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Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Guiyang Polysource Silicon Co Ltd Formerly Jiayuan Sunshine Guiyang Hi New
Open Energy Info (EERE)
Guiyang Polysource Silicon Co Ltd Formerly Jiayuan Sunshine Guiyang Hi New Guiyang Polysource Silicon Co Ltd Formerly Jiayuan Sunshine Guiyang Hi New Sunshine Technology Jump to: navigation, search Name Guiyang Polysource Silicon Co Ltd (Formerly Jiayuan Sunshine, Guiyang Hi-New Sunshine Technology) Place Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China Sector Solar Product A Chinese solar grade silicon producer using metallurgical method. Coordinates 26.571899°, 106.700111° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":26.571899,"lon":106.700111,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Silicon Microrefrigerator
E-Print Network (OSTI)
We fabricated a silicon microrefrigerator on a 500-mu m-thick substrate with the standard integrated circuit (IC) fabrication process. The cooler achieves a maximum cooling of 1 degrees C below ambient at room temperature. Simulations show that the cooling power density for a 40 x 40 mu m(2) device exceeds 500 W/cm(2). The unique three-dimensional (3-D) geometry, current and heat spreading, different from conventional one-dimensional (1-D) thermoelectric device, contribute to this large cooling power density. A 3-D finite element electrothermal model is used to analyze non-ideal factors inside the device and predict its limits. The simulation results show that in the ideal situation, with low contact resistance, bulk silicon with 3-D geometry could cool similar to 20 degrees C with a cooling power density of 1000 W/cm(2) despite the low thermoelectric figure-of-merit (ZT) of the material. The large cooling power density is due to the geometry dependent heat and current spreading in the device. The non-uniformity of current and Joule heating inside the substrate also contributes to the maximum cooling of silicon microrefrigerator, exceeding 30 % limit given in one-dimensional thermoelectric theory Delta T-max = 0.5ZT(c)(2) where T-c is the cold side temperature. These devices can be used c to remove hot spots
Y Zhang; G H. Zeng; A Shakouri; Yan Zhang; Gehong Zeng; Ali Shakouri
Hybrid silicon nanocrystal silicon nitride dynamic random access memory
Science Conference Proceedings (OSTI)
This paper introduces a silicon nanocrystal-silicon nitride hybrid single transistor cell for potential dynamic RAM (DRAM) applications that stores charge in silicon nanocrystals or a silicon nitride charge trapping layer or both. The memory operates ...
R. F. Steimle; M. Sadd; R. Muralidhar; Rajesh Rao; B. Hradsky; S. Straub; B. E. White, Jr.
multicrystalline silicon
DOE Green Energy (OSTI)
This manuscript concerns the application of infrared birefringence imaging (IBI) to quantify macroscopic and microscopic internal stresses in multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cell materials. We review progress to date, and advance four closely related topics. (1) We present a method to decouple macroscopic thermally-induced residual stresses and microscopic bulk defect related stresses. In contrast to previous reports, thermally-induced residual stresses in wafer-sized samples are generally found to be less than 5 MPa, while defect-related stresses can be several times larger. (2) We describe the unique IR birefringence signatures, including stress magnitudes and directions, of common microdefects in mc-Si solar cell materials including: {beta}-SiC and {beta}-Si{sub 3}N{sub 4} microdefects, twin bands, nontwin grain boundaries, and dislocation bands. In certain defects, local stresses up to 40 MPa can be present. (3) We relate observed stresses to other topics of interest in solar cell manufacturing, including transition metal precipitation, wafer mechanical strength, and minority carrier lifetime. (4) We discuss the potential of IBI as a quality-control technique in industrial solar cell manufacturing.
Ganapati, Vidya; Schoenfelder, Stephan; Castellanos, Sergio; Oener, Sebastian; Koepge, Ringo; Sampson, Aaron; Marcus, Matthew A.; Lai, Barry; Morhenn, Humphrey; Hahn, Giso; Bagdahn, Joerg; Buonassisi1, Tonio
Advanced silicon photonic modulators
Various electrical and optical schemes used in Mach-Zehnder (MZ) silicon plasma dispersion effect modulators are explored. A rib waveguide reverse biased silicon diode modulator is designed, tested and found to operate at ...
Sorace, Cheryl M
Crystalline Silicon Photovolatic Cells
Energy.gov (U.S. Department of Energy (DOE))
Crystalline silicon cells are made of silicon atoms connected to one another to form a crystal lattice. This lattice comprises the solid material that forms the photovoltaic (PV) cell's...
Silicon solar cell assembly
DOE Patents (OSTI)
A silicon solar cell assembly comprising a large, thin silicon solar cell bonded to a metal mount for use when there exists a mismatch in the thermal expansivities of the device and the mount.
Burgess, Edward L. (Albuquerque, NM); Nasby, Robert D. (Albuquerque, NM); Schueler, Donald G. (Albuquerque, NM)
Solar Cell Silicon
Jul 31, 2011 ... About this Symposium. Meeting, 2012 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium, Solar Cell Silicon. Sponsorship, The Minerals, Metals�...
Electrodeposition of molten silicon
Silicon dioxide is dissolved in a molten electrolytic bath, preferably comprising barium oxide and barium fluoride. A direct current is passed between an anode and a cathode in the bath to reduce the dissolved silicon dioxide to non-alloyed silicon in molten form, which is removed from the bath.
De Mattei, Robert C. (Sunnyvale, CA); Elwell, Dennis (Palo Alto, CA); Feigelson, Robert S. (Saratoga, CA)
Hydrogenated amorphous silicon photonics.
??Silicon Photonics is quickly proving to be a suitable interconnect technology for meeting the future goals of on-chip bandwidth and low power requirements. However, it� (more)
Narayanan, Karthik
... continued and costs have been cut dramatically along the production value chain. The most important feedstock for crystalline solar cells is high purity silicon .
Silicon Refining II
Research on the Forecast Model of the Boron Removal from Metallurgical Grade ... sufficient level of silicon quality together with relatively low production cost.
Nonoriented Silicon Steels
Table 2 Silicon contents, mass densities, and applications of electrical steel sheet and strip...generally used in distribution transformers. Energy savings improve with
Thermally Oxidized Silicon
NLE Websites -- All DOE Office Websites (Extended Search)
Anneli Munkholm (Lumileds Lighting) and Sean Brennan (SSRL) Anneli Munkholm (Lumileds Lighting) and Sean Brennan (SSRL) Illustration of the silicon positions near the Si-SiO2 interface for a 4° miscut projected onto the ( ) plane. The silicon atoms in the substrate are blue and those in the oxide are red. The small black spots represent the translated silicon positions in the absence of static disorder. The silicon atoms in the oxide have been randomly assigned a magnitude and direction based on the static disorder value at that position in the lattice. The outline of four silicon unit cells is shown in black, whereas the outline of four expanded lattice cells in the oxide is shown in blue One of the most studied devices of modern technology is the field-effect transistor, which is the basis for most integrated circuits. At its heart
Enabling Thin Silicon Solar Cell Technology
Enabling Thin Silicon Solar Cell Technology Enabling Thin Silicon Solar Cell Technology Print Friday, 21 June 2013 10:49 Generic silicon solar cells showing +45, -45, and...
Experimental and Molecular Simulation Studies of Silicon ...
Symposium, Solar Cell Silicon ... On the Segregation of Impurities in Solar Silicon ... Silicon PV Wafers: Correlation of Mechanical Properties and Crack�...
Silicon Production and Refining
Mar 6, 2013 ... The photovoltaic (PV) industry is in rapid growth and a large supply of solar grade silicon (SoG-Si) feedstock must be provided to response the�...
Silicon MOS inductor
A device made of amorphous silicon which exhibits inductive properties at certain voltage biases and in certain frequency ranges in described. Devices of the type described can be made in integrated circuit form.
Balberg, Isaac (Princeton, NJ)
Silicon nanocrystal memories
In this paper, we present an overview of memory structures fabricated by our group by using silicon nanocrystals as storage nodes. These devices show promising characteristics as candidates for future deep-submicron non-volatile memories.
S. Lombardo; B. De Salvo; C. Gerardi; T. Baron
Silicon web process development
Silicon dendritic web is a ribbon form of silicon produced from the melt without die shaping, and capable of fabrication into solar cells with greater than 15% AM1 conversion efficiency. This quarterly report describes the work carried out during the period April to June 1980, as part of Phase III of a DOE/JPL-sponsored effort to develop silicon web process technology compatible with the national goals for low cost photovoltaic output power. We have successfully demonstrated eight hours of silicon web growth with closed loop melt level control, a key contract milestone. The result was achieved using a feedback system in which the change in output from a laser melt level sensor was used to control the rate at which silicon pellets were fed to replace the material frozen into web crystal. The melt level was controlled to about +- 0.1mm, well within the range required for stable long term web growth. This is an important step toward the development of a fully automated silicon web growth machine. A second major highlight of this quarter was the completion of an engineering design for a semi-automated web growth machine embodying all the desired features developed so far as part of this program (including e.g. melt replenishment, level sensing and control) as well as some system simplifications. The completed design will serve as a basis for complete system automation.
Duncan, C.S.; Seidensticker, R.G.; McHugh, J.P.; Skutch, M.E.; Hopkins, R.H.
Silicon Wafers for the Mesoscopic Era
... Silicon: Surface COPS - Capacitor Defect ... CoO - Wafer Diameter � Expand interaction with Super Silicon Initiative and maintain ...
Akros Silicon | Open Energy Information
Akros Silicon Akros Silicon Jump to: navigation, search Name Akros Silicon Place Folsom, California Zip 95630 Product Akros Silicon specilizes in fabless semicondutors used for Power Over Ethernet, networks, and broadband. References Akros Silicon[1] LinkedIn Connections CrunchBase Profile No CrunchBase profile. Create one now! This article is a stub. You can help OpenEI by expanding it. Akros Silicon is a company located in Folsom, California . References ↑ "Akros Silicon" Retrieved from "http://en.openei.org/w/index.php?title=Akros_Silicon&oldid=341960" Categories: Clean Energy Organizations Companies Organizations Stubs What links here Related changes Special pages Printable version Permanent link Browse properties 429 Throttled (bot load) Error 429 Throttled (bot load)
It's Elemental - The Element Silicon
Number: 3 Group Number: 14 Group Name: none What's in a name? From the Latin word for flint, silex. Say what? Silicon is pronounced as SIL-ee-ken. History and Uses: Silicon was...
Micromachined silicon electrostatic chuck
In the field of microelectronics, and in particular the fabrication of microelectronics during plasma etching processes, electrostatic chucks have been used to hold silicon wafers during the plasma etching process. Current electrostatic chucks that operate by the {open_quotes}Johnson-Rahbek Effect{close_quotes} consist of a metallic base plate that is typically coated with a thick layer of slightly conductive dielectric material. A silicon wafer of approximately the same size as the chuck is placed on top of the chuck and a potential difference of several hundred volts is applied between the silicon and the base plate of the electrostatic chuck. This causes an electrostatic attraction proportional to the square of the electric field in the gap between the silicon wafer and the chuck face. When the chuck is used in a plasma filled chamber the electric potential of the wafer tends to be fixed by the effective potential of the plasma. The purpose of the dielectric layer on the chuck is to prevent the silicon wafer from coming into direct electrical contact with the metallic part of the chuck and shorting out the potential difference. On the other hand, a small amount of conductivity appears to be desirable in the dielectric coating so that much of its free surface between points of contact with the silicon wafer is maintained near the potential of the metallic base plate; otherwise, a much larger potential difference would be needed to produce a sufficiently large electric field in the vacuum gap between the wafer and chuck. Typically, the face of the chuck has a pattern of grooves in which about 10 torr pressure of helium gas is maintained. This gas provides cooling (thermal contact) between the wafer and the chuck. A pressure of 10 torr is equivalent to about 0.2 psi.
Anderson, R.A.; Seager, C.H.
Electrochemical thinning of silicon
Porous semiconducting material, e.g. silicon, is formed by electrochemical treatment of a specimen in hydrofluoric acid, using the specimen as anode. Before the treatment, the specimen can be masked. The porous material is then etched with a caustic solution or is oxidized, depending of the kind of structure desired, e.g. a thinned specimen, a specimen, a patterned thinned specimen, a specimen with insulated electrical conduits, and so on. Thinned silicon specimen can be subjected to tests, such as measurement of interstitial oxygen by Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR). 14 figures.
Medernach, J.W.
Crystalline silicon processing
This presentation (consisting of vugraphs) first provides the background motivation for Sandia`s effort for the development of improved crystalline silicon solar cells. It then discusses specific results and progress, and concludes with a brief discussion of options for next year.
Basore, P.A.
Amorphous silicon radiation detectors
Hydrogenated amorphous silicon radiation detector devices having enhanced signal are disclosed. Specifically provided are transversely oriented electrode layers and layered detector configurations of amorphous silicon, the structure of which allow high electric fields upon application of a bias thereby beneficially resulting in a reduction in noise from contact injection and an increase in signal including avalanche multiplication and gain of the signal produced by incoming high energy radiation. These enhanced radiation sensitive devices can be used as measuring and detection means for visible light, low energy photons and high energy ionizing particles such as electrons, x-rays, alpha particles, beta particles and gamma radiation. Particular utility of the device is disclosed for precision powder crystallography and biological identification.
Street, Robert A. (Palo Alto, CA); Perez-Mendez, Victor (Berkeley, CA); Kaplan, Selig N. (El Cerrito, CA)
Hydrogenated amorphous silicon radiation detector devices having enhanced signal are disclosed. Specifically provided are transversely oriented electrode layers and layered detector configurations of amorphous silicon, the structure of which allow high electric fields upon application of a bias thereby beneficially resulting in a reduction in noise from contact injection and an increase in signal including avalanche multiplication and gain of the signal produced by incoming high energy radiation. These enhanced radiation sensitive devices can be used as measuring and detection means for visible light, low energy photons and high energy ionizing particles such as electrons, x-rays, alpha particles, beta particles and gamma radiation. Particular utility of the device is disclosed for precision powder crystallography and biological identification. 13 figs.
Street, R.A.; Perez-Mendez, V.; Kaplan, S.N.
Modified silicon carbide whiskers
Silicon carbide whisker-reinforced ceramic composites are fabricated in a highly reproducible manner by beneficating the surfaces of the silicon carbide whiskers prior to their usage in the ceramic composites. The silicon carbide whiskers which contain considerable concentrations of surface oxides and other impurities which interact with the ceramic composite material to form a chemical bond are significantly reduced so that only a relatively weak chemical bond is formed between the whisker and the ceramic material. Thus, when the whiskers interact with a crack propagating into the composite the crack is diverted or deflected along the whisker-matrix interface due to the weak chemical bonding so as to deter the crack propagation through the composite. The depletion of the oxygen-containing compounds and other impurities on the whisker surfaces and near surface region is effected by heat treating the whiskers in a suitable oxygen sparging atmosphere at elevated temperatures. Additionally, a sedimentation technique may be utilized to remove whiskers which suffer structural and physical anomalies which render them undesirable for use in the composite. Also, a layer of carbon may be provided on the surface of the whiskers to further inhibit chemical bonding of the whiskers to the ceramic composite material.
Tiegs, T.N.; Lindemer, T.B.
Silicon carbide whisker-reinforced ceramic composites are fabricated in a highly reproducible manner by beneficating the surfaces of the silicon carbide whiskers prior to their usage in the ceramic composites. The silicon carbide whiskers which contain considerable concentrations of surface oxides and other impurities which interact with the ceramic composite material to form a chemical bond are significantly reduced so that only a relatively weak chemical bond is formed between the whisker and the ceramic material. Thus, when the whiskers interact with a crack propagating into the composite the crack is diverted or deflected along the whisker-matrix interface due to the weak chemical bonding so as to deter the crack propagation through the composite. The depletion of the oxygen-containing compounds and other impurities on the whisker surfaces and near surface region is effected by heat treating the whiskers in a suitable oxygen sparaging atmosphere at elevated temperatures. Additionally, a sedimentation technique may be utilized to remove whiskers which suffer structural and physical anomalies which render them undesirable for use in the composite. Also, a layer of carbon may be provided on the surface of the whiskers to further inhibit chemical bonding of the whiskers to the ceramic composite material.
Tiegs, Terry N. (Lenoir City, TN); Lindemer, Terrence B. (Oak Ridge, TN)
Silicon Cells | Open Energy Information
Cells Cells Jump to: navigation, search Name Silicon Cells Place United Kingdom Product Technology developer based upon a low cost method of processing silicon to produce a new generation of high energy density batteries. References Silicon Cells[1] LinkedIn Connections CrunchBase Profile No CrunchBase profile. Create one now! This article is a stub. You can help OpenEI by expanding it. Silicon Cells is a company located in United Kingdom . References ↑ "Silicon Cells" Retrieved from "http://en.openei.org/w/index.php?title=Silicon_Cells&oldid=351081" Categories: Clean Energy Organizations Companies Organizations Stubs What links here Related changes Special pages Printable version Permanent link Browse properties About us Disclaimers Energy blogs
The Quest for Inexpensive Silicon Solar Cells
To learn more about NREL's silicon solar cell research, visit the Silicon Materials and Devices Web site. Did you find what you needed? Yes No. Thank ...
Implementation Challenges for Sintered Silicon Carbide Fiber ...
The sintered silicon carbide fiber bonded ceramics have been fabricated by the hot pressing and sintering of silicon carbide fibers. However, in this system�...
Nanostructured plasmonics silicon solar cells
We report a plasmonics silicon solar cell design, with the possibility of lower cost and higher efficiency. The proposed solar cell consists of a radial p-n junction silicon nanopillar arrays in combination with metallic nanoparticles resolved at the ... Keywords: Antireflection coating, Optical absorption, Power conversion efficiency, Solar cells
Pushpa Raj Pudasaini, Arturo A. Ayon
Compensated amorphous silicon solar cell
An amorphous silicon solar cell incorporates a region of intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon fabricated by a glow discharge wherein said intrinsic region is compensated by P-type dopants in an amount sufficient to reduce the space charge density of said region under illumination to about zero.
Carlson, David E. (Yardley, PA)
SciTech Connect
An amorphous silicon solar cell including an electrically conductive substrate, a layer of glow discharge deposited hydrogenated amorphous silicon over said substrate and having regions of differing conductivity with at least one region of intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon. The layer of hydrogenated amorphous silicon has opposed first and second major surfaces where the first major surface contacts the electrically conductive substrate and an electrode for electrically contacting the second major surface. The intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon region is deposited in a glow discharge with an atmosphere which includes not less than about 0.02 atom percent mono-atomic boron. An improved N.I.P. solar cell is disclosed using a BF.sub.3 doped intrinsic layer.
