AR-PVSC2015.pdf (544.69 kB)
High temperature stability of broadband Anti-Reflection coatings on soda lime glass for solar modules
conference contribution
posted on 2016-01-19, 15:40 authored by Gerald Womack, Piotr Kaminski, Michael WallsMichael WallsReflections from glass surfaces reduce the
efficiency of photovoltaic devices. Reflections can be reduced using a broadband Multi-layer Anti-Reflection (MAR) coating. For thin film CdTe modules, the glass is
also the substrate. Manufacturers would prefer to use pre-MAR coated glass, so it is essential to establish if the MAR coating can withstand the module production
process conditions. Thin film CdTe module fabrication requires temperatures up to ~500°C. Crazing may occur due to mismatch of the thermal expansion coefficients
between the glass and the coating materials. The resilience of MAR coatings on soda lime glass, Eagle 2000™ Glass, and NSG TECTM 7 has been tested by exposure to increasing temperatures up to 800°C to establish the point of failure. SEM imaging and
reflection measurements were used to observe the damage caused. Surprisingly, the MAR coating is unaffected up to a temperature of 590°C on soda lime glass substrates and up to 800°C on Eagle Glass. This provides confidence that thin film CdTe module
manufacturers can use existing processes with pre-MAR coated glass.
Funding
The authors are grateful to UKERC for funding through the EPSRC Supergen SuperSolar Hub.
History
School
- Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering
Published in
IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialists ConferencePages
? - ? (6)Citation
WOMACK, G., KAMINSKI, P.M. and WALLS, M., 2015. High temperature stability of broadband Anti-Reflection coatings on soda lime glass for solar modules. Presented at the IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), New Orleans, 14-19th June 2015.Publisher
© IEEEVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Publication date
2015Notes
© 2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.ISBN
9781479979448ISSN
0160-8371Publisher version
Language
- en