Results of the studies of optical properties of anti-reflective glasses with various texturization patterns, which were used as a coating for crystalline silicon solar cells, are presented. It was found that glass samples sorted by their optical transmittance demonstrated the same order as when sorted by their solar-cell short-circuit current enhancement parameter. The value of the latter depended on the parameters of texturization, such as the surface density of inclusions and their profile, and the depth of etching pits. A 2% relative increase of the solar cell efficiency was obtained for the best glass sample for null degree angle of incidence, proving enhanced light trapping properties of the studied glass.

Analysis is performed of the contemporary views on the effect of ion etching (ion-beam milling and reactive ion etching) on physical properties of HgCdTe and on the mechanisms of the processes responsible for modification of these properties under the etching. Possibilities are discussed that ion etching opens for defect studies in HgCdTe, including detecting electrically neutral tellurium nanocomplexes, determining background donor concentration in the material of various origins, and understanding the mechanism of arsenic incorporation in molecular-beam epitaxy-grown films.

Studies of background donor concentration (BDC) in HgCdTe samples grown with different types of technology were performed with the use of ion milling as a means of eliminating the compensating acceptors. In bulk crystals, films grown with liquid phase epitaxy and films fabricated with molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on Si substrates, BDC of the order of ~10¹⁴ cm^-3 was revealed. Films grown with metal−organic chemical vapour deposition and with MBE on GaAs substrates showed BDC of the order of ~10¹⁵ cm^-3. A possibility of assessing the BDC in acceptor (arsenic)−doped HgCdTe was demon− strated. In general, the studies showed the effectiveness of ion milling as a method of reducing electrical compensation in n−type MCT and as an excellent tool for assisting evaluation of BDC.