Patent ID: 8203073

Claim:
A photovoltaic device comprising: a front substantially transparent glass substrate; a first layer comprising one or more of silicon nitride, silicon oxide, silicon oxynitride, and/or tin oxide; a second layer comprising one or more of titanium oxide and/or niobium oxide, wherein at least the first layer is located between the front substrate and the second layer; a third layer comprising zinc oxide and/or zinc aluminum oxide, wherein the second layer comprising one or more of titanium oxide and/or niobium oxide is located between and directly contacting each of (i) the first layer comprising one or more of silicon nitride, silicon oxide, silicon oxynitride, and/or tin oxide, and (ii) the third layer comprising zinc oxide and/or zinc aluminum oxide; wherein the third layer comprising zinc oxide and/or zinc aluminum oxide is thinner than the second layer comprising one or more of titanium oxide and/or niobium oxide; a conductive layer comprising silver, wherein at least the third layer is provided between the conductive layer comprising silver and the second layer; and a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) film provided between the conductive layer comprising silver and a semiconductor film of the photovoltaic device; wherein a layer stack comprising said first layer, said second layer, said third layer, said conductive layer comprising silver, and said TCO are provided on an interior surface of the front glass substrate facing the semiconductor film, and an exterior surface of the front glass substrate facing incident light is textured so as to reduce reflection loss of incident solar flux and increase absorption of photons in the semiconductor film.