Electrical and Optical Characterization of Sputtered Silicon Dioxide, Indium Tin Oxide, and Silicon Dioxide/Indium Tin Oxide Antireflection Coating on Single-Junction GaAs Solar Cells

This study characterized the electrical and optical properties of single-junction GaAs solar cells coated with antireflective layers of silicon dioxide (SiO2), indium tin oxide (ITO), and a hybrid layer of SiO2/ITO applied using Radio frequency (RF) sputtering. The conductivity and transparency of the ITO film were characterized prior to application on GaAs cells. Reverse saturation-current and ideality factor were used to evaluate the passivation performance of the various coatings on GaAs solar cells. Optical reflectance and external quantum efficiency response were used to evaluate the antireflective performance of the coatings. Photovoltaic current-voltage measurements were used to confirm the efficiency enhancement obtained by the presence of the anti-reflective coatings. The conversion efficiency of the GaAs cells with an ITO antireflective coating (23.52%) exceeded that of cells with a SiO2 antireflective coating (21.92%). Due to lower series resistance and higher short-circuit current-density, the carrier collection of the GaAs cell with ITO coating exceeded that of the cell with a SiO2/ITO coating.