| Summary: | Calcium fluoride (CaF<sub>2</sub>) is deposited via vacuum thermal evaporation on borosilicate glass to produce an anti-reflection coating for use in solar modules. Macleod’s essential simulation is used to optimize the thickness of the CaF<sub>2</sub> coating on the glass. Experimentally, a 120 ± 4 nm-thin CaF<sub>2</sub> film on glass shows an average increase of ~4% in transmittance and a decrease of ~3.2% in reflectance, respectively, when compared to that of uncoated glass (Un CG), within the wavelength spectrum of approximately 350 to 1100 nm. The electrical PV performance of CaF<sub>2</sub>-coated glass (CaF<sub>2</sub>-CG) was analyzed for conventional and lightweight photovoltaic module applications. An improvement in the short-circuit current (<i>J<sub>sc</sub></i>) from 38.13 to 39.07 mA/cm<sup>2</sup> and an increase of 2.40% in the efficiency (<i>η</i>) was obtained when CaF<sub>2</sub>-CG glass was used instead of Un CG in a conventional module. Furthermore, <i>J<sub>sc</sub></i> enhancement from 35.63 to 36.44 mA/cm<sup>2</sup> and <i>η</i> improvement of 2.32% was observed when a very thin CaF<sub>2</sub>-CG was placed between the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and solar cell in a lightweight module.
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