Question

A solar cell is designed to have a nonreflective film of a transparent material for a wavelength of 600 nm.

Will the thickness of the film depend on the index of refraction of the underlying material in the solar cell?

nsolar > nfilm and nfilm = 1.25, what is the minimum thickness of the film?

Repeat the calculation in part C if nsolar > nfilm and nfilm = 1.44,
what is the minimum thickness of the film?

Answer 1

Yes, it will. use equation: minimum thickness= wavelength(nm)/(4*index of refraction) so for your example it would be t=600/(4*1.25) which comes to 120nm. for the second part, use eq. 2t= ((m*wavelength)/index of refraction) so again 2t=((1*600))/1.44) and t= 208.3nm