SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Recombinant”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 649 records · Page 36

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1983

Solar-simulator-pumped atomic iodine laser kinetics

The literature contains broad ranges of disagreement in kinetic data for the atomic iodine laser. A kinetic model of a solar-simulator-pumped iodine laser is used to select those kinetic data consistent with recent laser experiments at the Langley Research Center. Analysis of the solar-simulator-pumped laser experiments resulted in the following estimates of rate coefficients: for alkyl radical (n-C3F7) and atomic iodine (I) recombination, 4.3 x 10 to the 11th power (1.9) + or - cu cm/s; for n-C3F7I stabilized atomic iodine recombination (I + I) 3.7 x 10 to the -32nd power (2.3) + or -1 cm to the 6th power/s; and for molecular iodine (I2) quenching, 3.1 x 10 to the -11th power (1.6) + or - 1 cu cm/s. These rates are consistent with the recent measurements.

Wilson, H. W.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Coordinated airborne and satellite measurements of equatorial plasma depletions

A series of experiments conducted in December 1979 to investigate the structure of plasma depletions in the low latitude, nighttime ionosphere is discussed. Density biteouts of about one order of magnitude in the dominant ion, O(+), are mapped to lower altitudes along magnetic field lines for comparison with 6300-A and 7774-A O I airglow depletions. Owing to the different airglow production mechanisms (dissociative recombination of O2(+) for 6300 A and radiative recombination of O(+) for 7774 A), the 6300-A depletions reflect plasma depletions near the bottomside of the F layer, while those at 7774 A are located near the peak of the layer. The O(+) biteouts map directly into the 7774-A airglow depletions in the same hemisphere and also when traced into the opposite hemisphere, which suggests magnetic flux tube alignment over north-south distances of approximately 2220 km. The 6300-A (bottomside) depletions are found to be wider in longitude than the 7774-A (F-peak) depeletions near the equatorward edge of the Appleton anomaly.

Weber, E. J.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Characterization of grain boundaries in silicon

Zero-bias conductance and capacitance measurements at various temperatures were used to study trapped charges and potential barrier height at the boundaries. Deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) was applied to measure the density of states at the boundary. A study of photoconductivity of grain boundaries in p-type silicon demonstrated the applicability of the technique in the measurement of minority carrier recombination velocity at the grain boundary. Enhanced diffusion of phosphorus at grain boundaries in three cast polycrystalline photovoltaic materials was studied. Enhancements for the three were the same, indicating that the properties of boundaries are similar, although grown by different techniques. Grain boundaries capable of enhancing the diffusion were found always to have strong recombination activities; the phenomena could be related to dangling bonds at the boundaries. Evidence that incoherent second-order twins of (111)/(115) type are diffusion-active is presented.

Cheng, L. J.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Electron-beam induced current characterization of back-surface field solar cells using a chopped scanning electron microscope beam

A chopped electron beam induced current (EBIC) technique for the chacterization of back-surface field (BSF) solar cells is presented. It is shown that the effective recombination velocity of the low-high junction forming the back-surface field of BSF cells, in addition to the diffusion length and the surface recombination velocity of the surface perpendicular to both the p-n and low-high junctions, can be determined from the data provided by a single EBIC scan. The method for doing so is described and illustrated. Certain experimental considerations taken to enhance the quality of the EBIC data are also discussed.

Luke, K. L.↗

NASA NTRS1984

A theoretical study of the effects of interacting grain boundaries on electron-beam-induced currents

The influence of several grain boundaries on the electron-beam-induced current in polycrystalline silicon is investigated. The simple geometry contemplated here, consisting of two plane parallel grain boundaries possessing different effective, albeit constant, surface recombination velocities, intersecting a planar junction at right angles allows for an exact solution of the corresponding boundary value problem. It is shown that if the distance between the grain boundaries w becomes less than the diffusion length for minority carriers L within the grain, the grain boundary with the smaller effective recombination velocity becomes less and less visible the smaller the ratio w/L.

Luke, K. L.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Non-catalytic surfaces for metallic heat shields

The magnitude of the atom recombination coefficients needed for metal heat shield surfaces on Shuttle-type vehicles is analyzed and discussed. Prior work which identifies surfaces having low catalytic activity is reviewed. Arc tunnel tests to evaluate catalytic activity are described and the difficulties of such tests are discussed. Results are presented which show major differences between atom recombination and atom exchange from molecules. Results of surface analysis show that bulk and surface composition of a coating are different.

Swann, R. T.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Reheating the intergalactic medium under extremal conditions

Sherman (1982) commenced the investigation of a hypothetical closure density intergalactic medium (IGM) in the recombination epoch and found present acceptable temperatures in the range from 160,000 to 4,200,000 K for IGM heating. The present investigation has the objective to complete these calculations by finding extreme bounds on the reheating epoch which preceded recombination. The final results are presented in a table. Three models have been generated. The presented models suggest that a closure density IGM is constrained to be heated by a source in the range from 10 to the -31st to 10 to the -27th ergs per s per cu cm. The heating had to originate no earlier than z approximately 28.

