Ion beam surface modification of solar module glass for reduced reflectance

The surface reflectance of low-iron soda-lime glass imposes a 4% power loss in most flat plate modules. Optical coatings and surface textures are two approaches to decreasing this loss. In this paper we report on a third method comprising ion implantation of argon to adjust the index of refraction of the near surface region. We show that ion implantation provides a 50% reduction in the reflectance. This method appears to have general applicability owing to the wide use of soda-lime glass in module manufacturing.