Variation in the Optical Properties of the SiC-SiO2 Composite Antireflection Layer in Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells by Annealing

This study showed the effects of annealing on a sol-gel-derived SiC-SiO2 composite antireflection (AR) layer and investigated the optical and photovoltaic properties of crystalline silicon (Si) solar cells. The SiC-SiO2 composite AR coating showed a considerable decrease in reflectance from 7.18% to 3.23% at varying annealing temperatures of 450-800 degrees C. The refractive indices of the SiC-SiO2 composite AR layer were tuned from 2.06 to 2.45 with the increase in annealing temperature. The analysis of the current density-voltage characteristics indicated that the energy conversion efficiencies of the fabricated Si solar cells gradually increased from 16.99% to 17.73% with increasing annealing temperatures of 450-800 degrees C. The annealing of the SiC-SiO2 composite AR layer in Si solar cells was crucial to improving the optical, morphological, and photovoltaic properties.