Devaud, Genevieve (629 S. Humphrey Ave., Oak Park, IL 60304)
Micromachined silicon seismic transducers
Batch-fabricated silicon seismic transducers could revolutionize the discipline of CTBT monitoring by providing inexpensive, easily depolyable sensor arrays. Although our goal is to fabricate seismic sensors that provide the same performance level as the current state-of-the-art ``macro`` systems, if necessary one could deploy a larger number of these small sensors at closer proximity to the location being monitored in order to compensate for lower performance. We have chosen a modified pendulum design and are manufacturing prototypes in two different silicon micromachining fabrication technologies. The first set of prototypes, fabricated in our advanced surface- micromachining technology, are currently being packaged for testing in servo circuits -- we anticipate that these devices, which have masses in the 1--10 {mu}g range, will resolve sub-mG signals. Concurrently, we are developing a novel ``mold`` micromachining technology that promises to make proof masses in the 1--10 mg range possible -- our calculations indicate that devices made in this new technology will resolve down to at least sub-{mu}G signals, and may even approach to 10{sup {minus}10} G/{radical}Hz acceleration levels found in the low-earth-noise model.
Barron, C.C.; Fleming, J.G.; Sniegowski, J.J.; Armour, D.L.; Fleming, R.P.
Cordierite silicon nitride filters
The objective of this project was to develop a silicon nitride based crossflow filter. This report summarizes the findings and results of the project. The project was phased with Phase I consisting of filter material development and crossflow filter design. Phase II involved filter manufacturing, filter testing under simulated conditions and reporting the results. In Phase I, Cordierite Silicon Nitride (CSN) was developed and tested for permeability and strength. Target values for each of these parameters were established early in the program. The values were met by the material development effort in Phase I. The crossflow filter design effort proceeded by developing a macroscopic design based on required surface area and estimated stresses. Then the thermal and pressure stresses were estimated using finite element analysis. In Phase II of this program, the filter manufacturing technique was developed, and the manufactured filters were tested. The technique developed involved press-bonding extruded tiles to form a filter, producing a monolithic filter after sintering. Filters manufactured using this technique were tested at Acurex and at the Westinghouse Science and Technology Center. The filters did not delaminate during testing and operated and high collection efficiency and good cleanability. Further development in areas of sintering and filter design is recommended.
Sawyer, J.; Buchan, B. (Acurex Environmental Corp., Mountain View, CA (United States)); Duiven, R.; Berger, M. (Aerotherm Corp., Mountain View, CA (United States)); Cleveland, J.; Ferri, J. (GTE Products Corp., Towanda, PA (United States))
Silicon-doped boron nitride coated fibers in silicon melt infiltrated composites
A fiber-reinforced silicon-silicon carbide matrix composite having improved oxidation resistance at high temperatures in dry or water-containing environments is produced. The invention also provides a method for protecting the reinforcing fibers in the silicon-silicon carbide matrix composites by coating the fibers with a silicon-doped boron nitride coating.
Corman, Gregory Scot (Ballston Lake, NY); Luthra, Krishan Lal (Schenectady, NY)
A fiber-reinforced silicon--silicon carbide matrix composite having improved oxidation resistance at high temperatures in dry or water-containing environments is produced. The invention also provides a method for protecting the reinforcing fibers in the silicon--silicon carbide matrix composites by coating the fibers with a silicon-doped boron nitride coating.
Corman, G.S.; Luthra, K.L.
Silicon nitride ceramic comprising samaria and ytterbia
This invention relates to a sintered silicon nitride ceramic comprising samaria and ytterbia for enhanced toughness.
Yeckley, Russell L. (Oakham, MA)
Process for forming retrograde profiles in silicon
A process for forming retrograde and oscillatory profiles in crystalline and polycrystalline silicon. The process consisting of introducing an n- or p-type dopant into the silicon, or using prior doped silicon, then exposing the silicon to multiple pulses of a high-intensity laser or other appropriate energy source that melts the silicon for short time duration. Depending on the number of laser pulses directed at the silicon, retrograde profiles with peak/surface dopant concentrations which vary from 1-1e4 are produced. The laser treatment can be performed in air or in vacuum, with the silicon at room temperature or heated to a selected temperature.
Weiner, Kurt H. (San Jose, CA); Sigmon, Thomas W. (Phoenix, AZ)
Deposited Silicon Photonics: Optical Interconnect Devices In Polycrystalline Silicon .
??Silicon photonics has tremendous potential to provide high-bandwidth and low-power data communication for applications such as computing and telecommunication, over length scales ranging from 100� (more)
Preston, Kyle
Concentrator silicon cell research
This project continued the developments of high-efficiency silicon concentrator solar cells with the goal of achieving a cell efficiency in the 26 to 27 percent range at a concentration level of 150 suns of greater. The target efficiency was achieved with the new PERL (passivated emitter, rear locally diffused) cell structure, but only at low concentration levels around 20 suns. The PERL structure combines oxide passivation of both top and rear surfaces of the cells with small area contact to heavily doped regions on the top and rear surfaces. Efficiency in the 22 to 23 percent range was also demonstrated for large-area concentrator cells fabricated with the buried contact solar cell processing sequence, either when combined with prismatic covers or with other innovative approaches to reduce top contact shadowing. 19 refs.
Green, M.A.; Wenham, S.R.; Zhang, F.; Zhao, J.; Wang, A. [New South Wales Univ., Kensington (Australia). Solar Photovoltaic Lab.
Silicone plesiotherapy molds
Plesiotherapy, the treatment of superficial lesions by radioactive molds has largely been replaced by teletherapy techniques involving high energy photon and electron beams. There are, however, situations for which a short distance type treatment, in one form or another, is superior to any other presently available. Traditionally, molds have taken the form of rigid devices incorporating clamps to attach them to the patient. This ensures a reproducible geometry about a localized region since the molds are applied on a daily basis. To make such devices requires considerable skill and patience. This article describes an alternative method that eliminates the use of cumbersome devices in many situations. Silicone molds made from a plaster cast model have been found suitable for the treatment of surface lesions and especially for lesions in the oral and nasal cavities. With the use of radioactive gold seeds the molds may be left in place for a few days without fear of them moving.
Karolis, C.; Reay-Young, P.S.; Walsh, W.; Velautham, G.
Stress Management: Revealing Defects in Thin Silicon Films
caused by the manufacturing process for strained-silicon films. Strained silicon is a new, rapidly developing material for building enhanced-performance silicon-based...
Nano fabrication of silicon fins.
??We describe the formation of silicon micro- and nano-fins, with (111)-plane sidewall facets, for selective sidewall epitaxy of III-Nitride semiconductors. The fins were produced by� (more)
Liu, Lianci
Direct Production of Silicones From Sand
Silicon, in the form of silica and silicates, is the second most abundant element in the earth's crust. However the synthesis of silicones (scheme 1) and almost all organosilicon chemistry is only accessible through elemental silicon. Silicon dioxide (sand or quartz) is converted to chemical-grade elemental silicon in an energy intensive reduction process, a result of the exceptional thermodynamic stability of silica. Then, the silicon is reacted with methyl chloride to give a mixture of methylchlorosilanes catalyzed by cooper containing a variety of tract metals such as tin, zinc etc. The so-called direct process was first discovered at GE in 1940. The methylchlorosilanes are distilled to purify and separate the major reaction components, the most important of which is dimethyldichlorosilane. Polymerization of dimethyldichlorosilane by controlled hydrolysis results in the formation of silicone polymers. Worldwide, the silicones industry produces about 1.3 billion pounds of the basic silicon polymer, polydimethylsiloxane.
Larry N. Lewis; F.J. Schattenmann: J.P. Lemmon
c October 29, 1942 a 1 1 _MIGH aECTgFXCATIOH - BY SILICON CRYSTALS . . c .. I n. The excellent pesformmce of Brftieh "red dot" c r y s t a l s f e explained R R due t o the kgife edge contact i n a t A polfehod ~ X ' f l i C B o H i g h frequency m c t l f f c n t f o n 8ependre c r i t i c a l l y on the ape%e;y of the rectifytnc boundary layer o f the crystal, C, For hl#$ comvere~on e f f i c i e n c y , the product c d t h i ~ capacity m a o f ' t h e @forward" (bulk) re-. sistance Rb o f the crystnl must b@ sm%P, depende primarily on the breadth of tha b f f e edge i t s lbngth. The contact am &harefore ~ E L V Q a rather large area wMQh prevents burn-out, thh3 t h e breadth of &h@ knife edge should be bdt8~1 than E~$O$B% % f I - ' amo For a knife edge, this produet very 14ttle upom For a wavsIL~n+3tih of PO emo the eowp,o%a%8sne 4
Laser wafering for silicon solar.
Current technology cuts solar Si wafers by a wire saw process, resulting in 50% 'kerf' loss when machining silicon from a boule or brick into a wafer. We want to develop a kerf-free laser wafering technology that promises to eliminate such wasteful wire saw processes and achieve up to a ten-fold decrease in the g/W{sub p} (grams/peak watt) polysilicon usage from the starting polysilicon material. Compared to today's technology, this will also reduce costs ({approx}20%), embodied energy, and green-house gas GHG emissions ({approx}50%). We will use short pulse laser illumination sharply focused by a solid immersion lens to produce subsurface damage in silicon such that wafers can be mechanically cleaved from a boule or brick. For this concept to succeed, we will need to develop optics, lasers, cleaving, and high throughput processing technologies capable of producing wafers with thicknesses electricity rates. Yet, this idea is largely untested and a simple demonstration is needed to provide credibility for a larger scale research and development program. The purpose of this project is to lay the groundwork to demonstrate the feasibility of laser wafering. First, to design and procure on optic train suitable for producing subsurface damage in silicon with the required damage and stress profile to promote lateral cleavage of silicon. Second, to use an existing laser to produce subsurface damage in silicon, and third, to characterize the damage using scanning electron microscopy and confocal Raman spectroscopy mapping.
Friedmann, Thomas Aquinas; Sweatt, William C.; Jared, Bradley Howell
Three dimensional amorphous silicon/microcrystalline silicon solar cells
Three dimensional deep contact amorphous silicon/microcrystalline silicon (a-Si/{micro}c-Si) solar cells are disclosed which use deep (high aspect ratio) p and n contacts to create high electric fields within the carrier collection volume material of the cell. The deep contacts are fabricated using repetitive pulsed laser doping so as to create the high aspect p and n contacts. By the provision of the deep contacts which penetrate the electric field deep into the material where the high strength of the field can collect many of the carriers, thereby resulting in a high efficiency solar cell. 4 figs.
Kaschmitter, J.L.
Three dimensional deep contact amorphous silicon/microcrystalline silicon (a-Si/.mu.c-Si) solar cells which use deep (high aspect ratio) p and n contacts to create high electric fields within the carrier collection volume material of the cell. The deep contacts are fabricated using repetitive pulsed laser doping so as to create the high aspect p and n contacts. By the provision of the deep contacts which penetrate the electric field deep into the material where the high strength of the field can collect many of the carriers, thereby resulting in a high efficiency solar cell.
Kaschmitter, James L. (Pleasanton, CA)
Photovoltaic Silicon Cell Basics | Department of Energy
Energy.gov (U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)) Indexed Site
Silicon Cell Basics Silicon Cell Basics Photovoltaic Silicon Cell Basics August 20, 2013 - 2:19pm Addthis Silicon-used to make some the earliest photovoltaic (PV) devices-is still the most popular material for solar cells. Silicon is also the second-most abundant element in the Earth's crust (after oxygen). However, to be useful as a semiconductor material in solar cells, silicon must be refined to a purity of 99.9999%. In single-crystal silicon, the molecular structure-which is the arrangement of atoms in the material-is uniform because the entire structure is grown from the same crystal. This uniformity is ideal for transferring electrons efficiently through the material. To make an effective PV cell, however, silicon has to be "doped" with other elements to make n-type and p-type layers.
Enabling Thin Silicon Solar Cell Enabling Thin Silicon Solar Cell Technology Enabling Thin Silicon Solar Cell Technology Print Friday, 21 June 2013 10:49 Generic silicon solar cells showing +45°, -45°, and dendritic crack patterns. The effort to shift U.S. energy reliance from fossil fuels to renewable sources has spurred companies to reduce the cost and increase the reliability of their solar photovoltaics (SPVs). The use of thinner silicon in SPV technologies is being widely adopted because it significantly reduces costs; however, silicon is brittle, and thinner silicon, coupled with other recent trends in SPV technologies (thinner glass, lighter or no metal frames, increased use of certain polymers for encapsulation of the silicon cells), is more susceptible to stress and cracking. When the thin
Hybrid Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuit Technology
modulators for sili- con photonics,� in Proc. IEEE Photon.J.E. Bowers, �Hybrid silicon photonics for optical Intercon-The evolution of silicon photonics as an enabling technology
Design of a silicon waver breaker
Usually multiple MEMS or IC devices are fabricated on a single silicon wafer. Manually separating the components from each other involves scribing and fracturing the silicon. This thesis presents a design for a tool to aid ...
Mukaddam, Kabir James, 1983-
Types of Silicon Used in Photovoltaics
Silicon�used to make some the earliest photovoltaic (PV) devices�is still the most popular material for solar cells. Silicon is also the second-most abundant element in the Earth's crust (after...
Nucleation and solidification of silicon for photovoltaics
The majority of solar cells produced today are made with crystalline silicon wafers, which are typically manufactured by growing a large piece of silicon and then sawing it into ~200 pm wafers, a process which converts ...
Appapillai, Anjuli T. (Anjuli Tara)
Cermet layer for amorphous silicon solar cells
A transparent high work function metal cermet forms a Schottky barrier in a Schottky barrier amorphous silicon solar cell and adheres well to the P+ layer in a PIN amorphous silicon solar cell.
Hanak, Joseph J. (Lawrenceville, NJ)
Becancour Silicon Inc BSI | Open Energy Information
to: navigation, search Name Becancour Silicon Inc (BSI) Place St. Laurent, Quebec, Canada Zip H4M2M4 Sector Solar Product Canadian supplier of silicon metal for the...
Buckeye Silicon | Open Energy Information
Silicon Silicon Jump to: navigation, search Name Buckeye Silicon Address 2600 Dorr Street - Suite 1070 Place Toledo, Ohio Zip 43606 Sector Renewable Energy, Services, Solar Product Consulting; Manufacturing;Raw materials/extraction;Refining;Research and development Website http://www.sphereenergy.net Coordinates 41.6529122°, -83.6066466° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":41.6529122,"lon":-83.6066466,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Silicon Photonics: The Inside Story
The electronic chip industry embodies the height of technological sophistication and economics of scale. Fabricating inexpensive photonic components by leveraging this mighty manufacturing infrastructure has fueled intense interest in silicon photonics. If it can be done economically and in an energy efficient manner, empowering silicon with optical functionality will bring optical communications to the realm of computers where limitations of metallic interconnects are threatening the industry's future. The field is making stunning progress and stands to have a bright future, as long as the community recognizes the real challenges, and maintains an open mind with respect to its applications. This talk will review recent 'game changing' developments and discuss promising applications beyond data communication. It will conclude with recent observation of extreme-value statistical behavior in silicon photonics, a powerful example of how scientific discoveries can unexpectedly emerge in the course of technology d...
Jalali, Bahram
Solar Cell Silicon - Programmaster.org
Jul 31, 2012 ... About this Symposium. Meeting, 2013 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium, Solar Cell Silicon. Sponsorship, TMS Extraction and�...
System and method for liquid silicon containment
This invention relates to a system and a method for liquid silicon containment, such as during the casting of high purity silicon used in solar cells or solar modules. The containment apparatus includes a shielding member adapted to prevent breaching molten silicon from contacting structural elements or cooling elements of a casting device, and a volume adapted to hold a quantity of breaching molten silicon with the volume formed by a bottom and one or more sides.
Cliber, James A; Clark, Roger F; Stoddard, Nathan G; Von Dollen, Paul
Silicon crystal growing by oscillating crucible technique
A process for growing silicon crystals from a molten melt comprising oscillating the container during crystal growth is disclosed.
Schwuttke, G.H.; Kim, K.M.; Smetana, P.
Demonstration of a silicon raman laser
The need for low-cost photonic devices has stimulated significant amount of research in silicon photonics. One avenue of this research is building active devices based on nonlinear properties of silicon. Raman effect in silicon is an attractive way of realizing these devices. In the last few years, spontaneous and stimulated Raman scattering have been demonstrated in Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides, showing the possibility of active functionalities based
Bahram Jalali; Ozdal Boyraz; Dimitri Dimitropoulos; Varun Raghunathan
Copper doped polycrystalline silicon solar cell
Photovoltaic cells having improved performance are fabricated from polycrystalline silicon containing copper segregated at the grain boundaries.
Lovelace, Alan M. Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space (La Canada, CA); Koliwad, Krishna M. (La Canada, CA); Daud, Taher (La Crescenta, CA)
Current technology cuts solar Si wafers by a wire saw process, resulting in 50% 'kerf' loss when machining silicon from a boule or brick into a wafer. We want to develop a kerf-free laser wafering technology that promises to eliminate such wasteful wire saw processes and achieve up to a ten-fold decrease in the g/W{sub p} (grams/peak watt) polysilicon usage from the starting polysilicon material. Compared to today's technology, this will also reduce costs ({approx}20%), embodied energy, and green-house gas GHG emissions ({approx}50%). We will use short pulse laser illumination sharply focused by a solid immersion lens to produce subsurface damage in silicon such that wafers can be mechanically cleaved from a boule or brick. For this concept to succeed, we will need to develop optics, lasers, cleaving, and high throughput processing technologies capable of producing wafers with thicknesses < 50 {micro}m with high throughput (< 10 sec./wafer). Wafer thickness scaling is the 'Moore's Law' of silicon solar. Our concept will allow solar manufacturers to skip entire generations of scaling and achieve grid parity with commercial electricity rates. Yet, this idea is largely untested and a simple demonstration is needed to provide credibility for a larger scale research and development program. The purpose of this project is to lay the groundwork to demonstrate the feasibility of laser wafering. First, to design and procure on optic train suitable for producing subsurface damage in silicon with the required damage and stress profile to promote lateral cleavage of silicon. Second, to use an existing laser to produce subsurface damage in silicon, and third, to characterize the damage using scanning electron microscopy and confocal Raman spectroscopy mapping.
Process of preparing tritiated porous silicon
A process of preparing tritiated porous silicon in which porous silicon is equilibrated with a gaseous vapor containing HT/T.sub.2 gas in a diluent for a time sufficient for tritium in the gas phase to replace hydrogen present in the pore surfaces of the porous silicon.
Tam, Shiu-Wing (Downers Grove, IL)
Tandem junction amorphous silicon solar cells
An amorphous silicon solar cell has an active body with two or a series of layers of hydrogenated amorphous silicon arranged in a tandem stacked configuration with one optical path and electrically interconnected by a tunnel junction. The layers of hydrogenated amorphous silicon arranged in tandem configuration can have the same bandgap or differing bandgaps.
Prealloyed catalyst for growing silicon carbide whiskers
A prealloyed metal catalyst is used to grow silicon carbide whiskers, especially in the .beta. form. Pretreating the metal particles to increase the weight percentages of carbon or silicon or both carbon and silicon allows whisker growth to begin immediately upon reaching growth temperature.
