Silicon has a high surface reflection of over 30%. The reflection is reduced by texturing and and by applying anti-reflection coatings (ARC) to the surface. Anti-reflection coatings on solar cells are similar to those used on other optical equipment such as camera lenses. They consist of a thin layer of dielectric material, with a specially chosen thickness so that interference effects in the coating cause the wave reflected from the anti-reflection coating top surface to be out of phase with the wave reflected from the semiconductor surfaces.