SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Results for “contact”
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Ultraviolet random lasing from asymmetrically contacted MgZnO metal-semiconductor-metal device
Not Available
Investigation of the Interactions Between Low-Temperature Ag Paste Components and SiO2/Poly-Si(n) Contacts and the Impact on Contact Properties
Reducing poly-Si thickness to minimize parasitic absorption on a light-receiving side of a TOPCon solar cell without suffering voltage losses after metallization is a challenge in optimizing TOPCon performance. As an alternative to fire-through pastes, we investigate low-temperature Ag paste to SiO2/poly-Si passivating contacts through fabrication of electrical test structures to characterize the passivation quality and electrical transport across the metallized interface. With current paste chemistries, we find that solvent wetting of the poly-Si surface before evaporation and non-volatile binder resin adhesion to the surface after curing are major impediments which prevent Ag contact formation. However, low- resistance poly-Si/Ag interfaces formed with physical vapour deposition similarly degrade after annealing, indicating contacting issues related to the Ag content even in the absence of the organic paste components.
Self-Aligned Selective Area Front Contacts on Poly -Si/SiO x Passivating Contact c -Si Solar Cells
We report both polarity poly-Si/SiO x passivating contacts in a front/back device configuration may represent the next solar cell architecture after tunnel oxide passivating contacts (TOPCon) cells, but high parasitic absorption in the front poly -Si layer often limits its performance. This work explores a wet etching technique to remove the front poly -Si in the nonmetallized regions using self-aligned metal grids as an etch mask. We systematically examine various dielectric layers (SiN x ,Al 2 O 3 , and stacks thereof) to study the repassivation of the etched n + surface, and find that an SiN x /Al 2 O 3 passivation stack can effectively repassivate the etched surface, which we attribute to field-effect passivation from the positive fixed charge from the SiN x layer, and excellent chemical passivation property from Al 2 O 3 in the form of atomic H. We demonstrate a front/back poly-Si/SiO x passivating contact device, with an open-circuit voltage (V oc ) of 690 mV, short-circuit current density (J sc ) of 39.8 mA/cm 2 , fill factor of 78%, and power conversion efficiency of 21.4%. Furthermore, simulations using SunSolve and Quokka 3 show good agreement with both the optical and electrical properties of the experimental device. The power loss analysis reveals improvements in the optical loss from the back Ti adhesion and front SiN x layers would lead to a 23.5% device. Lastly, a techno-economic model compares the production cost of this improved cell with the current TOPCon cells. Our results highlight that further cost reductions in single-sided doped poly -Si layers are needed to compete with mainstream passivated emitter and rear cell, and TOPCon technologies.
Large area tunnel oxide passivated rear contact n -type Si solar cells with 21.2% efficiency: Large area tunnel oxide passivated rear contact n -type Si solar cells
This paper reports on the implementation of carrier-selective tunnel oxide passivated rear contact for high-efficiency screen-printed large area n-type front junction crystalline Si solar cells. It is shown that the tunnel oxide grown in nitric acid at room temperature (25°C) and capped with n+ polysilicon layer provides excellent rear contact passivation with implied open-circuit voltage iVoc of 714mV and saturation current density J0b of 10.3 fA/cm2 for the back surface field region. The durability of this passivation scheme is also investigated for a back-end high temperature process. In combination with an ion-implanted Al2O3-passivated boron emitter and screen-printed front metal grids, this passivated rear contact enabled 21.2% efficient front junction Si solar cells on 239 cm2 commercial grade n-type Czochralski wafers.
Recombination and Resistive Losses of Transferred Foil Contacts for Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells
Not provided.
Design, development and analysis of large-area industrial silicon solar cells featuring a full area polysilicon based passivating contact on the rear and selective passivating contacts on the front
We present SERIS’ biPoly™ technology platform on large-area (M2), n-type rear-junction silicon solar cells featuring selective poly-Si/SiOx based passivated contacts on the front side and full-area poly-Si/SiOx contacts on the rear. The selective poly-Si ‘fingers’ are formed using an industrial ink-jet masking process followed by wet-chemical etching. The metal contacts are formed by an industrial screen-printing process using high-temperature fire-though metal pastes. We obtain excellent passivation on the front and rear surfaces, resulting in iVoc values between 720 mV and 730 mV on unmetallized solar cells. After high-temperature metallization, we achieve 22% efficiency on solar cells with selective poly-Si fingers on the front. We further develop the model for biPoly™ solar cells and with the help of a detailed loss analysis and simulations, identify the various loss components to identify the device modifications required for efficiency improvements.
