What: Grain boundary misorientation distribution showing signiciantly enhanced twin fraction for a CZTS film synthesized by cosputtering and annealing. Who: Win Maw Hlaing Oo, Jeff Johnson, Ashish Bhatia, Liz Lund, Matt Nowell, and Mike Scarpulla. More: Our new paper in Journal of Electronic Materials. An author's copy of the final manuscript is also available here or here. Reseach page.
What: (a) M=0 and M=2 solutions for the real amd imaginary components of the wavevector for guided modes in a slab waveguide with loss in the core layer. (b) Field profile for the M=2 solution. The method developed in our new paper can be used to analytically solve for the guided modes in very thin soalr cells incorporating waveguiding. Who: James Nagel (conceived of and solved the problem), Steve Blair, Mike Scarpulla. More: Our new paper in Optics Express. Reseach page.
What: Photon absorption enhancement for a 1 micron thick Si solar cell with embedded SiO2 nanoparticles vs. their pitch. Who: James Nagel, Mike Scarpulla. More: Our new paper. Reseach page.
What: Normalized electric field magnitude for 700 nm wavelength light in a 1 micron thick layer of Si with A) a periodic array of embedded SiO2 nanoparticles and B) a single isolated nanoparticle. The nanoparticles scatter light laterally in the cell for light trapping. This concept can increase the light absorption in thin Si solar cells. Who: James Nagel, Mike Scarpulla. More: Our new paper. Animations on YouTube. Reseach page.
What: Increase in grain size in CZTS thin films A) as sputtered B) after annealing in sulfur vapor. Larger grains are ususally associated with lower recombination in thin film PV materials. Who: Jeff Johnson, Haritha Nukala, Liz Lund, Ashish Bhatia, Win Maw Hlaing Oo, Loren Rieth, Chris Hancock, Mike Scarpulla. More: Our MRS Spring 2010 papers. Reseach page.