Anti-reflection for monocrystalline silicon from diamond-like carbon films deposited by magnetron sputtering

Abstract In this work, diamond-like carbon (DLC) films used as anti-reflective coatings for monocrystalline silicon were deposited by magnetron sputtering for potential application in solar cells. The microstructural and optical properties of the films were investigated as a function of substrate temperature over a wide range during deposition. It showed that, when the substrate temperature increased from RT to 800 °C, the hybridized structures of the DLC films accordingly changed associated with a significant variation of refractive index between2.22 and 1.64 at a wavelength of 550 nm. Three types of coating systems, namely single-, three- and five-layer films on monocrystalline silicon substrates, were designed based on the anti-reflection principle and fabricated in terms of the relationships of refractive index and deposition rate with substrate temperature. In particular, a well-designed three-layer film, of which the refractive index gradually changed along the thickness, that is 1.8, 1.9 and 2.0, respectively, was successfully deposited at one step on monocrystalline silicon substrates by adjusting substrate temperature and deposition time, and featured a broadband anti-reflective characteristic with low average reflectivity of 8.7% at a wide solar spectrum of 400–1100 nm. This work demonstrates that the DLC film has a promising application potential as broadband anti-reflective coatings in silicon-based solar cells.