Fatigue resistant carbon coatings for rolling/sliding contacts
Not Available
The comprehensive study and the reduction of contact resistivity on the n-InGaAs M-I-S contact system with different inserted insulators
Five different kinds of insulators including BaTiO{sub 3}, TiO{sub 2}, Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}, CdO and ZnO on the n-type InGaAs metal-insulator-semiconductor (M-I-S) ohmic contact structure are studied. The effect for the dielectric constant (ε) of inserted insulator and the conduction band offset (CBO) between an insulator and semiconductor substrate is analyzed by a unified M-I-S contact model. Based on the theoretical model and experimental data, we demonstrates that the inserted ZnO insulator with the high electron affinity and the low CBO (∼0.1 eV) to the InGaAs substrate results in ∼10 times contact resistivity reduction, even the ε of ZnO is not pretty high (∼10)
Efficient Crystalline Si Solar Cell with Amorphous/Crystalline Silicon Heterojunction as Back Contact: Preprint
We study an amorphous/crystalline silicon heterojunction (Si HJ) as a back contact in industrial standard p-type five-inch pseudo-square wafer to replace Al back surface field (BSF) contact. The best efficiency in this study is over 17% with open-circuit (Voc) of 0.623 V, which is very similar to the control cell with Al BSF. We found that Voc has not been improved with the heterojunctionstructure in the back. The typical minority carrier lifetime of these wafers is on the order of 10 us. We also found that the doping levels of p-layer affect the FF due to conductivity and band gap shifting, and an optimized layer is identified. We conclude that an amorphous/crystalline silicon heterojunction can be a very promising structure to replace Al BSF back contact.
Temperature dependence of contact resistance for Au-Ti-Pd{sub 2}Si-n{sup +}-Si ohmic contacts subjected to microwave irradiation
Based on a theoretical analysis of the temperature dependence of the contact resistance R{sub c} for an Au-Ti-Pd{sub 2}Si-n{sup +}-Si ohmic contact, a current-transfer mechanism explaining the experimentally observed increase in R{sub c} in the temperature range 100-380 K is proposed. It is shown that microwave treatment of such contacts results in a decrease in the spread of R{sub c} over the wafer and a decrease in the value of R{sub c} whilst retaining an increase in R{sub c} in the temperatures range 100-380 K.
Search for contact interactions and large extra dimensions in the dilepton channel using proton–proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
Research is conducted for non-resonant new phenomena in dielectron and dimuon final states, originating from either contact interactions or large extra spatial dimensions. The LHC 2012 proton–proton collision dataset recorded by the ATLAS detector is used, corresponding to 20 fb –1 at √s = 8 TeV. The dilepton invariant mass spectrum is a discriminating variable in both searches, with the contact interaction search additionally utilizing the dilepton forward-backward asymmetry. No significant deviations from the Standard Model expectation are observed. Lower limits are set on the ℓℓqq contact interaction scale Λ between 15.4 TeV and 26.3 TeV, at the 95% credibility level. For large extra spatial dimensions, lower limits are set on the string scale MS between 3.2 TeV to 5.0 TeV.
On the structure of contact binaries. I - The contact discontinuity
The problem of the interior structure of contact binaries is reviewed, and a simple resolution of the difficulties which plague the theory is suggested. It is proposed that contact binaries contain a contact discontinuity between the lower surface of the common envelope and the Roche lobe of the cooler star. This discontinuity is maintained against thermal diffusion by fluid flow, and the transition layer is thin to the extent that the dynamical time scale is short in comparison with the thermal time scale. The idealization that the transition layer has infinitesimal thickness allows a simple formulation of the structure equations which are closed by appropriate jump conditions across the discontinuity. The further imposition of the standard boundary conditions suffices to define a unique model for the system once the chemical composition, the masses of the two stars, and the orbital separation are specified.
Effect of realistic metal electronic structure on the lower limit of contact resistivity of epitaxial metal-semiconductor contacts
The effect of realistic metal electronic structure on the lower limit of resistivity in [100] oriented n-Si is investigated using full band Density Functional Theory and Semi-Empirical Tight Binding calculations. It is shown that the “ideal metal” assumption may fail in some situations and, consequently, underestimate the lower limit of contact resistivity in n-Si by at least an order of magnitude at high doping concentrations. The mismatch in transverse momentum space in the metal and the semiconductor, the so-called “valley filtering effect,” is shown to be sensitive to the details of the transverse boundary conditions for the unit cells used. The results emphasize the need for explicit inclusion of the metal atomic and electronic structure in the atomistic modeling of transport across metal-semiconductor contacts.
A multi-wavelength, high-contrast contact radiography system for the study of low-density aerogel foams
A multi wavelength, high contrast contact radiography system has been developed to characterize density variations in ultralow density aerogel foams. These foams are used to generate a ramped pressure drive in materials strength experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and require precision characterization in order to reduce errors in measurements. Here, the system was used to characterize density variations in carbon and silicon based aerogels to ~10.3% accuracy with ~30 μm spatial resolution. The system description, performance and measurement results collected using a 17.8 mg/cc carbon based JX–6 (C 20 H 30 ) aerogel are discussed in this paper.