Effect of obliquity of incident light on the performance of silicon solar cells

The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of angle of incident light on the performance of silicon solar cell. In this regard, numerical calculations have been performed to obtain the reflectance for double layer antireflection coating (DLARC) of Si₃N₄ at various angles of incidence (i.e.0^o ,15^o ,30^o ,45^o , and60^o) using transfer matrix method. Reflectances obtained, are found to increases with increase in angle of incidence. Calculated reflectances have been further used in the PC1D simulator as external reflectance files to study the performance of silicon solar cell. As a result of the simulation, the conversion efficiency (and short circuit current) of solar cell is found to decrease by 1.7% (0.062 mA/cm²) with increase in angle of incidence from 0^o to60^o .