Shalek, Peter D. (Los Alamos, NM); Katz, Joel D. (Niagara Falls, NY); Hurley, George F. (Los Alamos, NM)
Erbium diffusion in silicon dioxide
Erbium diffusion in silicon dioxide layers prepared by magnetron sputtering, chemical vapor deposition, and thermal growth has been investigated by secondary ion mass spectrometry, and diffusion coefficients have been extracted from simulations based on Fick's second law of diffusion. Erbium diffusion in magnetron sputtered silicon dioxide from buried erbium distributions has in particular been studied, and in this case a simple Arrhenius law can describe the diffusivity with an activation energy of 5.3{+-}0.1 eV. Within a factor of two, the erbium diffusion coefficients at a given temperature are identical for all investigated matrices.
Lu Yingwei; Julsgaard, B.; Petersen, M. Christian [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Jensen, R. V. Skougaard [Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, Aalborg University, DK-9220 Aalborg O (Denmark); Pedersen, T. Garm; Pedersen, K. [Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, Aalborg University, DK-9220 Aalborg O (Denmark); Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center-iNANO, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Larsen, A. Nylandsted [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center-iNANO, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark)
Serial Powering of Silicon Sensors
Serial powering is a technique to provide power to a number of serially chained detector modules. It is an alternative option to independent powering that is particularly attractive when the number of modules is high, as in largescale silicon tracking detectors for particle physics. It uses a single power cable and a constant current source. On each module power is derived using local shunt regulators. Design aspects of local shunt regulators and system aspects of serial powering will be discussed. Test results and measurements obtained with a silicon strip supermodule will be presented. Specifications of radiation-hard custom serial powering circuitry will be discussed.
Villani, E G; Tyndel, M; Apsimon, R
Growth of silicon sheets for photovoltaic applications
The status of silicon sheet development for photovoltaic applications is critically reviewed. Silicon sheet growth processes are classified according to their linear growth rates. The fast growth processes, which include edge-defined film-fed growth, silicon on ceramic, dendritic-web growth, and ribbon-to-ribbon growth, are comparatively ranked subject to criteria involving growth stability, sheet productivity, impurity effects, crystallinity, and solar cell results. The status of more rapid silicon ribbon growth techniques, such as horizontal ribbon growth and melt quenching, is also reviewed. The emphasis of the discussions is on examining the viability of these sheet materials as solar cell substrates for low-cost silicon photovoltaic systems.
Surek, T.
Method for processing silicon solar cells
The instant invention teaches a novel method for fabricating silicon solar cells utilizing concentrated solar radiation. The solar radiation is concentrated by use of a solar furnace which is used to form a front surface junction and back-surface field in one processing step. The present invention also provides a method of making multicrystalline silicon from amorphous silicon. The invention also teaches a method of texturing the surface of a wafer by forming a porous silicon layer on the surface of a silicon substrate and a method of gettering impurities. Also contemplated by the invention are methods of surface passivation, forming novel solar cell structures, and hydrogen passivation. 2 figs.
Tsuo, Y.S.; Landry, M.D.; Pitts, J.R.
The instant invention teaches a novel method for fabricating silicon solar cells utilizing concentrated solar radiation. The solar radiation is concentrated by use of a solar furnace which is used to form a front surface junction and back-surface field in one processing step. The present invention also provides a method of making multicrystallline silicon from amorphous silicon. The invention also teaches a method of texturing the surface of a wafer by forming a porous silicon layer on the surface of a silicon substrate and a method of gettering impurities. Also contemplated by the invention are methods of surface passivation, forming novel solar cell structures, and hydrogen passivation.
Tsuo, Y. Simon (Golden, CO); Landry, Marc D. (Lafayette, CO); Pitts, John R. (Lakewood, CO)
Method for fabricating silicon cells
A process is described for making high-efficiency solar cells. This is accomplished by forming a diffusion junction and a passivating oxide layer in a single high-temperature process step. The invention includes the class of solar cells made using this process, including high-efficiency solar cells made using Czochralski-grown silicon. 9 figs.
Ruby, D.S.; Basore, P.A.; Schubert, W.K.
A process for making high-efficiency solar cells. This is accomplished by forming a diffusion junction and a passivating oxide layer in a single high-temperature process step. The invention includes the class of solar cells made using this process, including high-efficiency solar cells made using Czochralski-grown silicon.
Ruby, Douglas S. (Albuquerque, NM); Basore, Paul A. (Albuquerque, NM); Schubert, W. Kent (Albuquerque, NM)
Microelectromechanical pump utilizing porous silicon
A microelectromechanical (MEM) pump is disclosed which includes a porous silicon region sandwiched between an inlet chamber and an outlet chamber. The porous silicon region is formed in a silicon substrate and contains a number of pores extending between the inlet and outlet chambers, with each pore having a cross-section dimension about equal to or smaller than a mean free path of a gas being pumped. A thermal gradient is provided along the length of each pore by a heat source which can be an electrical resistance heater or an integrated circuit (IC). A channel can be formed through the silicon substrate so that inlet and outlet ports can be formed on the same side of the substrate, or so that multiple MEM pumps can be connected in series to form a multi-stage MEM pump. The MEM pump has applications for use in gas-phase MEM chemical analysis systems, and can also be used for passive cooling of ICs.
Lantz, Jeffrey W. (Albuquerque, NM); Stalford, Harold L. (Norman, OK)
The Silicon Mine | Open Energy Information
Mine Mine Jump to: navigation, search Name The Silicon Mine Place Netherlands Sector Solar Product The Silicon Mine (TSM) will produce solar grade polysilicon suitable for the production of wafers or as the base material for the manufacture of solar cells. References The Silicon Mine[1] LinkedIn Connections CrunchBase Profile No CrunchBase profile. Create one now! This article is a stub. You can help OpenEI by expanding it. The Silicon Mine is a company located in Netherlands . References ↑ "The Silicon Mine" Retrieved from "http://en.openei.org/w/index.php?title=The_Silicon_Mine&oldid=352196" Categories: Clean Energy Organizations Companies Organizations Stubs What links here Related changes Special pages Printable version Permanent link Browse properties
Diamond-silicon carbide composite and method
Uniformly dense, diamond-silicon carbide composites having high hardness, high fracture toughness, and high thermal stability are prepared by consolidating a powder mixture of diamond and amorphous silicon. A composite made at 5 GPa/1673K had a measured fracture toughness of 12 MPam.sup.1/2. By contrast, liquid infiltration of silicon into diamond powder at 5 GPa/1673K produces a composite with higher hardness but lower fracture toughness.
Zhao, Yusheng (Los Alamos, NM)
Amorphous silicon solar cell allowing infrared transmission
An amorphous silicon solar cell with a layer of high index of refraction material or a series of layers having high and low indices of refraction material deposited upon a transparent substrate to reflect light of energies greater than the bandgap energy of the amorphous silicon back into the solar cell and transmit solar radiation having an energy less than the bandgap energy of the amorphous silicon.
Process for strengthening silicon based ceramics
A process for strengthening silicon based ceramic monolithic materials and composite materials that contain silicon based ceramic reinforcing phases that requires that the ceramic be exposed to a wet hydrogen atmosphere at about 1400{degrees}C. The process results in a dense, tightly adherent silicon containing oxide layer that heals, blunts, or otherwise negates the detrimental effect of strength limiting flaws on the surface of the ceramic body.
Kim, Hyoun-Ee; Moorhead, A.J.
Structural alloy with a protective coating containing silicon or silicon-oxide
This invention is comprised of an iron-based alloy containing chromium and optionally, nickel. The alloy has a surface barrier of silicon or silicon plus oxygen which converts at high temperature to a protective silicon compound. The alloy can be used in oxygen-sulfur mixed gases at temperatures up to about 1100{degrees}C.
Natesan, K.
Engineering Metal Impurities in Multicrystalline Silicon Solar...
Engineering Metal Impurities in Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells Print Transition metals are one of the main culprits in degrading the efficiency of multicrystalline solar...
Semipermeable Membranes for Micromachined Silicon Surfaces ...
Technology Marketing Summary Sandia National Laboratories has developed semipermeable silicon nitride membranes using an etch process to be co-manufactured on a ...
Surface alloying of silicon into aluminum substrate.
Aluminum alloys that are easily castable tend to have lower silicon content and hence lower wear resistance. The use of laser surface alloying to improve the surface wear resistance of 319 and 320 aluminum alloys was examined. A silicon layer was painted onto the surface to be treated. A high power pulsed Nd:YAG laser with fiberoptic beam delivery was used to carry out the laser surface treatment to enhance the silicon content. Process parameters were varied to minimize the surface roughness from overlap of the laser beam treatment. The surface-alloyed layer was characterized and the silicon content was determined.
Xu, Z.
Silicon nitride having a high tensile strength
A ceramic body comprising at least about 80 w/o silicon nitride and having a mean tensile strength of at least about 800 MPa.
Pujari, Vimal K. (Northboro, MA); Tracey, Dennis M. (Medfield, MA); Foley, Michael R. (Oxford, MA); Paille, Norman I. (Oxford, MA); Pelletier, Paul J. (Sutton, MA); Sales, Lenny C. (Grafton, MA); Willkens, Craig A. (Worcester, MA); Yeckley, Russell L. (Latrobe, PA)
Silicon Surface and Heterojunction Interface Passivation ...
Silicon Solar Cell Materials and Processes Vail, Colorado August 10-13, 2003 National Renewable Energy Laboratory 1617 Cole Boulevard Golden, Colorado ...
Electrochemical Lithiation of Silicon Clathrate Materials
Abstract Scope, Due to its high theoretical specific capacity, silicon has been the subject of intense research as an anode for lithium-ion batteries.
Silicon Nano-Crystal Waveguide (SNOW) Laser
Silicon Nano-Crystal Waveguide (SNOW) Laser Note: The technology described above is an early stage opportunity. Licensing rights to this intellectual property may
Nanoscale Characterization of Polymer Precursor Derived Silicon ...
Abstract Scope, Nano-scale mechanical properties of silicon carbide derived ... Carbon Fiber Reinforced Ultra-High-Temperature Ceramic Matrix Composites.
Enriched Silicon: Going for Four Nines
... Getting to the next order-of-magnitude improvement will take some time. ... a gas pressure for the silicon about four orders of magnitude higher than ...
Available Technologies: Thinner Film Silicon Solar Cells
Berkeley Lab scientists have designed a new approach to create highly efficient thin film silicon solar cells. This technology promises to lower solar cell material ...
Silicon Materials and Devices (Fact Sheet)
Capabilities fact sheet for the National Center for Photovoltaics: Silicon Materials and Devices that includes scope, core competencies and capabilities, and contact/web information.
Not Available
Method For Passivating Crystal Silicon Surfaces - Energy ...
The photovoltaic market remains dominated by silicon wafer-based solar cells. Therefore, there is a need for improvements in the manufacturing ...
This National Center for Photovoltaics sheet describes the capabilities of its silicon materials and devices research. The scope and core competencies and capabilities are discussed.
Efficient light trapping structure in thin film silicon solar cells
Thin film silicon solar cells are believed to be promising candidates for continuing cost reduction in photovoltaic panels because silicon usage could be greatly reduced. Since silicon is an indirect bandgap semiconductor, ...
Sheng, Xing
Toward accurate and large-scale silicon photonics
Silicon photonics, emerging from the interface of silicon technology and photonic technology, is expected to inherit the incredible integration ability of silicon technology that has boomed the microelectronic industry for ...
Sun, Jie, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Investigation of polarization anisotropy in individual porous silicon nanoparticles
Polarization anisotropy is investigated in single porous silicon nanoparticles containing multiple chromophores. Two forms of nanoparticle samples are studied; low current density (LCD) and high current density (HCD). Photoluminescence measurements reveal ... Keywords: Anisotropy, Photoluminescence, Polarization, Porous silicon, Silicon nanocrystal
Daniel J. Gargas; Donald J. Sirbuly; Michael D. Mason; Paul J. Carson; Steven K. Buratto
Light generation, size constraints, and dynamic cavities in silicon photonics.
??Silicon photonics is a rapidly-developing field at the confluence of silicon microelectronicsand fiber optics. In this talk we explore several interesting systems of light in� (more)
Shainline, Jeffrey M
Potential of Silicon Solar Cells from Metallurgical Process Route
About this Abstract. Meeting, 2013 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium , Solar Cell Silicon. Presentation Title, Potential of Silicon Solar Cells from�...
SunShot Initiative: Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaics Research
silicon PV cells are the most common solar cells used in commercially available solar panels, representing 87% of world PV cell market sales in 2011. Crystalline silicon...
Techniques of Nanoscale Silicon Texturing of Solar Cells ...
Patent 6,329,296: Metal catalyst technique for texturing silicon solar cells Textured silicon solar cells and techniques for their manufacture ...
Fact Sheet: Award-Winning Silicon Carbide Power Electronics ...
Award-Winning Silicon Carbide Power Electronics (October 2012) Fact Sheet: Award-Winning Silicon Carbide Power Electronics (October 2012) Operating at high temperatures and with...
Composite Silicon Carbon Nano-fiber Anode for High Energy ...
Presentation Title, Composite Silicon Carbon Nano-fiber Anode for High .... of Super P Carbon Black and Silicon Carbide in Si-based Lithium Ion Batteries.
Wetting Properties of Molten Silicon with Graphite Materials
Abstract Scope, The wetting behavior of molten-silicon/refractory-materials system is important in ... Electrorefining of Metallurgical Grade Silicon in Molten Salts.
The QSE-Reduced Nuclear Reaction Network for Silicon Burning.
??Iron and neighboring nuclei are formed by silicon burning in massive stars before core collapse and during supernova outbursts. Complete and incomplete silicon burning is� (more)
Parete-Koon, Suzanne T
Stress and Fracture of Silicon Solar Cells as Revealed by ...
Presentation Title, Stress and Fracture of Silicon Solar Cells as Revealed by ... thinner and thinner silicon in the solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies due to the�...
The CDF Silicon Vertex Detector
A silicon strip vertex detector was designed, constructed and commissioned at the CDF experiment at the Tevatron collider at Fermilab. The mechanical design of the detector, its cooling and monitoring are presented. The front end electronics employing a custom VLSI chip, the readout electronics and various components of the SVX system are described. The system performance and the experience with the operation of the detector in the radiation environment are discussed. The device has been taking colliding beams data since May of 1992, performing at its best design specifications and enhancing the physics program of CDF.
Tkaczyk, S.; Carter, H.; Flaugher, B. [and others
Preparation of silicon carbide fibers
Silicon carbide fibers suitable for use in the fabrication of dense, high-strength, high-toughness SiC composites or as thermal insulating materials in oxidizing environments are fabricated by a new, simplified method wherein a mixture of short-length rayon fibers and colloidal silica is homogenized in a water slurry. Water is removed from the mixture by drying in air at 120/sup 0/C and the fibers are carbonized by (pyrolysis) heating the mixture to 800 to 1000/sup 0/C in argon. The mixture is subsequently reacted at 1550 to 1900/sup 0/C in argon to yield pure ..beta..-SiC fibers.
Wei, G.C.
Photovoltaic Cz Silicon Module Improvements
Work focused on reducing the cost per watt of Cz silicon photovoltaic modules under Phase II of Siemens Solar Industries' DOE/NREL PVMaT 4A subcontract is described in this report. New module designs were deployed in this phase of the contract, improvements in yield of over 10% were realized, and further implementation of Statistical Process Control was achieved during this phase. Module configurations representing a 12% cost reduction per watt were implemented in small scale production under Phase II of this contract. Yield improvements are described in detail, yield sensitivity to wafer thickness is quantified, and the deployment of SPC in critical process steps is reported here.
Jester, T. L.
Designing a mechanism to cleave silicon wafers
A device was designed and manufactured to precisely cleave silicon wafers. Two vacuum chucks were designed to support a 150 mm diameter silicon wafer and cleave it by providing a pure moment at a pre-etched v-notch while ...
Figueroa, Victor, 1982-
Ultralow-Power Silicon Microphotonic Communications Platform
Ultralow-Power Silicon Ultralow-Power Silicon Microphotonic Communications Platform 1 R&D 100 Entry Ultralow-Power Silicon Microphotonic Communications Platform 2 R&D 100 Entry Submitting Organization Sandia National Laboratories P. O. Box 5800 Albuquerque New Mexico 87185-1082 USA Michael R. Watts Phone: (505) 284-9616 Fax: (505) 284-7690 email@example.com AFFIRMATION: I affirm that all information submitted as a part of, or supplemental to, this entry is a fair and accurate representation of this product. _____________________________ Michael R. Watts Joint Entry Not applicable Product Name Ultralow-Power Silicon Microphotonic Communications Platform Brief Description We have developed an ultralow-power, high-bandwidth silicon microphotonic communications platform that addresses the bandwidth and power consumption
Micro benchtop optics by bulk silicon micromachining
Micromachining of bulk silicon utilizing the parallel etching characteristics of bulk silicon and integrating the parallel etch planes of silicon with silicon wafer bonding and impurity doping, enables the fabrication of on-chip optics with in situ aligned etched grooves for optical fibers, micro-lenses, photodiodes, and laser diodes. Other optical components that can be microfabricated and integrated include semi-transparent beam splitters, micro-optical scanners, pinholes, optical gratings, micro-optical filters, etc. Micromachining of bulk silicon utilizing the parallel etching characteristics thereof can be utilized to develop miniaturization of bio-instrumentation such as wavelength monitoring by fluorescence spectrometers, and other miniaturized optical systems such as Fabry-Perot interferometry for filtering of wavelengths, tunable cavity lasers, micro-holography modules, and wavelength splitters for optical communication systems.
Lee, Abraham P. (Walnut Creek, CA); Pocha, Michael D. (Livermore, CA); McConaghy, Charles F. (Livermore, CA); Deri, Robert J. (Pleasanton, CA)
Compensated amorphous-silicon solar cell
An amorphous silicon solar cell including an electrically conductive substrate, a layer of glow discharge deposited hydrogenated amorphous silicon having regions of differing conductivity with at least one region of intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon. The layer of hydrogenated amorphous silicon has opposed first and second major surfaces where the first major surface contacts the elecrically conductive substrate and an electrode for electrically contacting the second major surface. The intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon region is deposited in a glow discharge with an atmosphere which includes not less than about 0.02 atom percent mono-atomic boron. An improved N.I.P. solar cell is disclosed using a BF/sub 3/ doped intrinsic layer.
Devaud, G.
Sampling artifacts from conductive silicone tubing
Sampling artifacts from conductive silicone tubing Sampling artifacts from conductive silicone tubing Title Sampling artifacts from conductive silicone tubing Publication Type Journal Article Year of Publication 2009 Authors Timko, Michael T., Zhenhong Yu, Jesse Kroll, John T. Jayne, Douglas R. Worsnop, Richard C. Miake-Lye, Timothy B. Onasch, David Liscinsky, Thomas W. Kirchstetter, Hugo Destaillats, Amara L. Holder, Jared D. Smith, and Kevin R. Wilson Journal Aerosol Science and Technology Volume 43 Issue 9 Pagination 855-865 Date Published 06/03/2009 Abstract We report evidence that carbon impregnated conductive silicone tubing used in aerosol sampling systems can introduce two types of experimental artifacts: (1) silicon tubing dynamically absorbs carbon dioxide gas, requiring greater than 5 minutes to reach equilibrium and (2) silicone tubing emits organic contaminants containing siloxane that are adsorbed onto particles traveling through it and onto downstream quartz fiber filters. The consequence can be substantial for engine exhaust measurements as both artifacts directly impact calculations of particulate mass-based emission indices. The emission of contaminants from the silicone tubing can result in overestimation of organic particle mass concentrations based on real-time aerosol mass spectrometry and the off-line thermal analysis of quartz filters. The adsorption of siloxane contaminants can affect the surface properties of aerosol particles; we observed a marked reduction in the water-affinity of soot particles passed through conductive silicone tubing. These combined observations suggest that the silicone tubing artifacts may have wide consequence for the aerosol community and the tubing should, therefore, be used with caution. Contamination associated with the use of silicone tubing was observed at ambient temperature and, in some cases, was enhanced by mild heating (<70°C) or pre-exposure to a solvent (methanol). Further evaluation is warranted to quantify systematically how the contamination responds to variations in system temperature, physicochemical particle properties, exposure to solvent, sample contact time, tubing age, and sample flow rates.
