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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 559 records · Page 31
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Development of Binder Jet Compatible Silicon Carbide Mixtures for Increased Sintered Density

Binder jet additive manufacturing can process a variety of ceramic powder feedstocks to manufacture near net shape green parts that are subsequently sintered to achieve densification. In particular, silicon carbide (SiC) is a promising ceramic material for heat exchangers in energy storage applications and binder jet is a well-suited process for manufacturing these heat exchangers due to the often geometrically complex designs. However, the need for good powder flowability in binder jet printing often limits the feedstock powder to be larger particles rather than that of ultra fine submicron powders used in conventional ceramic processing, which are more readily densified during sintering. The present work explores the use of various powder mixtures and sintering settings to identify strategies for achieving high density sintered parts in binder jet compatible systems without the use of infiltration. Liquid-phase sintering additives and bimodal powder mixtures are explored alongside different sintering temperatures, rates, atmospheres, and hold times. Two mixtures were found to be good candidates for further exploration: 1) 90 wt% 0.6 µm SiC + 6.25 wt% Al 2 O 3 + 3.75 wt% Y 2 O 3 mixture achieved the highest sintered relative density of 91.2%; and 2) a bimodal mixture comprised of 45 wt% 10 µm SiC + 45 wt% 0.6 µm SiC + 6.25 wt% Al 2 O 3 + 3.75 wt% Y 2 O 3 had the best powder flowability of the powders measured and a 75.1% sintered relative density.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Galvanostatic Plating with a Single Additive Electrolyte for Bottom-Up Filling of Copper in Mesoscale TSVs

A methanesulfonic acid (MSA) electrolyte with a single suppressor additive was used for potentiostatic bottom-up filling of copper in mesoscale through silicon vias (TSVs). Conversly, galvanostatic deposition is desirable for production level full wafer plating tools as they are typically not equipped with reference electrodes which are required for potentiostatic plating. Potentiostatic deposition was used to determine the over-potential required for bottom-up TSV filling and the resultant current was measured to establish a range of current densities to investigate for galvanostatic deposition. Galvanostatic plating conditions were then optimized to achieve void-free bottom-up filling in mesoscale TSVs for a range of sample sizes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Contactless Production Testing of Silicon Solar Cells

Critical cost reductions in silicon solar cells are made by minimizing silver usage in their metal contacts. The reason why is both clear and unavoidable—silver is not only expensive, but also a potential limiting resource for scale-up (the PV industry alone used 10.3 % of the global silver supply in 2020 [1]). The result is solar cells with vanishing electrical contact area that are extremely difficult to test prior to module manufacture, when they must be sorted for quality to maximize power output and reliability of the subsequent modules. This project developed a new measurement instrument that enables the transition to solar cells with very low silver content, including cell designs with both minimal busbars and no busbars at all to electrically contact. The resulting instrument at project completion demonstrated the ability to sort cells with comparable—or better—results than existing technology. Compared to existing cell-test instruments, the new tool has minimal contacting requirements, which lowers the maintenance costs and use of consumable parts. We demonstrated innovative, yet pragmatic, solutions for reporting a comprehensive set of measurement results useful for both cell sorting (going forward in the line for module manufacture) and process control (looking backward in the line to identify cell manufacturing issues from wafer to cell-test). In addition to the traditional current-voltage characterization at cell test—short circuit current, open-circuit voltage, power, efficiency and fill factor—the new tool maintains all the advanced parameter characterization of our existing product line such as a substrate doping measurement, carrier recombination (lifetime) analysis, and surface recombination analysis.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Understanding the Solution Dynamics and Binding of a PVDF Binder with Silicon, Graphite, and NMC Materials and the Influence on Cycling Performance

The impact of the binding, solution structure, and solution dynamics of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) with silicon on its performance as compared to traditional graphite and Li 1.05 Ni 0.33 Mn 0.33 Co 0.33 O 2 (NMC) electrode materials was explored. Through refractive index (RI) measurements, the concentration of the binder adsorbed on the surface of electrode materials during electrode processing was determined to be less than half of the potentially available material resulting in excessive free binder in solution. Using ultrasmall-angle neutron scattering (USANS) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), it was found that PVDF forms a conformal coating over the entirety of the silicon particle. This is in direct contrast to graphite–PVDF and NMC–PVDF slurries, where PVDF only covers part of the graphite surface, and the PVDF chains make a network-like graphite–PVDF structure. Conversely, a thick layer of PVDF covers NMC particles, but the coating is porous, allowing for ion and electronic transport. The homogeneous coating of silicon breaks up percolation pathways, resulting in poor cycling performance of silicon materials as widely reported. These results indicate that the Si–PVDF interactions could be modified from a binder to a dispersant.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Studying femtosecond-laser hyperdoping by controlling surface morphology