Sherman, R. D.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Surface and allied studies in silicon solar cells

Measuring small-signal admittance versus frequency and forward bias voltage together with a new transient measurement apparently provides the most reliable and flexible method available for determining back surface recombination velocity and low-injection lifetime of the quasineutral base region of silicon solar cells. The new transient measurement reported here is called short-circuit-current decay (SCCD). In this method, forward voltage equal to about the open-circuit or the maximum power voltage establishes excess holes and electrons in the junction transition region and in the quasineutral regions. The sudden application of a short circuit causes an exiting of the excess holes and electrons in the transition region within about ten picoseconds. From observing the slope and intercept of the subsequent current decay, the base lifetime and surface recombination velocity can be determined. The admittance measurement previously mentioned then enters to increase accuracy particularly for devices for which the diffusion length exceeds the base thickness.

Lindholm, F. A.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Surface and allied studies in silicon solar cells

Significant improvements were made in the short-circuit current-decay method of measuring the recombination lifetime tau and the back surface recombination velocity S of the quasineutral base of silicon solar cells. The improvements include a circuit implementation that increases the speed of switching from the forward-voltage to the short-circuit conditions. They also include a supplementation of this method by some newly developed techniques employing small-signal admittance as a function of frequency omega. This supplementation is highly effective for determining tau for cases in which the diffusion length L greatly exceeds the base thickness W. Representative results on different solar cells are reported. Some advances made in the understanding of passivation provided by the polysilicon/silicon heterojunction are outlined. Recent measurements demonstrate that S 10,000 cm/s derive from this method of passivation.

Lindholm, F. A.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Silicon MINP solar cells

The MINP solar cell concept refers to a cell structure designed to be a base region dominated device. Thus, it is desirable that recombination losses are reduced to the point that they occur only in the base region. The most unique feature of the MINP cell design is that a tunneling contact is utilized for the metallic contact on the front surface. The areas under the collector grid and bus bar are passivated by a thin oxide of tunneling thickness. Efforts must also be taken to minimize recombination at the surface between grid lines, at the junction periphery and within the emitter. Results of both theoretical and experimental studies of silicon MINP cells are given. Performance calculations are described which give expected efficiencies as a function of base resistivity and junction depth. Fabrication and characterization of cells are discussed which are based on 0.2 ohm-cm substrates, diffused emitters on the order of 0.15 to 0.20 microns deep, and with Mg MIS collector grids. A total area AM 1 efficiency of 16.8% was achieved. Detailed analyses of photocurrent and current loss mechanisms are presented and utilized to discuss future directions of research. Finally, results reported by other workers are discussed.

Olsen, L. C.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Measurement of electrical parameters and current components in the bulk of silicon solar cells

A review and illustration of electrical measurements for determination of the bulk parameters in silicon solar cells is given. The presentation concentrates on transient and small signal admittance measurements. These measurements yield accurate and reliable values of the base lifetime and the surface recombination velocity at the back contract without inaccuracies that normally results from electrons and holes in the p/n junction space charge region. This then allows the determination of the recombination current in each region of the cell. As an example, current components in the emitter, low doped base, high doped base and junction space charge region of the back surface field cell are obtained. Such analysis is essential in determining the relative importance of the base and the emitter and, thus, the region that limits the cell efficiency.

Neugroschel, A.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Processing technology for high efficiency silicon solar cells

Recent advances in silicon solar cell processing have led to attainment of conversion efficiency approaching 20%. The basic cell design is investigated and features of greatest importance to achievement of 20% efficiency are indicated. Experiments to separately optimize high efficiency design features in test structures are discussed. The integration of these features in a high efficiency cell is examined. Ion implantation has been used to achieve optimal concentrations of emitter dopant and junction depth. The optimization reflects the trade-off between high sheet conductivity, necessary for high fill factor, and heavy doping effects, which must be minimized for high open circuit voltage. A second important aspect of the design experiments is the development of a passivation process to minimize front surface recombination velocity. The manner in which a thin SiO2 layer may be used for this purpose is indicated without increasing reflection losses, if the antireflection coating is properly designed. Details are presented of processing intended to reduce recombination at the contact/Si interface. Data on cell performance (including CZ and ribbon) and analysis of loss mechanisms are also presented.

Spitzer, M. B.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Mechanisms limiting the performance of large grain polycrystalline silicon solar cells

The open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current of large-grain (1 to 10 mm grain diameter) polycrystalline silicon solar cells is determined by the minority-carrier diffusion length within the bulk of the grains. This was demonstrated by irradiating polycrystalline and single-crystal (Czochralski) silicon solar cells with 1 MeV electrons to reduce their bulk lifetime. The variation of short-circuit current with minority-carrier diffusion length for the polycrystalline solar cells is identical to that of the single-crystal solar cells. The open-circuit voltage versus short-circuit current characteristic of the polycrystalline solar cells for reduced diffusion lengths is also identical to that of the single-crystal solar cells. The open-circuit voltage of the polycrystalline solar cells is a strong function of quasi-neutral (bulk) recombination, and is reduced only slightly, if at all, by grain-boundary recombination.