Micromachined silicon seismic accelerometer development
Batch-fabricated silicon seismic transducers could revolutionize the discipline of seismic monitoring by providing inexpensive, easily deployable sensor arrays. Our ultimate goal is to fabricate seismic sensors with sensitivity and noise performance comparable to short-period seismometers in common use. We expect several phases of development will be required to accomplish that level of performance. Traditional silicon micromachining techniques are not ideally suited to the simultaneous fabrication of a large proof mass and soft suspension, such as one needs to achieve the extreme sensitivities required for seismic measurements. We have therefore developed a novel {open_quotes}mold{close_quotes} micromachining technology that promises to make larger proof masses (in the 1-10 mg range) possible. We have successfully integrated this micromolding capability with our surface-micromachining process, which enables the formation of soft suspension springs. Our calculations indicate that devices made in this new integrated technology will resolve down to at least sub-{mu}G signals, and may even approach the 10{sup -10} G/{radical}Hz acceleration levels found in the low-earth-noise model.
Barron, C.C.; Fleming, J.G.; Montague, S. [and others
Internet Slang and China's Social Culture: A Case Study of Internet Users in Guiyang.
??The number of Chinese Internet users has surpassed 300,000 people over the past decade, and the Internet boom has brought with it an upsurge in� (more)
Draggeim, Alexandra V
Analytical and experimental evaluation of joining silicon carbide to silicon carbide and silicon nitride to silicon nitride for advanced heat engine applications Phase 2. Final report
The purpose of joining, Phase 2 was to develop joining technologies for HIP`ed Si{sub 3}N{sub 4} with 4wt% Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} (NCX-5101) and for a siliconized SiC (NT230) for various geometries including: butt joins, curved joins and shaft to disk joins. In addition, more extensive mechanical characterization of silicon nitride joins to enhance the predictive capabilities of the analytical/numerical models for structural components in advanced heat engines was provided. Mechanical evaluation were performed by: flexure strength at 22 C and 1,370 C, stress rupture at 1,370 C, high temperature creep, 22 C tensile testing and spin tests. While the silicon nitride joins were produced with sufficient integrity for many applications, the lower join strength would limit its use in the more severe structural applications. Thus, the silicon carbide join quality was deemed unsatisfactory to advance to more complex, curved geometries. The silicon carbide joining methods covered within this contract, although not entirely successful, have emphasized the need to focus future efforts upon ways to obtain a homogeneous, well sintered parent/join interface prior to siliconization. In conclusion, the improved definition of the silicon carbide joining problem obtained by efforts during this contract have provided avenues for future work that could successfully obtain heat engine quality joins.
Sundberg, G.J.; Vartabedian, A.M.; Wade, J.A.; White, C.S. [Norton Co., Northboro, MA (United States). Advanced Ceramics Div.
Process for forming silicon carbide films and microcomponents
Silicon carbide films and microcomponents are grown on silicon substrates at surface temperatures between 900 K and 1700 K via C{sub 60} precursors in a hydrogen-free environment. Selective crystalline silicon carbide growth can be achieved on patterned silicon-silicon oxide samples. Patterned SiC films are produced by making use of the high reaction probability of C{sub 60} with silicon at surface temperatures greater than 900 K and the negligible reaction probability for C{sub 60} on silicon dioxide at surface temperatures less than 1250 K. 5 figs.
Hamza, A.V.; Balooch, M.; Moalem, M.
Silicon carbide films and microcomponents are grown on silicon substrates at surface temperatures between 900 K and 1700 K via C.sub.60 precursors in a hydrogen-free environment. Selective crystalline silicon carbide growth can be achieved on patterned silicon-silicon oxide samples. Patterned SiC films are produced by making use of the high reaction probability of C.sub.60 with silicon at surface temperatures greater than 900 K and the negligible reaction probability for C.sub.60 on silicon dioxide at surface temperatures less than 1250 K.
Hamza, Alex V. (Livermore, CA); Balooch, Mehdi (Berkeley, CA); Moalem, Mehran (Berkeley, CA)
Manufacture of silicon carbide using solar energy
A method is described for producing silicon carbide particles using solar energy. The method is efficient and avoids the need for use of electrical energy to heat the reactants. Finely divided silica and carbon are admixed and placed in a solar-heated reaction chamber for a time sufficient to cause a reaction between the ingredients to form silicon carbide of very small particle size. No grinding of silicon carbide is required to obtain small particles. The method may be carried out as a batch process or as a continuous process.
Glatzmaier, Gregory C. (Boulder, CO)
Holey Silicon as an Efficient Thermoelectric Material
This work investigated the thermoelectric properties of thin silicon membranes that have been decorated with high density of nanoscopic holes. These ?holey silicon? (HS) structures were fabricated by either nanosphere or block-copolymer lithography, both of which are scalable for practical device application. By reducing the pitch of the hexagonal holey pattern down to 55 nm with 35percent porosity, the thermal conductivity of HS is consistently reduced by 2 orders of magnitude and approaches the amorphous limit. With a ZT value of 0.4 at room temperature, the thermoelectric performance of HS is comparable with the best value recorded in silicon nanowire system.
Tang, Jinyao; Wang, Hung-Ta; Hyun Lee, Dong; Fardy, Melissa; Huo, Ziyang; Russell, Thomas P.; Yang, Peidong
This invention is comprised of a method is described for producing silicon carbide particles using solar energy. The method is efficient and avoids the need for use of electrical energy to heat the reactants. Finely divided silica and carbon are admixed and placed in a solar-heated reaction chamber for a time sufficient to cause a reaction between the ingredients to form silicon carbide of very small particle size. No grinding of silicon carbide is required to obtain small particles. The method may be carried out as a batch process or as a continuous process.
Glatzmaier, G.C.
Silicon carbide/SRBSN composites
Ceramic matrix composites have been produced using unidirectionally aligned Textron SCS-6 fibers in a sintered reaction bonded silicon nitride (SRBSN) matrix. A tape casting technique was used to produce a prepreg sheet that could be cut and stacked to form a layup. Sintering aids were MgO, Al2O3, and Y2O3 either singly or in combination, final sintering being carried out under pressure at temperatures up to 1750 C. The three-point bend strength of the material varied between 448 and 513 MPa and showed no variation with oxidation time at 1000 C up to 25 hours. Interfacial shear strength measured by indentation was 4 MPa; some samples had a reaction layer at the interface and a shear strength of greater than MPa. Within sections 6 mm from exposed fiber ends, the interfacial carbon layers were partially removed, and the interfacial shear strength was reduced with increasing oxidation time. 4 refs.
Razzell, A.G.; Lewis, M.H.
Silicon photomultiplier timing performance study
Many characteristics of Silicon Photomultipliers can be tuned with temperature and operation voltage. We present preliminary results of a study of the effect of these two operation parameters on the time resolution of large active area Multi-Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs) manufactured by Hamamatsu. Measurements at -10 C, 0 C, and 10 C at different bias voltages were performed. The time resolution is best at low temperature and high over-voltage. Most significant improvements can be achieved in cases with low number of fired pixels (40 pixels) the effect of temperature and operation voltage becomes smaller. The timing performance still improves with decreasing temperature (~ factor of 2) but it hardly depends on the operation voltage. The study shows, that especially in applications where only few photons are available for detection a careful optimization of temperature and operation voltage are advisable to obtain optimum timing results with the MPPC.
Gama Ahmed; Paul B�hler; Johann Marton; Ken Suzuki
Carbothermal synthesis of silicon carbide
Silicon carbide powders were synthesized from various silica and carbon sources by a carbothermal reduction process at temperatures between 1500 and 1600/sup 0/C. The silica sources were fumed silica, methyltrimethoxysilane, and microcrystalline quartz. The carbon sources were petroleum pitch, phenolic resin, sucrose, and carbon black. Submicron SiC powders were synthesized. Their morphologies included equiaxed loosely-bound agglomerates, equiaxed hard-shell agglomerates, and whiskers. Morphology changed with the furnace atmosphere (argon, nitrogen, or nitrogen-4% hydrogen). The best sintering was observed in SiC derived from the fumed-silica-pitch and fumed-silica-sucrose precursors. The poorest sintering was observed in SiC derived from microcrystalline quartz and carbon black. 11 refs., 16 figs., 10 tabs.
Janney, M.A.; Wei, G.C.; Kennedy, C.R.; Harris, L.A.
Silicon concentrator solar cell research
This report describes work conducted between December 1990 and May 1992 continuing research on silicon concentrator solar cells. The objectives of the work were to improve the performance of high-efficiency cells upon p-type substrates, to investigate the ultraviolet stability of such cells, to develop concentrator cells based on n-type substrates, and to transfer technology to appropriate commercial environments. Key results include the identification of contact resistance between boron-defused areas and rear aluminum as the source of anomalously large series resistance in both p- and n-type cells. A major achievement of the present project was the successful transfer of cell technology to both Applied Solar Energy Corporation and Solarex Corporation.
Green, M.A.; Zhao, J.; Wang, A.; Dai, X.; Milne, A.; Cai, S.; Aberle, A.; Wenham, S.R. [Univ. of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW (AU). Centre for Photovoltaic Devices and Systems
Nonlinear optical properties of low temperature annealed silicon-rich oxide and silicon-rich nitride materials for silicon photonics
We investigate the nonlinear optical properties of Si-rich silicon oxide (SRO) and Si-rich silicon nitride (SRN) samples as a function of silicon content, annealing temperature, and excitation wavelength. Using the Z-scan technique, we measure the non-linear refractive index n{sub 2} and the nonlinear absorption coefficient {beta} for a large number of samples fabricated by reactive co-sputtering. Moreover, we characterize the nonlinear optical parameters of SRN in the broad spectral region 1100-1500 nm and show the strongest nonlinearity at 1500 nm. These results demonstrate the potential of the SRN matrix for the engineering of compact devices with enhanced Kerr nonlinearities for silicon photonics applications.
Minissale, S. [Photonics Center, Boston University, 8 Saint Mary's street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215-2421 (United States) and Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Boston University, 15 Saint Mary's Street, Brookline, Massachusetts 02446 (United States); Yerci, S. [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, 8 Saint Mary's Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215-2421 (United States); Dal Negro, L. [Photonics Center, Boston University, 8 Saint Mary's street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215-2421 (United States) and Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Boston University, 15 Saint Mary's Street, Brookline, Massachusetts 02446 (United States); Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, 8 Saint Mary's Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215-2421 (United States)
High Efficiency, Low Cost Solar Cells Manufactured Using 'Silicon Ink' on Thin Crystalline Silicon Wafers
Reported are the development and demonstration of a 17% efficient 25mm x 25mm crystalline Silicon solar cell and a 16% efficient 125mm x 125mm crystalline Silicon solar cell, both produced by Ink-jet printing Silicon Ink on a thin crystalline Silicon wafer. To achieve these objectives, processing approaches were developed to print the Silicon Ink in a predetermined pattern to form a high efficiency selective emitter, remove the solvents in the Silicon Ink and fuse the deposited particle Silicon films. Additionally, standard solar cell manufacturing equipment with slightly modified processes were used to complete the fabrication of the Silicon Ink high efficiency solar cells. Also reported are the development and demonstration of a 18.5% efficient 125mm x 125mm monocrystalline Silicon cell, and a 17% efficient 125mm x 125mm multicrystalline Silicon cell, by utilizing high throughput Ink-jet and screen printing technologies. To achieve these objectives, Innovalight developed new high throughput processing tools to print and fuse both p and n type particle Silicon Inks in a predetermined pat-tern applied either on the front or the back of the cell. Additionally, a customized Ink-jet and screen printing systems, coupled with customized substrate handling solution, customized printing algorithms, and a customized ink drying process, in combination with a purchased turn-key line, were used to complete the high efficiency solar cells. This development work delivered a process capable of high volume producing 18.5% efficient crystalline Silicon solar cells and enabled the Innovalight to commercialize its technology by the summer of 2010.
Antoniadis, H.
Structur? Silicon Deposits Obtained by Electrolysis SiO2 in the ...
Transistor-Based Ge/SOI Photodetector for Integrated Silicon Photonics
for Integrated Silicon Photonics By Xi Luo A dissertationfor Integrated Silicon Photonics by Xi Luo Doctor ofin the field of silicon photonics have a path well aligned
Luo, Xi
Cheaper Silicon Found Effective for Solar Cells
Cheaper Silicon Found Effective for Solar Cells Cheaper Silicon Found Effective for Solar Cells A research team from the University of California at Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, using U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) synchrotron light sources, has successfully shown that inexpensive silicon has the potential to be used for photovoltaic (PV) devices, commonly known as solar cells. In a new approach-whose findings were published online in Nature Materials (August 14, 2005)-the researchers used nanodefect engineering to control transition metal contamination in order to produce impurity-rich, performance-enhanced multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) material. "Solar energy is often touted as the most promising and secure energy
Longwei Silicon Co Ltd | Open Energy Information
Longwei Silicon Co Ltd Longwei Silicon Co Ltd Jump to: navigation, search Name Longwei Silicon Co Ltd Place Liancheng, Fujian Province, China Sector Solar Product A Chinese sillicon metal producer who also produce 4N-6N silicon for solar use. Coordinates 21.61801°, 110.282799° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":21.61801,"lon":110.282799,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
RSI Silicon Products LLC | Open Energy Information
RSI Silicon Products LLC RSI Silicon Products LLC Jump to: navigation, search Name RSI Silicon Products LLC Place Easton, Massachusetts Zip 18040 Sector Solar Product Early-stage startup which is developing a process for solar-grade silicon manufacture at low energy intensity, spinoff from MIT. Coordinates 47.237806°, -121.179542° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":47.237806,"lon":-121.179542,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
6N Silicon Inc | Open Energy Information
Silicon Inc Silicon Inc Jump to: navigation, search Name 6N Silicon Inc Place Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Zip L5T 1E6 Sector Solar Product Canadian manufactuer of upgraded metallurgical silicon for solar industry. Coordinates 43.588285°, -79.643724° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":43.588285,"lon":-79.643724,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Designing manycore processor networks using silicon photonics
We present a vertical integration approach for designing silicon photonic networks for communication in manycore systems. Using a top-down approach we project the photonic device requirements for a 64-tile system designed ...
Stojanovic, Vladimir Marko
Hybrid Silicon Photonics for Optical Interconnects
and J. U. Yoon, �Silicon photonics for compact, energy- ef?www.zurich.ibm.com/st/photonics/interconnects.html [3] R.comb laser,� in Proc. SPIE Photonics West 2010, pp. 76070W�
Texturization of multicrystalline silicon solar cells
A significant efficiency gain for crystalline silicon solar cells can be achieved by surface texturization. This research was directed at developing a low-cost, high-throughput and reliable texturing method that can create ...
Li, Dai-Yin
Silicon nitride reinforced with molybdenum disilicide
Compositions of matter comprised of silicon nitride and molybdenum disilicide and methods of making the compositions, where the molybdenum disilicide is present in amounts ranging from about 5 to about 50 vol%.
Petrovic, J.J.; Honnell, R.E.
High index contrast platform for silicon photonics
This thesis focuses on silicon-based high index contrast (HIC) photonics. In addition to mature fiber optics or low index contrast (LIC) platform, which is often referred to as Planar Lightwave Cirrcuit (PLC) or Silica ...
Akiyama, Shoji, 1972-
Fiber to waveguide couplers for silicon photonics
As silicon photonics enters mainstream technology, we find ourselves in need of methods to seamlessly transfer light between the optical fibers of global scale telecommunications networks and the on-chip waveguides used ...
Montalbo, Trisha M., 1980-
Compositions of matter comprised of silicon nitride and molybdenum disilicide and methods of making the compositions, where the molybdenum disilicide is present in amounts ranging from about 5 to about 50 vol. %.
Petrovic, John J. (Los Alamos, NM); Honnell, Richard E. (Los Alamos, NM)
Point-Contact Silicon Solar Cells
A new type of silicon photovoltaic cell called the point-contact cell is under development. This report describes the cell and an analytic model developed for use in design optimization. Necessary future cell development work is discussed.
Sandia Silicon Fabrication Recapitalization project underway...
National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
NA-00.1, Dale Hetherington, Sandia National Laboratories, Bill Wechsler, NA-00-SN. Sandia Silicon Fabrication Recapitalization project underway Posted on August 26, 2013 at 2:00 pm...
Pulsed LASER for testing silicon strip detectors
This DO Note describes a pulsed LASER setup for testing silicon strip detectors at the Silicon Detector Facility (SiDet) of Fermilab supporting the related projects and, in particular, the DO Silicon Tracker Upgrade. It will be used in the measurements of the efficiency of individual strips and their coupling. The LASER wavelength is 1060 nm, at which the absorption length in silicon is about 2 mm. The LASER setup is capable of producing light pulses with rise time of less than 1 ns, allowing the measurement of charge pulse shaping at individual strips and their capacitive couplings. Due to the high power output of the LASER, safety considerations are included. Also discussed are precautions for the safety of the LASER itself, and how to limit the light to an area smaller than 50,pm of diameter.
Vaz, M.; Cihangir, S.; Rapidis, P.
Characterization of Silicon Nanoparticles Incorporated into Metal ...
A New Centrifuge CVD Reactor that will Challenge the Siemens Process ... Boron Removal from Silicon Melts by H2O/H2 Gas Blowing � Gas-phase Mass�...
Determination of Cell Potential for Silicon Electrodeposition
Silicon cast wafer recrystallization for photovoltaic applications
Current industry-standard methods of manufacturing silicon wafers for photovoltaic (PV) cells define the electrical properties of the wafer in a first step, and then the geometry of the wafer in a subsequent step. The ...
Hantsoo, Eerik T. (Eerik Torm)
Nano-Optoelectronic Integration on Silicon
Crystal Si Nanopillars,� Nano Lett. , vol. 10, no. 11, pp.?V Nanowires on Silicon,� Nano Letters, vol. 4, no. 10, pp.and nanoribbon lasers,� Nano Letters, vol. 4, no. 2, pp.
