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How does a microgrooved solar cell surface help trap light?

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Diagram of a solar cell showing labeled layers, including a front electrical contact grid, antireflection layer, absorber layer, back junction layer, and back electrical contact layer, with arrows indicating light entering and terminals connecting to a circuit. — solar cell A commonly used solar cell structure. In many such cells, the absorber layer and the back junction layer are both made of the same material.

A microgrooved surface helps trap light in a solar cell by replacing a standard planar surface with a textured one. This design causes incoming light to be reflected randomly as it strikes the cell, rather than reflecting away from the surface in a single direction. By scattering the light, the microgrooves increase the probability that the photons will be captured by the cell rather than being lost to reflection, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency of the device.1