We study the fundamental properties of femtosecond-laser (fs-laser) hyperdoping by developing techniques to control the surface morphology following laser irradiation. By decoupling the formation of surface roughness from the doping process, we study the structural and electronic properties of fs-laser doped silicon. These experiments are a necessary step toward developing predictive models of the doping process. We use a single fs-laser pulse to dope silicon with sulfur, enabling quantitative secondary ion mass spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, and Hall effect measurements. These measurements indicate that at laser fluences at or above 4 kJ m{sup -2}, a single laser pulse yields a sulfur dose >(3 {+-} 1) x 10{sup 13} cm{sup -2} and results in a 45-nm thick amorphous surface layer. Based on these results, we demonstrate a method for hyperdoping large areas of silicon without producing the surface roughness.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Photonic integration for UV to IR applications

Photonic integration opens the potential to reduce size, power, and cost of applications normally relegated to table- and rack-sized systems. Today, a wide range of precision, high-end, ultra-sensitive, communication and computation, and measurement and scientific applications, including atomic clocks, quantum communications, processing, and high resolution spectroscopy, are ready to make the leap from the lab to the chip. However, many of these applications operate at wavelengths not accessible to the silicon on insulator-based silicon photonics integration platform due to absorption, power handling, unwanted nonlinearities, and other factors. Next generation photonic integration will require ultra-wideband photonic circuit platforms that scale from the ultraviolet to the infrared and that offer a rich set of linear and nonlinear circuit functions as well as low loss and high power handling capabilities. This article provides an assessment of the field in ultra-wideband photonic waveguides to bring power efficient, ultra-high performance systems to the chip-scale and enable compact transformative precision measurement, signal processing, computation, and communication techniques.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Indirect measurement of thermal conductivity in silicon nanowires

We report indirect measurements of thermal conductivity in silicon nanostructures. We have exploited a measurement technique based on the Joule self-heating of silicon nanowires. A standard model for the electron mobility has been used to determine the temperature through the accurate measurement of the nanowire resistance. We have applied this technique to devices fabricated with a top-down process that yields nanowires together with large silicon areas used both as electrical and as thermal contacts. As there is crystalline continuity between the nanowires and the large contact areas, our thermal conductivity measurements are not affected by any temperature drop due to the contact thermal resistance. Our results confirm the observed reduction of thermal conductivity in nanostructures and are comparable with those previously reported in the literature, achieved with more complex measurement techniques.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Structural contribution to the roughness of supersmooth crystal surface

Technological advances in processing crystals (Si, sapphire {alpha}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}, SiC, GaN, LiNbO{sub 3}, SrTiO{sub 3}, etc.) of substrate materials and X-ray optics elements make it possible to obtain supersmooth surfaces with a periodicity characteristic of the crystal structure. These periodic structures are formed by atomically smooth terraces and steps of nano- and subnanometer sizes, respectively. A model surface with such nanostructures is proposed, and the relations between its roughness parameters and the height of atomic steps are determined. The roughness parameters calculated from these relations almost coincide with the experimental atomic force microscopy (AFM) data obtained from 1 Multiplication-Sign 1 and 10 Multiplication-Sign 10 {mu}m areas on the surface of sapphire plates with steps. The minimum roughness parameters for vicinal crystal surfaces, which are due to the structural contribution, are calculated based on the approach proposed. A comparative analysis of the relief and roughness parameters of sapphire plate surfaces with different degrees of polishing is performed. A size effect is established: the relief height distribution changes from stochastic to regular with a decrease in the surface roughness.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

NUCLEOSYNTHETIC CONSTRAINTS ON THE MASS OF THE HEAVIEST SUPERNOVAE

We explore the sensitivity of nucleosynthesis in massive stars to the truncation of supernova explosions above a certain mass. It is assumed that stars of all masses contribute to nucleosynthesis by their pre-explosive winds, but above a certain limiting main sequence mass, M{sub BH}, the presupernova star becomes a black hole and ejects nothing more. The solar abundances from oxygen to atomic mass 90 are fit quite well assuming no cutoff at all, i.e., by assuming all stars up to 120 M{sub Sun} make successful supernovae. Little degradation in the fit occurs if M{sub BH} is reduced to 25 M{sub Sun }. If this limit is reduced further however, the nucleosynthesis of the s-process declines precipitously and the production of species made in the winds, e.g., carbon, becomes unacceptably large compared with elements made in the explosion, e.g., silicon and oxygen. By varying uncertain physics, especially the mass loss rate for massive stars and the rate for the {sup 22}Ne({alpha}, n){sup 25}Mg reaction rate, acceptable nucleosynthesis might still be achieved with a cutoff as low as 18 M{sub Sun }. This would require, however, a supernova frequency three times greater than the fiducial value obtained when all stars explode in order to produce the required {sup 16}O. The effects of varying M{sub BH} on the nucleosynthesis of {sup 60}Fe and {sup 26}Al, the production of helium as measured by {Delta}Y/{Delta}Z, and the average masses of compact remnants are also examined.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Anodic processes in the chemical and electrochemical etching of Si crystals in acid-fluoride solutions: Pore formation mechanism