Chen, Roger
Microtextured Silicon Surfaces for Detectors, Sensors & Photovoltaics
With support from this award we studied a novel silicon microtexturing process and its application in silicon-based infrared photodetectors. By irradiating the surface of a silicon wafer with intense femtosecond laser pulses in the presence of certain gases or liquids, the originally shiny, flat surface is transformed into a dark array of microstructures. The resulting microtextured surface has near-unity absorption from near-ultraviolet to infrared wavelengths well below the band gap. The high, broad absorption of microtextured silicon could enable the production of silicon-based photodiodes for use as inexpensive, room-temperature multi-spectral photodetectors. Such detectors would find use in numerous applications including environmental sensors, solar energy, and infrared imaging. The goals of this study were to learn about microtextured surfaces and then develop and test prototype silicon detectors for the visible and infrared. We were extremely successful in achieving our goals. During the first two years of this award, we learned a great deal about how microtextured surfaces form and what leads to their remarkable optical properties. We used this knowledge to build prototype detectors with high sensitivity in both the visible and in the near-infrared. We obtained room-temperature responsivities as high as 100 A/W at 1064 nm, two orders of magnitude higher than standard silicon photodiodes. For wavelengths below the band gap, we obtained responsivities as high as 50 mA/W at 1330 nm and 35 mA/W at 1550 nm, close to the responsivity of InGaAs photodiodes and five orders of magnitude higher than silicon devices in this wavelength region.
Carey, JE; Mazur, E
University Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaics Research and Development
The overall goal of the program is to advance the current state of crystalline silicon solar cell technology to make photovoltaics more competitive with conventional energy sources. This program emphasizes fundamental and applied research that results in low-cost, high-efficiency cells on commercial silicon substrates with strong involvement of the PV industry, and support a very strong photovoltaics education program in the US based on classroom education and hands-on training in the laboratory.
Ajeet Rohatgi; Vijay Yelundur; Abasifreke Ebong; Dong Seop Kim
Silicon purification melting for photovoltaic applications
The availability of polysilicon feedstock has become a major issue for the photovoltaic (PV) industry in recent years. Most of the current polysilicon feedstock is derived from rejected material from the semiconductor industry. However, the reject material can become scarce and more expensive during periods of expansion in the integrated-circuit industry. Continued rapid expansion of the PV crystalline-silicon industry will eventually require a dedicated supply of polysilicon feedstock to produce solar cells at lower costs. The photovoltaic industry can accept a lower purity polysilicon feedstock (solar-grade) compared to the semiconductor industry. The purity requirements and potential production techniques for solar-grade polysilicon have been reviewed. One interesting process from previous research involves reactive gas blowing of the molten silicon charge. As an example, Dosaj et all reported a reduction of metal and boron impurities from silicon melts using reactive gas blowing with 0{sub 2} and Cl{sub 2}. The same authors later reassessed their data and the literature, and concluded that Cl{sub 2}and 0{sub 2}/Cl{sub 2} gas blowing are only effective for removing Al, Ca, and Mg from the silicon melt. Researchers from Kawasaki Steel Corp. reported removal of B and C from silicon melts using reactive gas blowing with an 0{sub 2}/Ar plasma torch. Processes that purify the silicon melt are believed to be potentially much lower cost compared to present production methods that purify gas species.
Method of thermochemically treating silicon carbide fibers derived from polymers
A method is described of thermochemically treating polymeric-derived silicon carbide fiber comprising the step of: annealing a silicon carbide fiber derived from organosilicon polymeric precursors said fiber further including at least: (1) excess carbon and oxygen, (2) excess silicon and oxygen, or (3) nitrogen, at a temperature between 800 C and 1,800 C, thus outgassing from said silicon carbide fiber at least one member selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, silicon monoxide and carbon monoxide, in intimate contact with carbon particles and in the presence of a gas capable of reacting in the presence of said carbon particles and said silicon carbide fiber, with products and byproducts formed as a result of said outgassing to form silicon carbide, so that said annealing step provides an annealed fiber wherein at least said silicon of the silicon carbide at said modified surface of said annealed fiber was originally present in said fiber prior to said annealing step.
Wallace, J.S.; Bender, B.A.; Schrodt, D.
Purification and deposition of silicon by an iodide disproportionation reaction
Method and apparatus for producing purified bulk silicon from highly impure metallurgical-grade silicon source material at atmospheric pressure. Method involves: (1) initially reacting iodine and metallurgical-grade silicon to create silicon tetraiodide and impurity iodide byproducts in a cold-wall reactor chamber; (2) isolating silicon tetraiodide from the impurity iodide byproducts and purifying it by distillation in a distillation chamber; and (3) transferring the purified silicon tetraiodide back to the cold-wall reactor chamber, reacting it with additional iodine and metallurgical-grade silicon to produce silicon diiodide and depositing the silicon diiodide onto a substrate within the cold-wall reactor chamber. The two chambers are at atmospheric pressure and the system is open to allow the introduction of additional source material and to remove and replace finished substrates.
Wang, Tihu (Littleton, CO); Ciszek, Theodore F. (Evergreen, CO)
Methods and apparatuses for manufacturing monocrystalline cast silicon and monocrystalline cast silicon bodies for photovoltaics
Methods and apparatuses are provided for casting silicon for photovoltaic cells and other applications. With such methods and apparatuses, a cast body of monocrystalline silicon may be formed that is free of, or substantially free of, radially-distributed impurities and defects and having at least two dimensions that are each at least about 35 cm is provided.
Stoddard, Nathan G. (Gettysburg, PA)
Combustion Synthesis of Silicon Carbide 389 Combustion Synthesis of Silicon Carbide
Combustion Synthesis of Silicon Carbide 389 X Combustion Synthesis of Silicon Carbide Alexander S. Mukasyan University of Notre Dame USA 1. Introduction Combustion synthesis (CS) is an effective technique by which combustion synthesis can occur: self - propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) and volume
Mukasyan, Alexander
Effect of Oxygen and Carbon on Lifetime in Cz Silicon Pulled from ...
... recycling feedstock of silicon for Photovoltic (PV) application is investigated. ... Challenges in the Solar Grade Silicon Production through Metallurgical�...
Silicon Film[trademark] photovoltaic manufacturing technology
This report describes work on a project to develop an advanced low-cost manufacturing process for a new utility-scale flatplate module based on thin active layers of polycrystalline silicon on a low-cost substrate. This is called the Silicon-Film[trademark] process. This new power module is based on a new large solar cell that is 675 cm[sup 2] in area. Eighteen of these solar cells form a 170-W module. Twelve ofthese modules form a 2-kW array. The program has three components: (1) development of a Silicon-Film[trademark] wafer machine that can manufacture wafer 675 cm[sup 2] in size with a total product cost reductionof 70%; (2) development of an advanced solar cell manufacturing process that will turn the Silicon-Film[trademark] wafer into a 14%-efficient solar cell; and (3) development of an advanced module design based on these large-area, efficient silicon solar cells with an average power of 170 watts. The completion of these three tasks will lead to a new power module designed for utility and other power applications with asubstantially lower cost.
Bottenberg, W.R.; Hall, R.B.; Jackson, E.L.; Lampo, S.; Mulligan, W.E.; Barnett, A.M. (AstroPower, Inc., Newark, DE (United States))
Silicon ball grid array chip carrier
A ball-grid-array integrated circuit (IC) chip carrier formed from a silicon substrate is disclosed. The silicon ball-grid-array chip carrier is of particular use with ICs having peripheral bond pads which can be reconfigured to a ball-grid-array. The use of a semiconductor substrate such as silicon for forming the ball-grid-array chip carrier allows the chip carrier to be fabricated on an IC process line with, at least in part, standard IC processes. Additionally, the silicon chip carrier can include components such as transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors and sensors to form a "smart" chip carrier which can provide added functionality and testability to one or more ICs mounted on the chip carrier. Types of functionality that can be provided on the "smart" chip carrier include boundary-scan cells, built-in test structures, signal conditioning circuitry, power conditioning circuitry, and a reconfiguration capability. The "smart" chip carrier can also be used to form specialized or application-specific ICs (ASICs) from conventional ICs. Types of sensors that can be included on the silicon ball-grid-array chip carrier include temperature sensors, pressure sensors, stress sensors, inertia or acceleration sensors, and/or chemical sensors. These sensors can be fabricated by IC processes and can include microelectromechanical (MEM) devices.
Palmer, David W. (Albuquerque, NM); Gassman, Richard A. (Greensboro, NC); Chu, Dahwey (Albuquerque, NM)
Photovoltaic Crystalline Silicon Cell Basics | Department of Energy
Crystalline Silicon Cell Basics Crystalline Silicon Cell Basics Photovoltaic Crystalline Silicon Cell Basics August 20, 2013 - 2:00pm Addthis To separate electrical charges, crystalline silicon cells must have a built-in electric field. Light shining on crystalline silicon may free electrons within the crystal lattice, but for these electrons to do useful work-such as provide electricity to a light bulb-they must be separated and directed into an electrical circuit. PV Semiconductors To create an electric field within a crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cell, two silicon semiconductor layers are sandwiched together. P-type (or positive) semiconductors have an abundance of positively charged holes, and n-type (or negative) semiconductors have an abundance of negatively charged electrons. When n- and p-type silicon layers contact, excess electrons move
Iron-oxide catalyzed silicon photoanode for water splitting
This thesis presents an integrated study of high efficiency photoanodes for water splitting using silicon and iron-oxide. The fundamental limitations of silicon to water splitting applications were overcome by an ultrathin ...
Jun, Kimin
Harmful Shunting Mechanisms Found in Silicon Solar Cells (Fact Sheet)
Scientists developed near-field optical microscopy for imaging electrical breakdown in solar cells and identified critical electrical breakdown mechanisms operating in industrial silicon and epitaxial silicon solar cells.
Solar-grade silicon by directional solidification in carbon crucibles
Directional solidification of silicon in carbon crucibles was achieved by using two variations of the Bridgman-Stockbarger method. One was a static technique wherein liquid silicon in a carbon crucible was positioned in a tamperature gradient of about ...
T. F. Ciszek; G. H. Schwuttke; K. H. Yang
Power Electronics Reliability Kick Off Meeting ? Silicon Power...
failure modes of post-silicon power electronic (PE) devices such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) switches. * Seek opportunities for condition monitoring (CM)...
Optically-pumped ultraviolet microdisk laser on a silicon substrate
microelectronics.There has been much progress in silicon-basedpassive optoelectronic devices and light emitting diodes. though, a silicon-based laser has not yet been realized. We take a different approach
Ho, Seng-Tiong
Schmid Silicon Technology GmbH SST | Open Energy Information
Schmid Silicon Technology GmbH SST Jump to: navigation, search Name Schmid Silicon Technology GmbH (SST) Place Freudenstadt, Germany Zip D-72250 Sector Solar Product Germany-based...
Silicon Valley Solar Inc SV Solar | Open Energy Information
Silicon Valley Solar Inc SV Solar Jump to: navigation, search Name Silicon Valley Solar Inc (SV Solar) Place Santa Clara, California Zip 95051 Sector Solar Product A US-based...
Inverted amorphous silicon solar cell utilizing cermet layers
An amorphous silicon solar cell incorporating a transparent high work function metal cermet incident to solar radiation and a thick film cermet contacting the amorphous silicon opposite to said incident surface.
Polycrystalline silicon semiconducting material by nuclear transmutation doping
A NTD semiconductor material comprising polycrystalline silicon having a mean grain size less than 1000 microns and containing phosphorus dispersed uniformly throughout the silicon rather than at the grain boundaries.
Cleland, John W. (Knoxville, TN); Westbrook, Russell D. (Oak Ridge, TN); Wood, Richard F. (Oak Ridge, TN); Young, Rosa T. (Knoxville, TN)
Silicon Border Development LLC | Open Energy Information
Silicon Border Development LLC Silicon Border Development LLC Jump to: navigation, search Name Silicon Border Development LLC Place Poway, California Zip 92064 Sector Solar Product US-based developer of industrial parks with a focus on high-technology industry such as semiconductors and solar. Coordinates 32.95459°, -117.041984° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":32.95459,"lon":-117.041984,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Korea Silicon Co Ltd | Open Energy Information
Silicon Co Ltd Silicon Co Ltd Jump to: navigation, search Name Korea Silicon Co Ltd Place Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, Korea (Republic) Sector Solar Product Korean manufacturer planning to output polysilicon, ingots and wafers for the solar industry. Coordinates 37.397652°, 127.115189° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":37.397652,"lon":127.115189,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Fuyuan Silicon Co Ltd | Open Energy Information
Fuyuan Silicon Co Ltd Fuyuan Silicon Co Ltd Jump to: navigation, search Name Fuyuan Silicon Co Ltd Place Baishan, Jilin Province, China Sector Solar Product A Chinese solar-grade polysilicon producer using metallurgical method. Coordinates 42.088902°, 127.218193° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":42.088902,"lon":127.218193,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Light Ions Response of Silicon Carbide Detectors
Silicon carbide (SiC) Schottky diodes 21 mum thick with small surfaces and high N-dopant concentration have been used to detect alpha particles and low energy light ions. In particular 12C and 16O beams at incident energies between 5 and 18 MeV were used. The diode active-region depletion-thickness, the linearity of the response, energy resolution and signal rise-time were measured for different values of the applied reverse bias. Moreover the radiation damage on SiC diodes irradiated with 53 MeV 16O beam has been explored. The data show that SiC material is radiation harder than silicon but at least one order of magnitude less hard than epitaxial silicon diodes. An inversion in the signal was found at a fluence of 10^15 ions/cm^2.
M. De Napoli; G. Raciti; E. Rapisarda; C. Sfienti
Efficiency of silicon solar cells containing chromium
Efficiency of silicon solar cells containing about 10.sup.15 atoms/cm.sup.3 of chromium is improved about 26% by thermal annealing of the silicon wafer at a temperature of 200.degree. C. to form chromium precipitates having a diameter of less than 1 Angstrom. Further improvement in efficiency is achieved by scribing laser lines onto the back surface of the wafer at a spacing of at least 0.5 mm and at a depth of less than 13 micrometers to preferentially precipitate chromium near the back surface and away from the junction region of the device. This provides an economical way to improve the deleterious effects of chromium, one of the impurities present in metallurgical grade silicon material.
Frosch, Robert A. Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space (New Port Beach, CA); Salama, Amal M. (New Port Beach, CA)
Joining of porous silicon carbide bodies
A method of joining two porous bodies of silicon carbide is disclosed. It entails utilizing an aqueous slip of a similar silicon carbide as was used to form the porous bodies, including the sintering aids, and a binder to initially join the porous bodies together. Then the composite structure is subjected to cold isostatic pressing to form a joint having good handling strength. Then the composite structure is subjected to pressureless sintering to form the final strong bond. Optionally, after the sintering the structure is subjected to hot isostatic pressing to further improve the joint and densify the structure. The result is a composite structure in which the joint is almost indistinguishable from the silicon carbide pieces which it joins.
Bates, Carl H. (Worcester, MA); Couhig, John T. (Worcester, MA); Pelletier, Paul J. (Thompson, CT)
Highly Efficient Silicon Light Emitting Diode
In this paper, we describe the fabrication, using standard silicon processing techniques, of silicon light-emitting diodes (LED) that efficiently emit photons with energy around the silicon bandgap. The improved efficiency had been explained by the spatial confinement of charge carriers due to a local strain field that is formed by dislocation loop arrays. The dependence of device electroluminescent properties on the annealing conditions is carefully examined as a high temperature process has profound influence on these dislocations. Increased luminescent intensity at higher device temperature, together with pure diffusion current conduction mechanism evidently shows the influence of the dislocation loops. The electrical properties of the diode are reasonable with low leakage reverse current.
Leminh Holleman Wallinga; P. Leminh; J. Holleman; H. Wallinga
Silicon Production, Purification and Recycling for Photovoltaic Cells
About this Symposium. Meeting, 2011 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium, Silicon Production, Purification and Recycling for Photovoltaic Cells.
Behavior of Silicon Electrodepositing in Fluoride Molten Salts
About this Abstract. Meeting, 2012 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium , Electrometallurgy 2012. Presentation Title, Behavior of Silicon�...
Electrochemical deposition of high purity silicon from molten fluoride ...
About this Abstract. Meeting, 2014 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium , Solar Cell Silicon. Presentation Title, Electrochemical deposition of high purity�...
Distribution of boron, calcium and aluminium between silicon and ...
Presentation Title, Distribution of boron, calcium and aluminium between ... Electrochemical deposition of high purity silicon from molten fluoride electrolytes.
Distribution of Calcium and Aluminum between Molten Silicon and ...
Presentation Title, Distribution of Calcium and Aluminum between Molten ... Electrochemical deposition of high purity silicon from molten fluoride electrolytes.
gas phase interactions as sources of contamination in solar silicon
About this Abstract. Meeting, 2014 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium , Solar Cell Silicon. Presentation Title, GAS PHASE INTERACTIONS AS�...
Available Technologies:Improved Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells
Solar cells; Large solar panels; ADVANTAGES. Increased performance ; Less expensive than crystalline silicon solar cells; Enables thinner, lighter solar panels;
Solid Oxide Membrane Process for Solar Grade Silicon Production ...
Presentation Title, Solid Oxide Membrane Process for Solar Grade Silicon ... Polysilicon in Photovoltaics: Market Conditions & Competing PV Technologies.
Removal of Inclusions from Solar Grade Silicon Using ...
Polysilicon in Photovoltaics: Market Conditions & Competing PV Technologies ... Removal of Inclusions from Solar Grade Silicon Using Electromagnetic Field.
Magnetically Guided Shaping for Solar Cell Silicon Applications
About this Abstract. Meeting, 2014 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium , Solar Cell Silicon. Presentation Title, Magnetically Guided Shaping for Solar�...
STRC's Process for Producing Low Cost Solar Silicon
About this Abstract. Meeting, 2011 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium , Silicon Production, Purification and Recycling for Photovoltaic Cells.
Solar Cell Silicon: Production and Recyling - Programmaster.org
About this Symposium. Meeting, 2010 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium, Solar Cell Silicon: Production and Recyling. Sponsorship, The Minerals�...
QQ3, Etched Silicon Pillar Array Solar Cells
About this Abstract. Meeting, 2009 Electronic Materials Conference. Symposium, Electronic Materials Conference. Presentation Title, QQ3, Etched Silicon Pillar�...
Direct-Write of Silicon and Germanium Nanostructures
Nanostructures Print Nanostructured materials (nanowires, nanotubes, nanoclusters, graphene) are attractive possible alternatives to traditionally microfabricated silicon in...
Preparation of High Purity Silicon by Electrolysis-Vacuum Distillation
About this Abstract. Meeting, 2010 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium , Solar Cell Silicon: Production and Recyling. Presentation Title, Preparation of�...
Review of Developments in Production of Silicon for Photovoltaics
Performance of Ultrathin Silicon Solar Microcells with Nanostructures of Relief
of relief as light trapping structures (LTS) on thin, monocrys- talline silicon solar cells derived fromPerformance of Ultrathin Silicon Solar Microcells with Nanostructures of Relief Formed by Soft, Urbana, Illinois 61801 ABSTRACT Recently developed classes of monocrystalline silicon solar microcells
Rogers, John A.
Molybdenum enhanced low-temperature deposition of crystalline silicon nitride
A process for chemical vapor deposition of crystalline silicon nitride which comprises the steps of: introducing a mixture of a silicon source, a molybdenum source, a nitrogen source, and a hydrogen source into a vessel containing a suitable substrate; and thermally decomposing the mixture to deposit onto the substrate a coating comprising crystalline silicon nitride containing a dispersion of molybdenum silicide.