Culik, J. S.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Electrical coupling effects on the temporal evolution of F layer plasma structure

A time dependent model of F region structure decay by 'classical' cross field diffusion and electrical coupling along magnetic field lines to the E region is examined. The temporal behavior of the ion concentration fluctuations is determined by the electric field in the coupled system as well as by the initial perturbation spectra and the E region recombination rate. The formation of image structure in the E region ion concentration affects the lifetime of F layer structure in a scale size dependent way. Once an image is formed, the image amplitude and the driving F region structure amplitude decay at the same rate. At large scale sizes of at least lambda(2pi/k), this rate is proportional to k2 and the ratio of the temperatures in each region. At small scale sizes it depends on the E region recombination rate and the temperatures of the two regions but is only very weakly dependent on k. The background E region concentration determines the wave number beyond which the structure amplitude decay rate is almost independent of its scale size.

Heelis, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Limiting mechanisms in large-grain polycrystalline silicon Spatial homogeneity

An experiment to investigate the spatial homogeneity of large-grain polycrystalline silicon shows a number of performance-loss mechanisms. Arrays of up to 400 small (about 0.2 sq cm in area) photodiodes were fabricated on a selection of 10 cm x 10 cm polycrystalline silicon wafers. Measurements of the illuminated current-voltage (J-V) characteristics were used to generate maps of Voc, Jsc, and FF as a function of position; and dark J-V and LBIC analysis were used to determine the cause of low performance in areas with significantly degraded J-V characteristics. In addition to the presence of inclusions, which act as resistive shunts, the performance of many of the cells is limited by quasineutral recombination current, which may vary by up to an order of magnitude across a wafer. The increase is the result of either electrically-active grain boundaries or numerous subgrain boundaries within the grain bulk. In other isolated instances, the open-circuit voltage is reduced by excess space-charge recombination current that is not correlated with either grain or subgrain boundary activity.

Culik, J.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Chemical kinetic performance losses for a hydrogen laser thermal thruster

Projected requirements for efficient, economical, orbit-raising propulsion systems have generated investigations into several potentially high specific impulse, moderate thrust, advanced systems. One of these systems, laser thermal propulsion, utilizes a high temperature plasma as the enthalpy source. The plasma is sustained by a focused laser beam which maintains the plasma temperature at levels near 20,000 K. Since such temperature levels lead to total dissociation and high ionization, the plasma thruster system potentially has a high specific impulse decrement due to recombination losses. The nozzle flow is expected to be sufficiently nonequilibrium to warrant concern over the achievable specific impluse. This investigation was an attempt at evaluation of those losses. The One-Dimensional Kinetics (ODK) option of the Two-Dimensional Kinetics (TDK) Computer Program was used with a chemical kinetics rate set obtained from available literature to determine the chemical kinetic energy losses for typical plasma thruster conditions. The rates were varied about the nominal accepted values to band the possible losses. Kinetic losses were shown to be highly significant for a laser thermal thruster using hydrogen. A 30 percent reduction in specific impulse is possible simply due to the inability to completely extract the molecular recombination energy.

Mccay, T. D.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Experimental study of the minority-carrier transport at the polysilicon-monosilicon interface

This paper presents the results of an experimental study designed to explore both qualitatively and quantitatively the mechanism of the improved current gain in bipolar transistors with polysilicon emitter contacts. Polysilicon contacts were deposited and heat treated at different conditions. The electrical properties were measured using p-n junction test structures that are much more sensitive to the contact properties than are bipolar transistors. A simple phenomenological model was used to correlate the structural properties with electrical measurements. Possible transport mechanisms are examined and estimates are made about upper bounds on transport parameters in the principal regions of the devices. The main conclusion of this study is that the minority-carrier transport in the polycrystalline silicon is dominated by a highly disordered layer at the polysilicon-monosilicon interface characterized by very low minority-carrier mobility. The effective recombination velocity at the n(+) polysilicon-n(+) monosilicon interface was found to be a strong function of fabrication conditions. The results indicate that the recombination velocity can be much smaller than 10,000 cm/s.

Neugroschel, A.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Molecular processes in a high temperature shock layer

The development of techniques for the calculation of electron capture widths, electronic wave functions, cross sections and rates needed for the description of the dissociative recombination (DR) of molecular ions with electrons were described. The cross sections and rates were calculated by using harmonic oscillator wave functions for the ion and a delta function approximation for the continuum vibrational wave function in the repulsive dissociative channel. In order to obtain DR cross sections of quantitative accuracy, a computer program which solves the one dimensional nuclear motion wave equation was revised to calculate the cross sections and rates. The program and the new results are described. Included is a discussion of large windows found in the dissociative recombination cross sections from excited ion vibrational levels. These windows have not been previously reported in the literature. The magnitude of the DR cross sections for several dissociative routes are sensitive to the location of the crossing of the neutral and ion potential curves. Studies of the effects of basis set and CI wave function size on vertical excitation energies are described. Preliminary studies on N2 and O2 using large scale wave functions are also reported.

Guberman, S. L.↗