Freundlich, Alex2014-12-192014-12-19December 22012-12http://hdl.handle.net/10657/829In III-V concentrator applications sunlight is focused onto the surface of cell and consequently light arrives with a wide angular distribution that limits the effectiveness of conventional thin-film antireflective coatings (ARC). Furthermore, the transmission properties are generally degraded non-uniformly over the electromagnetic spectrum, which in the case of multi-junction solar cells, leads to additional subcell current matching-related losses. Here, and in an attempt to identify a better alternative to the conventional dual layer ARCs, we have undertaken a systematic analysis of design parameters and angular dependent antireflective properties of dielectric grating formed through the implementation of sub-wavelength arrays of 2D pyramidal and hemispherical textures. The study includes evaluation of these properties for several common dielectrics i.e. SiO2, Si3N4, SiC, TiO2, and ZnS, through a careful selection of dielectric material and design. These structures can significantly surpass the performance of planar double-layer ARCs (i.e. MgF2/ZnS), and the total number of reflected photons over 380-2000 nm wavelength range can be reduced to less than 2%, by use of single material textured dielectric. It is also shown that the implementation of these structures for a typical concentrated 3 or 4 junction solar cell with acceptance angles ranging from 0-60 degrees, reduces total losses of reflected photons for each subcell to less than 4%, hence reduces current degradation.application/pdfengThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).Antireflection gratingAngular tolerantConcentratorDielectricIII-VPhotovoltaicsSimulationsSubwavelength textureThin film modelTransfer matrix methodPhysics2014-12-19Thesisborn digital