Lowden, Richard A. (Powell, TN)
Silicon nitride ceramic having high fatigue life and high toughness
A sintered silicon nitride ceramic comprising between about 0.6 mol % and about 3.2 mol % rare earth as rare earth oxide, and between about 85 w/o and about 95 w/o beta silicon nitride grains, wherein at least about 20% of the beta silicon nitride grains have a thickness of greater than about 1 micron.
AC impedance analysis of Au/porous silicon contacts
In this paper we present the AC impedance analysis of Au/porous silicon contacts in order to investigate their conduction mechanisms. The porous silicon layer was obtained by electrochemical etching of the p-Si wafer. The measurements were made between ... Keywords: AC electrical conductivity, Electrical equivalent circuit, Porous silicon
F. Fonthal; T. Trifonov; A. Rodriguez; L. F. Marsal; J. Pallar�s
Silicon-nitride and metal composite
A composite and a method for bonding the composite. The composite includes a ceramic portion of silicon nitride, a refractory metal portion and a layer of MoSi.sub.2 indirectly bonding the composite together. The method includes contacting the layer of MoSi.sub.2 with a surface of the silicon nitride and with a surface of the metal; heating the layer to a temperature below 1400.degree. C.; and, simultaneously with the heating, compressing the layer such that the contacting is with a pressure of at least 30 MPa. This composite overcomes useful life problems in the fabrication of parts for a helical expander for use in power generation.
Landingham, Richard L. (Livermore, CA); Huffsmith, Sarah A. (Urbana, IL)
Amorphous Silicon Based Neutron Detector
Various large-scale neutron sources already build or to be constructed, are important for materials research and life science research. For all these neutron sources, neutron detectors are very important aspect. However, there is a lack of a high-performance and low-cost neutron beam monitor that provides time and temporal resolution. The objective of this SBIR Phase I research, collaboratively performed by Midwest Optoelectronics, LLC (MWOE), the University of Toledo (UT) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is to demonstrate the feasibility for amorphous silicon based neutron beam monitors that are pixilated, reliable, durable, fully packaged, and fabricated with high yield using low-cost method. During the Phase I effort, work as been focused in the following areas: 1) Deposition of high quality, low-defect-density, low-stress a-Si films using very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (VHF PECVD) at high deposition rate and with low device shunting; 2) Fabrication of Si/SiO2/metal/p/i/n/metal/n/i/p/metal/SiO2/ device for the detection of alpha particles which are daughter particles of neutrons through appropriate nuclear reactions; and 3) Testing of various devices fabricated for alpha and neutron detection; As the main results: � High quality, low-defect-density, low-stress a-Si films have been successfully deposited using VHF PECVD on various low-cost substrates; � Various single-junction and double junction detector devices have been fabricated; � The detector devices fabricated have been systematically tested and analyzed. � Some of the fabricated devices are found to successfully detect alpha particles. Further research is required to bring this Phase I work beyond the feasibility demonstration toward the final prototype devices. The success of this project will lead to a high-performance, low-cost, X-Y pixilated neutron beam monitor that could be used in all of the neutron facilities worldwide. In addition, the technologies developed here could be used to develop X-ray and neutron monitors that could be used in the future for security checks at the airports and other critical facilities. The project would lead to devices that could significantly enhance the performance of multi-billion dollar neutron source facilities in the US and bring our nation to the forefront of neutron beam sciences and technologies which have enormous impact to materials, life science and military research and applications.
Xu, Liwei
Fabricating amorphous silicon solar cells by varying the temperature _of the substrate during deposition of the amorphous silicon layer
An improved process for fabricating amorphous silicon solar cells in which the temperature of the substrate is varied during the deposition of the amorphous silicon layer is described. Solar cells manufactured in accordance with this process are shown to have increased efficiencies and fill factors when compared to solar cells manufactured with a constant substrate temperature during deposition of the amorphous silicon layer.
Process for forming a porous silicon member in a crystalline silicon member
Fabrication and use of porous silicon structures to increase surface area of heated reaction chambers, electrophoresis devices, and thermopneumatic sensor-actuators, chemical preconcentrates, and filtering or control flow devices. In particular, such high surface area or specific pore size porous silicon structures will be useful in significantly augmenting the adsorption, vaporization, desorption, condensation and flow of liquids and gasses in applications that use such processes on a miniature scale. Examples that will benefit from a high surface area, porous silicon structure include sample preconcentrators that are designed to adsorb and subsequently desorb specific chemical species from a sample background; chemical reaction chambers with enhanced surface reaction rates; and sensor-actuator chamber devices with increased pressure for thermopneumatic actuation of integrated membranes. Examples that benefit from specific pore sized porous silicon are chemical/biological filters and thermally-activated flow devices with active or adjacent surfaces such as electrodes or heaters.
Northrup, M. Allen (Berkeley, CA); Yu, Conrad M. (Antioch, CA); Raley, Norman F. (Danville, CA)
Laser direct growth of graphene on silicon substrate
We demonstrate laser direct growth of few layer graphene on a silicon substrate. In our study, a continuous wave laser beam was focused on a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-coated silicon wafer to evaporate PMMA and melt the silicon wafer. Carbon atoms, decomposed from PMMA, were absorbed by the molten silicon surface, and then separated from silicon in the cooling process to form few-layer graphene. This Si-catalyzed method will provide a new approach and platform for applications of graphene.
Wei Dapeng; Xu Xianfan
Solar cell structure incorporating a novel single crystal silicon material
A novel hydrogen rich single crystal silicon material having a band gap energy greater than 1.1 eV can be fabricated by forming an amorphous region of graded crystallinity in a body of single crystalline silicon and thereafter contacting the region with atomic hydrogen followed by pulsed laser annealing at a sufficient power and for a sufficient duration to recrystallize the region into single crystal silicon without out-gassing the hydrogen. The new material can be used to fabricate semiconductor devices such as single crystal silicon solar cells with surface window regions having a greater band gap energy than that of single crystal silicon without hydrogen.
Pankove, Jacques I. (Princeton, NJ); Wu, Chung P. (Trenton, NJ)
Silicon on insulator achieved using electrochemical etching
Bulk crystalline silicon wafers are transferred after the completion of circuit fabrication to form thin films of crystalline circuitry on almost any support, such as metal, semiconductor, plastic, polymer, glass, wood, and paper. In particular, this technique is suitable to form silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers, whereby the devices and circuits formed exhibit superior performance after transfer due to the removal of the silicon substrate. The added cost of the transfer process to conventional silicon fabrication is insignificant. No epitaxial, lift-off, release or buried oxide layers are needed to perform the transfer of single or multiple wafers onto support members. The transfer process may be performed at temperatures of 50 C or less, permits transparency around the circuits and does not require post-transfer patterning. Consequently, the technique opens up new avenues for the use of integrated circuit devices in high-brightness, high-resolution video-speed color displays, reduced-thickness increased-flexibility intelligent cards, flexible electronics on ultrathin support members, adhesive electronics, touch screen electronics, items requiring low weight materials, smart cards, intelligent keys for encryption systems, toys, large area circuits, flexible supports, and other applications. The added process flexibility also permits a cheap technique for increasing circuit speed of market driven technologies such as microprocessors at little added expense. 57 figs.
McCarthy, A.M.
PWR cores with silicon carbide cladding
The feasibility of using silicon carbide rather than Zircaloy cladding, to reach higher power levels and higher discharge burnups in PWRs has been evaluated. A preliminary fuel design using fuel rods with the same dimensions as in the Westinghouse Robust Fuel Assembly but with fuel pellets having 10 vol% central void has been adopted to mitigate the higher fuel temperatures that occur due to the lower thermal conductivity of the silicon carbide and to the persistence of the open clad-pellet gap over most of the fuel life. With this modified fuel design, it is possible to achieve 18 month cycles that meet present-day operating constraints on peaking factor, boron concentration, reactivity coefficients and shutdown margin, while allowing batch average discharge burnups up to 80 MWD/kgU and peak rod burnups up to 100 MWD/kgU. Power uprates of 10% and possibly 20% also appear feasible. For non-uprated cores, the silicon carbide-clad fuel has a clear advantage that increases with increasing discharge burnup. Even for comparable discharge burnups, there is a savings in enriched uranium. Control rod configuration modifications may be required to meet the shutdown margin criterion for the 20% up-rate. Silicon carbide's ability to sustain higher burnups than Zircaloy also allows the design of a licensable two year cycle with only 96 fresh assemblies, avoiding the enriched uranium penalty incurred with use of larger batch sizes due to their excessive leakage. (authors)
Dobisesky, J. P.; Carpenter, D.; Pilat, E.; Kazimi, M. S. [Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems, Dept. of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue 24-215, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 (United States)
Radiation Hard Silicon Detectors For the SLHC
While the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will start taking data this year, scenarios for a machine upgrade to achieve a much higher luminosity are being developed. In the current planning, it is foreseen to incrase the luminosity of the LHC at CERN around 2016. As radiation damage scales with integrated luminosity, the particle physics experiments will need to be equipped with a new generation of radiation hard detectors. This article reports on the status of the R&D projects on radiation hard silicon strips detectors for particle physics, linked to the Large Hadron Collider Upgrader, Super-LHC (SLHC) of the ATLAS micro-stip detector. The primary focus of this report is on measuring the radiation hardness of the silicon materials and detectors under study. This involves designing silicon detectors, irradiating them to the SLHC radiation levels and studying their performance as particle detectors. The most promising silicon detector for the different radiation levels in the different regions of the ATLAS...
The ATLAS collaboration
A silicon nitride ceramic comprising: a) inclusions no greater than 25 microns in length, b) agglomerates no greater than 20 microns in diameter, and c) a surface finish of less than about 8 microinches, said ceramic having a four-point flexural strength of at least about 900 MPa.
Pujari, Vimal K. (Northboro, MA); Tracey, Dennis M. (Medfield, MA); Foley, Michael R. (Oxford, MA); Paille, Norman I. (Oxford, MA); Pelletier, Paul J. (Millbury, MA); Sales, Lenny C. (Grafton, MA); Willkens, Craig A. (Sterling, MA); Yeckley, Russell L. (Oakham, MA)
Metal electrode for amorphous silicon solar cells
An amorphous silicon solar cell having an N-type region wherein the contact to the N-type region is composed of a material having a work function of about 3.7 electron volts or less. Suitable materials include strontium, barium and magnesium and rare earth metals such as gadolinium and yttrium.
Williams, Richard (Princeton, NJ)
Titanium-Silicon Carbide Composite Lattice Structures
Titanium-Silicon Carbide Composite Lattice Structures A Dissertation Presented to the faculty utilize carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) honeycombs and lattice structures. Few options exist be applied to SiC monofilaments to create very high specific modulus and strength fibers
Wadley, Haydn
Future System-on-Silicon LSI Chips
A new three-dimensional (3D) integration technology to achieve system-on-silicon LSIs has been proposed. Several LSI wafers are vertically stacked and glued each other after thinning them in this 3D integration technology. Therefore, this technology ... Keywords: Large-scale integration, 3D LSI technology, chip packaging, chip-package codesign, multichip modules
Mitsumasa Koyanagi; Hiroyuki Kurino; Kang Wook Lee; Katsuyuki Sakuma; Nobuaki Miyakawa; Hikotaro Itani
Nanoparticle-based etching of silicon surfaces
A method (300) of texturing silicon surfaces (116) such to reduce reflectivity of a silicon wafer (110) for use in solar cells. The method (300) includes filling (330, 340) a vessel (122) with a volume of an etching solution (124) so as to cover the silicon surface 116) of a wafer or substrate (112). The etching solution (124) is made up of a catalytic nanomaterial (140) and an oxidant-etchant solution (146). The catalytic nanomaterial (140) may include gold or silver nanoparticles or noble metal nanoparticles, each of which may be a colloidal solution. The oxidant-etchant solution (146) includes an etching agent (142), such as hydrofluoric acid, and an oxidizing agent (144), such as hydrogen peroxide. Etching (350) is performed for a period of time including agitating or stirring the etching solution (124). The etch time may be selected such that the etched silicon surface (116) has a reflectivity of less than about 15 percent such as 1 to 10 percent in a 350 to 1000 nanometer wavelength range.
Branz, Howard (Boulder, CO); Duda, Anna (Denver, CO); Ginley, David S. (Evergreen, CO); Yost, Vernon (Littleton, CO); Meier, Daniel (Atlanta, GA); Ward, James S. (Golden, CO)
Bulk crystalline silicon wafers are transferred after the completion of circuit fabrication to form thin films of crystalline circuitry on almost any support, such as metal, semiconductor, plastic, polymer, glass, wood, and paper. In particular, this technique is suitable to form silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers, whereby the devices and circuits formed exhibit superior performance after transfer due to the removal of the silicon substrate. The added cost of the transfer process to conventional silicon fabrication is insignificant. No epitaxial, lift-off, release or buried oxide layers are needed to perform the transfer of single or multiple wafers onto support members. The transfer process may be performed at temperatures of 50.degree. C. or less, permits transparency around the circuits and does not require post-transfer patterning. Consequently, the technique opens up new avenues for the use of integrated circuit devices in high-brightness, high-resolution video-speed color displays, reduced-thickness increased-flexibility intelligent cards, flexible electronics on ultrathin support members, adhesive electronics, touch screen electronics, items requiring low weight materials, smart cards, intelligent keys for encryption systems, toys, large area circuits, flexible supports, and other applications. The added process flexibility also permits a cheap technique for increasing circuit speed of market driven technologies such as microprocessors at little added expense.
McCarthy, Anthony M. (Menlo Park, CA)
Methanol Steam Reformer on a Silicon Wafer
A study of the reforming rates, heat transfer and flow through a methanol reforming catalytic microreactor fabricated on a silicon wafer are presented. Comparison of computed and measured conversion efficiencies are shown to be favorable. Concepts for insulating the reactor while maintaining small overall size and starting operation from ambient temperature are analyzed.
Park, H; Malen, J; Piggott, T; Morse, J; Sopchak, D; Greif, R; Grigoropoulos, C; Havstad, M; Upadhye, R
Silicon Refining I - Programmaster.org
A new 1D model for the reactive boundary layer above liquid silicon has been ... After coupling with the phase diagram data of the Pr-P system, the reliability of first ... companies to reduce the cost of their solar photovoltaics (PV) systems.
Silicon halide-alkali metal flames as a source of solar grade silicon. Final report
The object of this program was to determine the feasibility of using continuous high-temperature reactions of alkali metals and silicon halides to produce silicon in large quantities and of suitable purity for use in the production of photovoltaic solar cells. Equilibrium calculations showed that a range of conditions were available where silicon was produced as a condensed phase but the byproduct alkali metal salt was a vapor. A process was proposed using the vapor phase reaction of Na with SiCl/sub 4/. Low pressure experiments were performed demonstrating that free silicon was produced and providing experience with the construction of reactant vapor generators. Further experiments at higher reagent flow rates were performed in a low temperature flow tube configuration with co-axial injection of reagents. Relatively pure silicon was produced in these experiments. A high temperature graphite flow tube was built and continuous separation of Si from NaCl was demonstrated. A larger-scaled well-stirred reactor was built. Experiments were performed to investigate the compatibility of graphite-based reactor materials of construction with sodium. At 1100 to 1200 K none of these materials were found to be suitable. At 1700 K the graphites performed well with little damage except to coatings of pyrolytic graphite and silicon carbide which were damaged.
Olson, D.B.; Miller, W.J.; Gould, R.K.
Crystalline Silicon Photovolatic Cell Basics | Department of Energy
Crystalline Silicon Photovolatic Cell Basics Crystalline Silicon Photovolatic Cell Basics Crystalline Silicon Photovolatic Cell Basics August 19, 2013 - 4:58pm Addthis Crystalline silicon cells are made of silicon atoms connected to one another to form a crystal lattice. This lattice comprises the solid material that forms the photovoltaic (PV) cell's semiconductors. This section describes the atomic structure and bandgap energy of these cells. Atomic Structure Illustration of a silicon crystal with its 14 electrons orbiting a nucleus of protons and neutrons. As depicted in this simplified diagram, silicon has 14 electrons. The four electrons that orbit the nucleus in the outermost "valence" energy level are given to, accepted from, or shared with other atoms. All matter is composed of atoms, which are made up of positively charged
Application Of Optical Processing For Growth Of Silicon Dioxide
A process for producing a silicon dioxide film on a surface of a silicon substrate. The process comprises illuminating a silicon substrate in a substantially pure oxygen atmosphere with a broad spectrum of visible and infrared light at an optical power density of from about 3 watts/cm.sup.2 to about 6 watts/cm.sup.2 for a time period sufficient to produce a silicon dioxide film on the surface of the silicon substrate. An optimum optical power density is about 4 watts/cm.sup.2 for growth of a 100.ANG.-300.ANG. film at a resultant temperature of about 400.degree. C. Deep level transient spectroscopy analysis detects no measurable impurities introduced into the silicon substrate during silicon oxide production and shows the interface state density at the SiO.sub.2 /Si interface to be very low.
Sopori, Bhushan L. (Denver, CO)
Method of forming crystalline silicon devices on glass
A method for fabricating single-crystal silicon microelectronic components on a silicon substrate and transferring same to a glass substrate. This is achieved by utilizing conventional silicon processing techniques for fabricating components of electronic circuits and devices on bulk silicon, wherein a bulk silicon surface is prepared with epitaxial layers prior to the conventional processing. The silicon substrate is bonded to a glass substrate and the bulk silicon is removed leaving the components intact on the glass substrate surface. Subsequent standard processing completes the device and circuit manufacturing. This invention is useful in applications requiring a transparent or insulating substrate, particularly for display manufacturing. Other applications include sensors, actuators, optoelectronics, radiation hard electronics, and high temperature electronics.
Norwegian Silicon Refining AS | Open Energy Information
Refining AS Refining AS Jump to: navigation, search Name Norwegian Silicon Refining AS Place Oslo, Norway Zip 214 Product Oslo-based company with an upgraded metallurgical silicon (UMG) production process called the Stubergh method. Coordinates 59.91228°, 10.74998° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":59.91228,"lon":10.74998,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Casimir Forces On A Silicon Micromechanical Chip
Quantum fluctuations give rise to van der Waals and Casimir forces that dominate the interaction between electrically neutral objects at sub-micron separations. Under the trend of miniaturization, such quantum electrodynamical effects are expected to play an important role in micro- and nano-mechanical devices. Nevertheless, so far the Casimir force has been experimentally observed only in situations involving an external object manually positioned close to a micromechanical element on a silicon chip. Here, we demonstrate the Casimir effect between two silicon components on the same substrate. In addition to providing an integrated and compact platform for Casimir force measurements, this scheme also opens the possibility of tailoring the Casimir force using lithographically defined components of non-conventional shapes on a single micromechanical chip.
