-1000 nm, in comparison to 25-45% reflectance for the bare solar cell. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.