The interaction of heavily doped p- and n-type Si crystals with hydrofluoric acid in the dark with and without contact with metals having greatly differing work functions (Ag and Pd) is studied. The dependences of the dissolution rates of Si crystals in HF solutions that contain oxidizing agents with different redox potentials (FeCl{sub 3}, V{sub 2}O{sub 5} and CrO{sub 3}) on the type and level of silicon doping are determined. Analysis of the experimental data suggests that valence-band holes in silicon are not directly involved in the anodic reactions of silicon oxidation and dissolution and their generation in crystals does not limit the rate of these processes. It is also shown that the character and rate of the chemical process leading to silicon dissolution in HF-containing electrolytes are determined by the interfacial potential attained at the semiconductor–electrolyte interface. The mechanism of electrochemical pore formation in silicon crystals is discussed in terms of selfconsistent cooperative reactions of nucleophilic substitution between chemisorbed fluorine anions and coordination- saturated silicon atoms in the crystal subsurface layer. A specific feature of these reactions for silicon crystals is that vacant nonbonding d{sup 2}sp{sup 3} orbitals of Si atoms, associated with sixfold degenerate states corresponding to the Δ valley of the conduction band, are involved in the formation of intermediate complexes. According to the suggested model, the pore-formation process spontaneously develops in local regions of the interface under the action of the interfacial potential in the adsorption layer and occurs as a result of the detachment of (SiF{sub 2}){sub n} polymer chains from the crystal. Just this process leads to the preferential propagation of pores along the <100> crystallographic directions. The thermodynamic aspects of pore nucleation and the effect of the potential drop across the interface, conduction type, and free-carrier concentration in the crystal on the pore size and structure are discussed. The concepts developed in the study can consistently account for experimental facts characterizing the etching of silicon crystals with various electrical parameters under various conditions providing the anodic polarization of crystals in HF-containing solutions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Structural evolution and photoluminescence of annealed Si-rich nitride with Si quantum dots prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Silicon-rich nitride films were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Silicon quantum dots (Si QDs) were formed by post-thermal annealing processing verified using the High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope. The 1100 °C thermal annealing leads to the nucleation of silicon atoms, the growth of Si QDs, and the rearrangement of Si 2p and N 1s elements. The structural evolution of silicon-rich nitride thin film with post annealing promotes the formation of Si QDs and Si{sub 3}N{sub 4} matrix. We also investigated the effect of the NH{sub 3}-to-SiH{sub 4} ratio R on the photoluminescence (PL) of SiN{sub x} with Si QDs. We found that the broad blue luminescence originates from both quantum confined effect and radiative defects. The intensity of the PL was changed by adjusting the NH{sub 3} flow rate. The increase of R could limit the transformation of Si QDs from amorphous to crystalline status, meanwhile lead to the alteration of distribution of defect states. These can help to understand the annealing-dependent characteristics, the PL mechanisms of silicon-rich nitride and to optimize the fabrication process of Si QDs embedded in nitride.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Application of cyclic fluorocarbon/argon discharges to device patterning

With increasing demands on device patterning to achieve smaller critical dimensions and pitches for the 5 nm node and beyond, the need for atomic layer etching (ALE) is steadily increasing. In this work, a cyclic fluorocarbon/Ar plasma is successfully used for ALE patterning in a manufacturing scale reactor. Self-limited etching of silicon oxide is observed. The impact of various process parameters on the etch performance is established. The substrate temperature has been shown to play an especially significant role, with lower temperatures leading to higher selectivity and lower etch rates, but worse pattern fidelity. The cyclic ALE approach established with this work is shown to have great potential for small scale device patterning, showing self-limited etching, improved uniformity and resist mask performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Hollow Silicon Nanospheres Encapsulated with a Thin Carbon Shell: An Electrochemical Study