Zou, J. [Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, University of Florida; Marset, zsolt [University of Florida, Gainesville; Rodriguez, A.W. [Harvard University; Reid, M. T.H. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); McCauley, A. P. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Kravchenko, Ivan I [ORNL; Bao, Y. [University of Florida, Gainesville; Johnson, S. G. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Chan, Ho Bun [Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Delayed fracture of silicon. Silicon sheet growth development for the Large Area Silicon Sheet Task of the Low Cost Silicon Solar Array Project. Final report
Bar specimens were cut from ingots of single crystal silicon, and acid-etched prior to testing. Artificial surface flaws were introduced in specimens by indentation with a Knoop hardness tester. The specimens were loaded in four-point bending to 95% of the nominal fracture stress, while keeping the surface area, containing the flaw, wet with test liquids. No evidence of delayed fracture, and, therefore stress corrosion, of single crystal silicon was observed for liquid environments including water, acetone and aqueous solutions of NaCl, NH/sub 4/OH, and HNO/sub 3/, when tested with a flaw parallel to a (110) surface. The fracture toughness was calculated to be K/sub IC/ = 0.591 x 10/sup 6/ N/m/sup 3/2/.
Chen, T.J.; Knapp, W.J.
Synthesis of silicon and germanium nanowires.
The vapor-liquid-solid growth process for synthesis of group-IV semiconducting nanowires using silane, germane, disilane and digermane precursor gases has been investigated. The nanowire growth process combines in situ gold seed formation by vapor deposition on atomically clean silicon (111) surfaces, in situ growth from the gaseous precursor(s), and real-time monitoring of nanowire growth as a function of temperature and pressure by a novel optical reflectometry technique. A significant dependence on precursor pressure and growth temperature for the synthesis of silicon and germanium nanowires is observed, depending on the stability of the specific precursor used. Also, the presence of a nucleation time for the onset of nanowire growth has been found using our new in situ optical reflectometry technique.
Clement, Teresa J. (Arizona State University); Hsu, Julia W. P.
Direct current, closed furnace silicon technology
The dc closed furnace technology for smelting silicon offers technical operating challenges, as well as, economic opportunities for off-gas recovery, reduced electrode consumption, reduced reductant oxidation losses, reduced energy consumption, and improved silicon recovery. The 10 mva dc closed furnace is located in East Selkirk, Manitoba. Construction of this pilot plant was started in September 1990. Following successful commissioning of the furnace in 1992, a number of smelting tests have been conducted aimed at optimization of the furnace operation and the raw material mix. The operation of a closed furnace is significantly different from an open furnace operation. The major difference being in the mechanical movement of the mix, off-gas recovery, and inability to observe the process. These differences made data collection and analysis critical in making operating decisions. This closed furnace was operated by computer control (state of the art in the smelling industry).
Dosaj, V.D. [Dow Corning Corp., Midland, MI (United States); May, J.B. [Dow Corning Corp., Freeland, MI (United States); Arvidson, A.N. [Meadow Materials, Manitoba (Canada)
Amorphous and Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cells: Preprint
We review the progress made by amorphous silicon solar cells, including the emerging technology of solar cells of microcrystalline silicon. The long-term trend in the efficiency of stabilized laboratory cells based on a-Si:H has been a rise of {approx}0.6 % per year. The recent trend in the a-Si,Ge:H cell efficiency alone, measured in the spectral window assigned to the bottom device in a triple-junction cell, has been an increase of {approx}0.16% per year. These improvements have brought within reach the target of 15% efficiency identified by EPRI and DOE for widespread application. Our review leads to an identification of areas of promising research, with emphasis on the fundamental science required to reach the 15% target, and then to move to the next-level efficiency goal.
Wagner, S. (Princeton University); Carlson, D. E. (Solarex); Branz, H. M. (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
PWR Cores with Silicon Carbide Cladding
The feasibility of using present-generation pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel design, with silicon carbide rather than zirconium-based alloy cladding, to reach higher operational power levels and discharge burnups has been evaluated. A preliminary fuel design using fuel rods with the same dimensions as Westinghouse robust fuel assemblies (RFA), but with fuel pellets that have 10 volume percent central holes, has been adopted. The central holes mitigate the higher fuel temperatures that occur due to th...
Substrate for thin silicon solar cells
A photovoltaic device for converting solar energy into electrical signals comprises a substrate, a layer of photoconductive semiconductor material grown on said substrate, wherein the substrate comprises an alloy of boron and silicon, the boron being present in a range of from 0.1 to 1.3 atomic percent, the alloy having a lattice constant substantially matched to that of the photoconductive semiconductor material and a resistivity of less than 1.times.10.sup.-3 ohm-cm.
Ciszek, Theodore F. (Evergreen, CO)
A photovoltaic device for converting solar energy into electrical signals comprises a substrate, a layer of photoconductive semiconductor material grown on said substrate, wherein the substrate comprises an alloy of boron and silicon, the boron being present in a range of from 0.1 to 1.3 atomic percent, the alloy having a lattice constant substantially matched to that of the photoconductive semiconductor material and a resistivity of less than 1{times}10{sup {minus}3} ohm-cm. 4 figures.
Ciszek, T.F.
Method of preparing silicon from sodium fluosilicate
A process for preparing high purity silicon metal from Na.sub.2 SiF.sub.6 (sodium fluosilicate). The sodium fluosilicate is heated to decomposition temperature to form NaF, which retains most of the impurities, and gaseous SiF.sub.4. The SiF.sub.4 is then reduced by the bomb reduction method using a reductant having a low packing density.
Schmidt, Frederick A. (Ames, IA); Rehbein, David (Ames, IA); Chiotti, Premo (Ames, IA)
Hydrogenated amorphous silicon-germanium alloys
This report describes the effects of the germanium fraction in hydrogenated amorphous silicon-germanium alloys on various parameters, especially those that are indicators of film quality, and the impact of deposition methods, feedgas mixtures, and other deposition parameters on a SiGe:H and a-SiGe:H:F film characteristics and quality. Literature data show the relationship between germanium content, hydrogen content, deposition method (various glow discharges and CVD), feedgas lmixture, and other parameters and properties, such as optical band gap, dark and photoconductivities, photosensitivity, activation energy, Urbach parameter, and spin density. Some of these are convenient quality indicators; another is the absence of microstructure. Examining RF glow discharge with both a diode and triode geometry, DC proximity glow discharge, microwave glow discharge, and photo-CVD, using gas mixtures such as hydrogen-diluted and undiluted mixtures of silane/germane, disilane/germane, silane/germaniumtetrafluoride, and others, it was observed that hydrogen dilution (or inert gas dilution) is essential in achieving high photosensitivity in silicon-germanium alloys (in contradistinction to amorphous hydrogenated silicon). Hydrogen dilution results in a higher photosensitivity than do undiluted gas mixtures. 81 refs., 42 figs., 7 tabs.
Luft, W.
Metallization of large silicon wafers. Final report
A metallization scheme has been developed which allows selective plating of silicon solar cell surfaces. The system is comprised of three layers. Palladium, through the formation of palladium silicide at 300/sup 0/C in nitrogen, makes ohmic contact to the silicon surface. Nickel, plated on top of the palladium silicide layer, forms a solderable interface. Lead-tin solder on the nickel provides conductivity and allows a convenient means for interconnection of cells. To apply this metallization, three chemical plating baths are employed. Palladium is deposited with an immersion palladium solution and an electroless palladium solution, and nickel is deposited with an electroless nickel solution. Solder is applied with a molten solder dip. Extensive development work has been performed to achieve an effective immersion palladium solution formulation, leading to reproducible formation of the palladium silicide contact layer. This metallization system has been repeatedly demonstrated to be extremely effective. Current-voltage characteristic curve fill factors of 78% are easily achieved. This has been done while maintaining metal contact adhesion at such a strength as to fail by fracturing silicon upon perpendicular pull testing rather than be delaminating the metal system. Process specifications and procedures have been prepared.
Pryor, R.A.
Silicon Micromachined Dimensional Calibration Artifact for Mesoscale Measurement Machines
Silicon Micromachined Dimensional Calibration Silicon Micromachined Dimensional Calibration Artifact for Mesoscale Measurement Machines 1 Silicon Micromachined Dimensional Calibration Artifact for Mesoscale Measurement Machines 2 Sandia National Laboratories PO Box 5800 Albuquerque, NM 87185 USA Hy D. Tran, PhD, PE Phone: (505)844-5417 Fax: (505)844-4372 email@example.com AFFIRMATION: I affirm that all information submitted as a part of, or supplemental to, this entry is a fair and accurate representation of this product. ___________________________________ Hy D. Tran Not a joint entry. Silicon Micromachined Dimensional Calibration Artifact for Mesoscale Measurement Machines The silicon hybrid artifact is an anisotropic-etched silicon standard that is used as a calibration reference artifact to calibrate vision-based and
III-V/Silicon Lattice-Matched Tandem Solar Cells
A two-junction device consisting of a 1.7-eV GaNPAs junction on a 1.1-eV silicon junction has the theoretical potential to achieve nearly optimal efficiency for a two-junction tandem cell. We have demonstrated a monolithic III-V-on-silicon tandem solar cell in which most of the III-V layers are nearly lattice-matched to the silicon substrate. The cell includes a GaNPAs top cell, a GaP-based tunnel junction (TJ), and a diffused silicon junction formed during the epitaxial growth of GaNP on the silicon substrate. To accomplish this, we have developed techniques for the growth of high crystalline quality lattice-matched GaNPAs on silicon by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy.
Geisz, J.; Olson, J.; Friedman, D.; Kurtz, S.; McMahon, W.; Romero, M.; Reedy, R.; Jones, K.; Norman, A.; Duda, A.; Kibbler, A.; Kramer, C.; Young, M.
Method of making monolithic intergrated III-V type laser devices and silicon devices on silicon
This patent describes a method of fabricating compound semiconductor devices of III-V or II-VI material and semiconductor devices of silicon on a common substrate. It comprises: forming Si electronic devices on selected areas of the substrate; forming a mask layer over the Si devices and the selected regions; forming openings through the mask layer to exposure the selected regions; forming layers of the compound semi-conductor over at least the exposed selected regions which layers are single crystalline and form optoelectronic compound semiconductor devices with a lasing layer; forming contact metallization on the devices; removing regions of silicon adjacent and underlying portions of the compound semiconductor devices leaving the compound semiconductor devices isolated from silicon on lateral sides with two cantilevered beam sections of compound semiconductor devices extending in opposite directions; and separating the cantilevered sections from the compound semiconductor devices to provide end facets for the compound semiconductor devices.
Zavracky, P.M.
A process for chemical vapor deposition of crystalline silicon nitride is described which comprises the steps of: introducing a mixture of a silicon source, a molybdenum source, a nitrogen source, and a hydrogen source into a vessel containing a suitable substrate; and thermally decomposing the mixture to deposit onto the substrate a coating comprising crystalline silicon nitride containing a dispersion of molybdenum silicide. 5 figures.
Lowden, R.A.
Amorphous silicon/polycrystalline thin film solar cells
An improved photovoltaic solar cell is described including a p-type amorphous silicon layer, intrinsic amorphous silicon, and an n-type polycrystalline semiconductor such as cadmium sulfide, cadmium zinc sulfide, zinc selenide, gallium phosphide, and gallium nitride. The polycrystalline semiconductor has an energy bandgap greater than that of the amorphous silicon. The solar cell can be provided as a single-junction device or a multijunction device.
Ullal, H.S.
Argonne CNM Highlight: Atomic Scale Modeling and Simulation of Silicon
Atomic Scale Modeling and Simulation of Silicon Anisotropic Etching Atomic Scale Modeling and Simulation of Silicon Anisotropic Etching N. Moldovan A well-known process in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology involves etching silicon in alkaline solutions, which produces accurate 3-D silicon structures, sometimes with atomic smoothness, by taking advantage of the strong dependence of the etching rate on crystal orientation. Significant experimental effort has been made to characterize this anisotropy (polar etching rate diagrams, temperature dependencies, roughness measurements, in situ STM records during etching, electrochemistry studies etc.). The experimental results were used in complex simulations that successfully predicted the evolution of the 3-D geometry, starting from the experimentally measured etching diagrams.
Fully Integrated Silicon Terahertz Transceivers for Sensing and Communication Applications
Distributed active transformer-a new power combining andA monolithic transformer coupled 5-w silicon power amplifiertap of the output transformer in the power amplifier (PA).
Park, Jungdong
Method and apparatus for producing high purity silicon
A method for producing high purity silicon includes forming a copper silie alloy and positioning the alloy within an enclosure. A filament member is also placed within the enclosure opposite the alloy. The enclosure is then filled with a chemical vapor transport gas adapted for transporting silicon. Finally, both the filament member and the alloy are heated to temperatures sufficient to cause the gas to react with silicon at the alloy surface and deposit the reacted silicon on the filament member. In addition, an apparatus for carrying out this method is also disclosed.
Olson, Jerry M. (Lakewood, CO)
Slag-based Refining of Silicon and Solar Cell Advances
Mar 6, 2013 ... There has been a strong commercial push recently towards thinner and thinner silicon in the solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies due to the�...
Silicon Nanowires for Integrated Photonics: Bridging Nano and Micro Photonics.
??Silicon Nanowires (SiNWs) with ability to confine carriers and photons in two directions while allowing propagation in third dimension offer interesting modified optical properties such� (more)
Khorasaninejad, Mohammadreza
Silicon Photonics for chemical sensing and spectroscopy, diagnosis and therapy.
??Silicon Photonics has been attracting a lot of research interests in past few years. However, almost all literature results are demonstrated in the optical communication� (more)
Hon, Kam Yan
TIP Project Brief 090052 Silicon Nanowire Production for ...
... A practical battery with a silicon nanowire anode could increase the energy density of today's lithium batteries by 40 percent, even ...
GCL Solar Energy Technology Holdings formerly GCL Silicon aka...
GCL Solar Energy Technology Holdings formerly GCL Silicon aka Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon Jump to: navigation, search Name GCL Solar Energy Technology Holdings (formerly GCL...
Silicon-Germanium-Carbon Self Assembled Quantum Dot Growth ...
Feb 1, 2002 ... Silicon-Germanium-Carbon Self Assembled Quantum Dot Growth and Applications in Electronic Memory Devices by D.-W. Kim and S.
Thinner Film Silicon Solar Cells - Energy Innovation Portal
Technology Marketing Summary Berkeley Lab scientists have designed a new approach to create thin film silicon solar cells with a potential increase in ...
Creep Behavior of a Zirconium Diboride-silicon Carbide Composite ...
Presentation Title, Creep Behavior of a Zirconium Diboride-silicon Carbide ... High Temperature Degradation of Carbon-fiber-reinforced Phenolic-resin Matrix
Current Status and Issues of Silicon Carbide Composites for Nuclear ...
High-purity silicon carbide composites consisting of the high purity and highly crystalline fibers and matrices have proven the excellent mechanical performance�...
On the Segregation of Impurities in Solar Silicon
Presentation Title, On the Segregation of Impurities in Solar Silicon ... Abstract Scope, The exponential increase of the photovoltaic market leads to a shortage of�...
Carbon aerogels can be coated with sol-gel silica and the silica can be converted to silicon carbide, improving the thermal stability of the carbon ae ...
Silicon/Graphite �Tin Nano-structured Composites Synthesized by ...
Presentation Title, Silicon/Graphite �Tin Nano-structured Composites Synthesized by High Energy Mechanical Milling for Lithium-ion Rechargeable Batteries�...
Silicon Valley Technology Centre SVTC | Open Energy Information
Technology Centre SVTC Jump to: navigation, search Name Silicon Valley Technology Centre (SVTC) Place San Jose, California Zip 915134 Product Development foundry which offers...
Silicon-film{trademark} on ceramic solar cells. Final report
The Silicon-Film{trademark} design achieves high performance through the use of a thin silicon layer. Optimally designed thin crystalline solar cells (<50 microns thick) have performance advantages over conventional thick devices. The enhancement in performance requires the incorporation of back-surface passivation and light trapping. The high-performance Silicon-Film{trademark} design employs a metallurgical barrier between the low-cost substrate and the thin silicon layer. The properties of the metallurgical barrier must be engineered to implement specific device requirements, such as high back-surface reflectivity. Recent advances in process development are described here.
Hall, R.B.; Bacon, C.; DiReda, V.; Ford, D.H.; Ingram, A.E.; Lampo, S.M.; Rand, J.A.; Ruffins, T.R.; Barnett, A.M. [AstroPower, Inc., Newark, DE (United States)
Improved Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells - Energy Innovation Portal
Alex Zettl, Jeffrey Grossman and Lucas Wagner of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have invented hydrogenated amorphous silicon solar cells with 30% improved ...
29 June 2011 00:00 Nanostructured materials (nanowires, nanotubes, nanoclusters, graphene) are attractive possible alternatives to traditionally microfabricated silicon in...
Vacuum Distillation of Aluminum and Silicon via Carbothermal ...
Presentation Title, Vacuum Distillation of Aluminum and Silicon via Carbothermal Reduction of Their Oxides with Concentrated Solar Energy. Author(s), Peter G.
Rapid, controllable growth of epitaxial silicon films - Energy ...
Many of the current industry cells in ... A method of producing epitaxial silicon films on a c-Si wafer substrate using hot wire chemical vapor ...
NREL: Technology Transfer - The Quest for Inexpensive Silicon ...
Most of today's solar cells are made out of wafer crystalline silicon. ... Kline discovered that NREL had developed a process called hot-wire chemical ...
Quantum dots and radio-frequency electrometry in silicon.
??This thesis describes the development and demonstration of a new technique for the fabrication of well-defined quantum dots in a bulk silicon substrate, for potential� (more)
Angus, Susan J.
NMR Studies of Molecular Hydrogen in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon
Using NMR, the concentrations of molecular hydrogen have been measured directly in hydrogenated amorphous silicon made by the hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) technique.
Su, T.; Chen, S.; Taylor, P. C.; Crandall, R. S.; Mahan, A. H.
Purification of silicon by the silicon fluoride transport process. Thermochemical study
A computer-assisted thermochemical equilibrium analysis was conducted for the silicon transport reaction: Si(s) + SiF/sub 4/(g) = (intermediates) = Si(s) + SiF/sub 4/(g). The calculations indicated that a substantial transport rate should be possible at temperatures of 1700/sup 0/K and one atmosphere pressure. Computations were made to determine whether the elemental impurities present in metallurgical-grade silicon would transfer in this process. It was concluded that aluminum, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, vanadium, and zirconium would not transfer, but that boron, magnesium, phosphorus, and titanium would transfer.
Rhein, R.A.
Producer-Focused Life Cycle Assessment of Thin-Film Silicon Photovoltaic Systems
microcrystalline- silicon photovoltaic cell, B) range ofpayback of roof mounted photovoltaic cells. Boustead, I. andmicrocrystalline-silicon photovoltaic cell, B) range of
Zhang, Teresa Weirui
Novel Effects on the Fracture Strength of Silicon Wafers for the ...
Symposium, Solar Cell Silicon. Presentation Title, Novel Effects on the Fracture Strength of Silicon Wafers for the Photovoltaic Industry. Author(s), Tania�...
Nanocrystalline Silicon Quantum Dot Light Emitting Diodes Using Metal Oxide Charge Transport Layers.
