SOLAR CELL WITH DIAMOND LIKE CARBON COVER GLASS
A solar cell including a semiconductor body including at least one photoactive junction; and a diamond like carbon layer deposited over the top surface of the semiconductor body.
1 . A solar cell comprising:
a semiconductor body including at least one photoactive junction; and
a diamond like carbon layer deposited over the top surface of said semiconductor body.
2 . A solar cell as defined in claim 1 , further comprising a coverglass deposited over the top surface of said semiconductor body, and wherein said diamond like carbon layer is deposited over said coverglass.
3 . A solar cell as defined in claim 1 , where said diamond like carbon layer comprises at least two sublayers of different refractive index.
4 . A solar cell as defined in claim 1 , where said diamond like carbon layer comprises a graded index material having a refractive index that monotonically decreases from the top surface of the semiconductor body to the top surface of the diamond like carbon layer.
5 . A solar cell as defined in claim 1 , where said diamond like carbon layer is between 10 nm and 1000 nm in thickness.
6 . The solar cell as defined in claim 1 wherein the semiconductor body comprises group III-V elements.
7 . The solar cell as defined in claim 1 wherein the semiconductor body comprises a multijunction solar cell.
8 . A solar cell as defined in claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor body includes a substrate selected from the group consisting of germanium or GaAs.
9 . A multijunction solar cell as defined in claim 7 , wherein a first solar subcell is composed of germanium.
10 . A multijunction solar cell as defined in claim 9 , wherein a second solar subcell is composed of GaAs.
11 . A multijunction solar cell as defined in claim 10 , wherein a third solar subcell is composed of GaInP 2 .
12 . A solar cell as defined in claim 1 , where said diamond like carbon layer provides an antireflective coating.
13 . A solar cell as defined in claim 2 , wherein said coverglass is composed of ceria-doped glass and is adhered to the semiconductor body by a substantially transparent adhesive, said adhesive remaining substantially transparent when exposed to an AM0 space environment.