In this study we have investigated the electrochemical properties of hollow silicon nanospheres encapsulated with a thin carbon shell, HSi@C, as a potential candidate for lithium-ion battery anodes. Hollow Si nanospheres are formed using a templating method which is followed by carbon coating via carbonization of a pyrrole precursor to form HSi@C. The synthesis conditions and the resulting structure of HSi@C have been studied in detail to obtain the target design of hollow Si nanospheres encapsulated with a carbon shell. The HSi@C obtained exhibits much better electrochemical cycle stability than both micro-and nano-size silicon anodes and deliver a stable specific capacity of 700 mA h g(-1) after 100 cycles at a current density of 2 A g(-1) and 800 mA h g(-1) after 120 cycles at a current density of 1 A g(-1). The superior performance of HSi@C is attributed to the synergistic combination of the nanostructured material, the enhanced conductivity, and the presence of the central void space for Si expansion with little or no change in the volume of the entire HSi@C particle. This study is the first detailed investigation of the synthesis conditions to attain the desired structure of a hollow Si core with a conductive carbon shell. This study also offers guidelines to further enhance the specific capacity of HSi@C anodes in the future. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Anode↗
DOE OSTI2015

Technical Comparative Analysis of "Best of Breed" Turnkey Si-Based Processes and Equipment, to be Used to Produce a Combined Multi-entity Research and Development Technology Roadmap for Thick and Thin Silicon PV

A side-by-side analysis was done on then currently available technology, along with roadmaps to push each particular option forward. Variations in turnkey line processes can and do result in finished solar device performance. Together with variations in starting material quality, the result is a distribution of efficiencies. Forensic analysis and characterization of each crystalline Si based technology will determine the most promising approach with respect to cost, efficiency and reliability. Forensic analysis will also shed light on the causes of binning variations. Si solar cells were forensically analyzed from each turn key supplier using a host of techniques

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

New Slag for Nickel Matte Smelting Process and Subsequent Fe Extraction

Large quantities of residual slag with high Fe content are left behind in pyrometallurgical nickel processing. How to separate and recover iron from the high fayalite residue is still a problem because iron mainly exists as iron-magnesium silicate in slag. This article suggests that the slag for nickel smelting is adjusted by increasing the amount of lime, partly instead of quartz, to form liable reduction compounds for subsequent Fe extraction. Based on the thermodynamic analysis and phase diagram of the FeO-SiO{sub 2}-CaO-MgO slag system, the new slag composition was chosen, the suitable melting point of relevant slags was measured, and the phase change was observed. The new slag with a composition of 7 to 9 pct MgO, 10 to 15 pct CaO and 1.5 to 1.8 Fe/SiO{sub 2} was found to work well for nickel matte smelting. With the increase of CaO and decrease of SiO{sub 2} content in slag, Ca(Fe, Mg)Si{sub 2}O{sub 6} and Mg(Ca)Fe{sub 2}O{sub 4} are the main existing phases instead of (Fe, Mg){sub 2}SiO{sub 4} in the residual smelting slag. More than 50 pct of Fe-containing phases are in the form of MgFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} when 15 pct CaO is added, which is what we want because the MgFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} is much better for magnetic separation and reduction than the original (Fe, Mg){sub 2}SiO{sub 4}. In this way, Fe can be much more easily extracted from residual slag and have multipurpose benefits.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

High efficiency screen-printed n-type silicon solar cell using co-diffusion of APCVD boron emitter and POCl 3 back surface field

We present the fabrication and analysis of Passivated Emitter and Rear Totally Diffused (PERT) solar cells on n-type silicon using a co-diffusion process. In a single high temperature step, a BSG/SiO x stack deposited by APCVD and a POCl 3 back surface field diffuse into the wafer to form the boron doped emitter and phosphorus doped back surface field. The SiO x layer on top of BSG acts as a masking layer to prevent cross-doping of phosphorus as well as a blocking layer for boron out-diffusion. This resulted in an initial sheet resistance of 76 Ω with good uniformity and a final p + emitter sheet resistance of 97 Ω after boron rich layer removal. Additionally, bulk lifetime was investigated before and after the high temperature step that resulted in an increase from 1.2 ms to 1.5 ms due to a POCl 3 gettering effect. Finally, a peak cell efficiency of 20.3% was achieved and each recombination component in terms of saturation current density was calculated and analyzed to understand the cell for further efficiency enhancement.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Changes in portlandite morphology with solvent composition: Atomistic simulations and experiment

Experimental work has been done to determine changes in the particle shape of portlandite grown in the presence of different ions. To quantify the experimentally observed changes in morphology a new analysis tool was developed, allowing the calculation of the relative surface energies of the crystal facets. The observed morphology in the presence of chlorides and nitrates was facetted particles of a similar shape, the addition of sulfates leads to hexagonal platelet morphology and the addition of silicates leads to the formation of large irregular aggregates. In addition to the experimental work, the surfaces of portlandite were studied with atomistic simulation techniques. The empirical force field used has first been validated. The equilibrium morphology of portlandite in vacuum and in water was then calculated. The results indicate that the presence of water stabilizes the [20.3] surface and changes the morphology. This is consistent with the experimental observation of [20.3] surfaces.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