Surface etching for light trapping in encapsulated InP solar cells

Reducing the reflection from the surface of InP is important for increasing the efficiency of solar cells and photodetectors. In this paper a new technique for reducing reflectance of glass-encapsulated InP is reported. Low-angle grooves are produced on the surface by a maskless anisotropic etch. Light reflected from the low angle grooves is trapped by total internal reflection at the glass/air interface and directed back to the InP surface. A significant decrease in surface reflection is measured.