??Silicon-based lighting show promise for display and solid state lighting use. Here we demonstrate a novel thin film light emitting diode device using nanocrystalline silicon� (more)
Zhu, Jiayuan
Depletion effects of silicon deposition from methyltrichlorosilane
The deposition rate of SiC on carbon-coated Nicalon fibers from methyltrichlorosilane in hydrogen was measured as a function of temperature, pressure, total flow rate, and simulated reactant depletion. The results, which are included in this paper together with kinetic information on the stability of methyltrichlorosilane, led to two conclusions: two different mechanisms of deposition can occur depending on whether the methyltrichlorosilane has an opportunity to dissociate into separate silicon- and carbon-containing precursors, and the deposition rate is strongly reduced by the generation of byproduct HCl. The data were fitted to a simple etch model to obtain a kinetic expression that accounts for the significant effect of HCl.
Besmann, T.M.; Sheldon, B.W.; Moss, T.S. III; Kaster, M.D. (Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States))
Reactive sticking coefficients of silane on silicon
Reactive sticking coefficients (RSCs) were measured for silane and disilane on polycrystalline silicon for a wide range of temperature and flux (pressure) conditions. The data were obtained from deposition rate measurements using molecular beam scattering and a very low pressure cold wall reactor. The RSCs have non-Arrhenius temperature dependences and decreases with increasing flux at low (710/sup 0/) temperatures. A simple model involving dissociative adsorption of silane is consistent with these results. The results are compared with previous studies of the SiH/sub 4//Si(s) reaction.
Buss, R.J.; Ho, P.; Breiland, W.G.; Coltrin, M.E.
Fermilab silicon strip readout chip for BTev
A chip has been developed for reading out the silicon strip detectors in the new BTeV colliding beam experiment at Fermilab. The chip has been designed in a 0.25 {micro}m CMOS technology for high radiation tolerance. Numerous programmable features have been added to the chip, such as setup for operation at different beam crossing intervals. A full size chip has been fabricated and successfully tested. The design philosophy, circuit features, and test results are presented in this paper.
Yarema, Raymond; Hoff, Jim; Mekkaoui, Abderrezak; Manghisoni, Massimo; Re, Valerio; Angeleri, Valentina; Manfredi, Pier Francesco; Ratti, Lodovico; Speziali, Valeria; /Fermilab /Bergamo U. /INFN, Pavia /Pavia U.
Photoluminescence response of ion-implanted silicon
The photoluminescence intensity from ion-implanted silicon can be quenched by the radiation damage implicit in the implantation. Annealing is then required before the intensity of the luminescence from a defect center is approximately proportional to the concentration of that center. Data from positron annihilation and photoluminescence experiments establish that severe quenching of the luminescence occurs when the mean separation of the small vacancy clusters is less than {approx}30 atomic spacings, and the authors map out where, in the annealing and implantation phase space, the luminescence intensity is expected to be approximately proportional to the concentration of the optical centers.
Harding, Ruth E.; Davies, Gordon; Hayama, S.; Coleman, P. G.; Burrows, C. P.; Wong-Leung, J. [Department of Physics, King's College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom); Department of Physics, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY (United Kingdom); Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200 (Australia)
Development of the ORRUBA Silicon Detector Array
High quality radioactive beams have recently made possible the measurement of (d,p) reactions on unstable nuclei in inverse kinematics, which can yield information on the development of single-neutron structure away from stability, and are of astrophysical interest due to the proximity to suggested r-process paths. The Oak Ridge Rutgers University Barrel Array (ORRUBA) is a new high solid-angular coverage array, composed of two rings of silicon detectors, optimized for measuring (d,p) reactions. A partial implementation has been used to measure (d,p) reactions on nuclei around the N = 82 shell closure.
Pain, S. D. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903 (United States); Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States); Bardayan, D. W.; Blackmon, J. C.; Nesaraja, C. D.; Smith, M. S. [Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States); Chae, K. Y.; Jones, K. L.; Kapler, R.; Moazen, B. H. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996 (United States); Chipps, K. A. [Physics Department, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80403 (United States); Cizewski, J. A.; Hatarik, R.; O'Malley, P.; Thomas, J. S. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903 (United States); Johnson, M. S.; Matei, C. [Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge, TN 37830 (United States); Kozub, R. L. [Department of Physics, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN 38505 (United States)
Valley splitting in strained silicon quantum wells Timothy B. Boykin
Valley splitting in strained silicon quantum wells Timothy B. Boykin Department of Electrical on localized-orbital approaches is developed to describe the valley splitting observed in silicon quantum wells in the absence of electric field in contrast to previous works. The splitting in a square well oscillates
Sheridan, Jennifer
Virus-Enabled Silicon Anode for Lithium-Ion Batteries
Virus-Enabled Silicon Anode for Lithium-Ion Batteries Xilin Chen, Konstantinos Gerasopoulos emerged as one of the most promising next-generation anode materials for lithium-ion batteries due to its with remarkable cycling stability. KEYWORDS: silicon anode · lithium-ion battery · Tobacco mosaic virus · physical
Ghodssi, Reza
Superlattice doped layers for amorphous silicon photovoltaic cells
Superlattice doped layers for amorphous silicon photovoltaic cells comprise a plurality of first and second lattices of amorphous silicon alternatingly formed on one another. Each of the first lattices has a first optical bandgap and each of the second lattices has a second optical bandgap different from the first optical bandgap. A method of fabricating the superlattice doped layers also is disclosed.
Arya, Rajeewa R. (Doylestown, PA)
Low cost routes to high purity silicon and derivatives thereof
The present invention is directed to a method for providing an agricultural waste product having amorphous silica, carbon, and impurities; extracting from the agricultural waste product an amount of the impurities; changing the ratio of carbon to silica; and reducing the silica to a high purity silicon (e.g., to photovoltaic silicon).
Laine, Richard M; Krug, David James; Marchal, Julien Claudius; Mccolm, Andrew Stewart
Molybdenum disilicide composites reinforced with zirconia and silicon carbide
This patent pertains to compositions consisting essentially of molybdenum disilicide, silicon carbide, and a zirconium oxide component. The silicon carbide used in the compositions is in whisker or powder form. The zirconium oxide component is pure zirconia or partially stabilized zirconia or fully stabilized zirconia. Fabrication, fracture toughness, and bend strength are covered.
Petrovic, J.J.
Nanowire silicon as a material for thermoelectric energy conversion
In order to use silicon as an efficient thermoelectric (TE) material for TE energy conversion, it is necessary to reduce its relatively high thermal conductivity, while maintaining the high power factor. This can be done by structuring silicon into 1-D ...
A. Stranz; J. K�hler; S. Merzsch; A. Waag; E. Peiner
Post-silicon power mapping techniques for integrated circuits
We propose a new methodology for post-silicon power validation using the captured thermal infrared emissions from the back-side of operational integrated circuits. We first identify the challenges associated with thermal to power inversion, and then ... Keywords: Infrared imaging, Post-silicon validation, Power analysis, Power mapping
Sherief Reda; Abdullah N. Nowroz; Ryan Cochran; Stefan Angelevski
Silicon in functional epitaxial oxides: A new group of nanostructures
The ability to integrate low-dimensional crystalline silicon into crystalline insulators with high dielectric constant (high-k) can open the way for a variety of novel applications ranging from high-k replacement in future nonvolatile memory devices ... Keywords: Molecular beam epitaxy, Nanocluster, Nanostructures, Quantum well, Rare-earth oxides, Silicon
A. Fissel; A. Laha; E. Bugiel; D. K�hne; M. Czernohorsky; R. Dargis; H. J. Osten
Molecular rectifying diodes from self-assembly on silicon
Molecular rectifying diodes from self-assembly on silicon Stéphane Lenfant , Christophe Krzeminski a molecular rectifying junction made from a sequential self-assembly on silicon. The device structure consists resonance through the highest occupied molecular orbital of the -group in good agreement with our
Paris-Sud XI, Université de
A Complementary Pair of Four-Terminal Silicon Synapses
We have developed a complementary pair of pFET and nFET floating-gate silicon MOS transistors for analog learning applications. The memory storage is nonvolatile; hot-electron ... Keywords: floating-gate MOSFET, silicon learning, synapse transistor
Chris Diorio; Paul Hasler; Bradley A. Minch; Carver Mead
High voltage bipolar-CMOS structure using porous silicon
A method for integrating a silicon-on-insulator device and a bulk bipolar device on a semiconductor body. The invention simultaneously forms the two regions for the silicon-on-insulator device and the bipolar device. The invention enables a high voltage CMOS power device to be located on the same chip as a bipolar logic device enabling smart power devices.
Guilinger, T.R.; Kelly, M.J.; Tsao, S.S.
Clean Cities: Silicon Valley Clean Cities (San Jose) coalition
Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center (EERE)
Silicon Valley Clean Cities (San Jose) Coalition Silicon Valley Clean Cities (San Jose) Coalition The Silicon Valley Clean Cities (San Jose) coalition works with vehicle fleets, fuel providers, community leaders, and other stakeholders to reduce petroleum use in transportation. Silicon Valley Clean Cities (San Jose) coalition Contact Information Margo Sidener 408-998-5865 email@example.com Patricia Tind 408-998-5865 firstname.lastname@example.com Coalition Website Clean Cities Coordinators Coord Margo Sidener Coord Coord Patricia Tind Coord Photo of Margo Sidener Margo Sidener has been the coordinator of the Silicon Valley (San Jose) Clean Cities coalition since 2006. She also serves as the president and CEO of Breathe California of the Bay Area, the "Local Clean Air and Healthy Lungs Leader," a nonprofit grassroots organization founded in 1911 to fight
Inverted random nanopyramids patterning for crystalline silicon photovoltaics
We demonstrate a nanopatterning technique for silicon photovoltaics, which optically outperforms conventional micron-scale random pyramids, while decreasing by a factor of ten the quantity of silicon lost during the texturing process. We combine hole-mask colloidal lithography, a bottom-up nanolithography technique, with reactive ion etching to define nanopyramids at the surface of a silicon wafer. Thanks to the self-organised aspect of the technique, the beads are randomly distributed, however keeping a interbead distance of the order of their diameter. We tune the nanopattern feature size to maximize the absorption in the crystalline silicon by exploiting both anti-reflection and light trapping. When optimized, the nanopyramids lead to a higher absorption in the crystalline silicon than the conventional micron-scale random pyramids in the visible and near the band edge, with a superior robustness to variations of the angle of the incident light. As the nanopatterning technique presented here is simple, we e...
Daif, Ounsi El; Niesen, Bjoern; Yaala, Marwa Ben; Sharma, Parikshit Pratim; Depauw, Valerie; Gordon, Ivan
Back contact to film silicon on metal for photovoltaic cells
A crystal oriented metal back contact for solar cells is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a photovoltaic device and methods for making the photovoltaic device are disclosed. The photovoltaic device includes a metal substrate with a crystalline orientation and a heteroepitaxial crystal silicon layer having the same crystal orientation of the metal substrate. A heteroepitaxial buffer layer having the crystal orientation of the metal substrate is positioned between the substrate and the crystal silicon layer to reduce diffusion of metal from the metal foil into the crystal silicon layer and provide chemical compatibility with the heteroepitaxial crystal silicon layer. Additionally, the buffer layer includes one or more electrically conductive pathways to electrically couple the crystal silicon layer and the metal substrate.
Branz, Howard M.; Teplin, Charles; Stradins, Pauls
NREL Core Program (NCPV), Session: Film Silicon (Presentation)
This project supports the Solar America Initiative by: R and D that contributes to goal of grid parity by 2015; research to fill the industry R and D pipeline for next-generation low-cost scalable products; development of industry collaborative research; and improvement of NREL tools and capabilities for film silicon research. The project addresses both parts of film silicon roadmap: (1) amorphous-silicon-based thin film PV--amorphous and nanocrystalline materials, present '2nd generation' technology, 4% of world PV sales in 2007; (2) advanced R and D toward film crystal silicon--definition, large-grained or single-crystal silicon < 100 {micro}m thick; 3-8 year horizon; and goal of reaching 15% cells at area costs approaching thin films.
Branz, H. M.
Silicon Based Anodes for Li-Ion Batteries
Silicon is environmentally benign and ubiquitous. Because of its high specific capacity, it is considered one of the most promising candidates to replace the conventional graphite negative electrode used in today's Li ion batteries. Silicon has a theoretical specific capacity of nearly 4200 mAh/g (Li21Si5), which is 10 times larger than the specific capacity of graphite (LiC6, 372 mAh/g). However, the high capacity of silicon is associated with huge volume changes (more than 300 percent) when alloyed with lithium, which can cause severe cracking and pulverization of the electrode and lead to significant capacity loss. Significant scientific research has been conducted to circumvent the deterioration of silicon based anode materials during cycling. Various strategies, such as reduction of particle size, generation of active/inactive composites, fabrication of silicon based thin films, use of alternative binders, and the synthesis of 1-D silicon nanostructures have been implemented by a number of research groups. Fundamental mechanistic research has also been performed to better understand the electrochemical lithiation and delithiation process during cycling in terms of crystal structure, phase transitions, morphological changes, and reaction kinetics. Although efforts to date have not attained a commercially viable Si anode, further development is expected to produce anodes with three to five times the capacity of graphite. In this chapter, an overview of research on silicon based anodes used for lithium-ion battery applications will be presented. The overview covers electrochemical alloying of the silicon with lithium, mechanisms responsible for capacity fade, and methodologies adapted to overcome capacity degradation observed during cycling. The recent development of silicon nanowires and nanoparticles with significantly improved electrochemical performance will also be discussed relative to the mechanistic understanding. Finally, future directions on the development of silicon based anodes will be considered.
Zhang, Jiguang; Wang, Wei; Xiao, Jie; Xu, Wu; Graff, Gordon L.; Yang, Zhenguo; Choi, Daiwon; Li, Xiaolin; Wang, Deyu; Liu, Jun
Thin Silicon MEMS Contact-Stress Sensor
This work offers the first, thin, MEMS contact-stress (CS) sensor capable of accurate in situ measruement of time-varying, contact-stress between two solid interfaces (e.g. in vivo cartilage contact-stress and body armor dynamic loading). This CS sensor is a silicon-based device with a load sensitive diaphragm. The diaphragm is doped to create piezoresistors arranged in a full Wheatstone bridge. The sensor is similar in performance to established silicon pressure sensors, but it is reliably produced to a thickness of 65 {micro}m. Unlike commercial devices or other research efforts, this CS sensor, including packaging, is extremely thin (< 150 {micro}m fully packaged) so that it can be unobtrusively placed between contacting structures. It is built from elastic, well-characterized materials, providing accurate and high-speed (50+ kHz) measurements over a potential embedded lifetime of decades. This work explored sensor designs for an interface load range of 0-2 MPa; however, the CS sensor has a flexible design architecture to measure a wide variety of interface load ranges.
Kotovsky, J; Tooker, A; Horsley, D A
High resolution amorphous silicon radiation detectors
A radiation detector employing amorphous Si:H cells in an array with each detector cell having at least three contiguous layers (n type, intrinsic, p type), positioned between two electrodes to which a bias voltage is applied. An energy conversion layer atop the silicon cells intercepts incident radiation and converts radiation energy to light energy of a wavelength to which the silicon cells are responsive. A read-out device, positioned proximate to each detector element in an array allows each such element to be interrogated independently to determine whether radiation has been detected in that cell. The energy conversion material may be a layer of luminescent material having a columnar structure. In one embodiment a column of luminescent material detects the passage therethrough of radiation to be detected and directs a light beam signal to an adjacent a-Si:H film so that detection may be confined to one or more such cells in the array. One or both electrodes may have a comb structure, and the teeth of each electrode comb may be interdigitated for capacitance reduction. The amorphous Si:H film may be replaced by an amorphous Si:Ge:H film in which up to 40 percent of the amorphous material is Ge. Two dimensional arrays may be used in X-ray imaging, CT scanning, crystallography, high energy physics beam tracking, nuclear medicine cameras and autoradiography.
Street, Robert A. (Palo Alto, CA); Kaplan, Selig N. (El Cerrito, CA); Perez-Mendez, Victor (Berkeley, CA)
A radiation detector employing amorphous Si:H cells in an array with each detector cell having at least three contiguous layers (n-type, intrinsic, p-type), positioned between two electrodes to which a bias voltage is applied. An energy conversion layer atop the silicon cells intercepts incident radiation and converts radiation energy to light energy of a wavelength to which the silicon cells are responsive. A read-out device, positioned proximate to each detector element in an array allows each such element to be interrogated independently to determine whether radiation has been detected in that cell. The energy conversion material may be a layer of luminescent material having a columnar structure. In one embodiment a column of luminescent material detects the passage therethrough of radiation to be detected and directs a light beam signal to an adjacent a-Si:H film so that detection may be confined to one or more such cells in the array. One or both electrodes may have a comb structure, and the teeth of each electrode comb may be interdigitated for capacitance reduction. The amorphous Si:H film may be replaced by an amorphous Si:Ge:H film in which up to 40 percent of the amorphous material is Ge. Two dimensional arrays may be used in X-ray imaging, CT scanning, crystallography, high energy physics beam tracking, nuclear medicine cameras and autoradiography. 18 figs.
Street, R.A.; Kaplan, S.N.; Perez-Mendez, V.
Cryogenic Silicon Microstrip Detector Modules for LHC
CERN is presently constructing the LHC, which will produce collisions of 7 TeV protons in 4 interaction points at a design luminosity of 1034 cm-2 s-1. The radiation dose resulting from the operation at high luminosity will cause a serious deterioration of the silicon tracker performance. The state-of-art silicon microstrip detectors can tolerate a fluence of about 3 1014 cm-2 of hadrons or charged leptons. This is insufficient, however, for long-term operation in the central parts of the LHC trackers, in particular after the possible luminosity upgrade of the LHC. By operating the detectors at cryogenic temperatures the radiation hardness can be improved by a factor 10. This work proposes a cryogenic microstrip detector module concept which has the features required for the microstrip trackers of the upgraded LHC experiments at CERN. The module can hold an edgeless sensor, being a good candidate for improved luminosity and total cross-section measurements in the ATLAS, CMS and TOTEM experiments. The design o...
Perea-Solano, B
Crystalline-silicon photovoltaics: Necessary and sufficient
Photovoltaic (PV) energy systems have always been dominated by crystalline-silicon (c-Si) technology, and recent developments persuasively suggest that c-Si will continue to be the dominant technology well into the next century. The authors explain why c-Si technology is fairing much better than previously expected, and discuss the impact of improvements currently under development. They use a ground-up, engineering-based approach to predict the expected evolution of this type of PV system, and argue that c-Si PV will be in a position to compete for the US residential power market starting in about the year 2010. This market alone will provide the opportunity for PV to supply several percent of the electrical energy used in the United States. Crystalline-silicon technology is therefore not just necessary for building a near-term PV industry; it also offers a low-risk approach to meeting long-term goals for PV energy systems.
Basore, P.A.; Gee, J.M.
The future of amorphous silicon photovoltaic technology
Amorphous silicon modules are commercially available. They are the first truly commercial thin-film photovoltaic (PV) devices. Well-defined production processes over very large areas (>1 m{sup 2}) have been implemented. There are few environmental issues during manufacturing, deployment in the field, or with the eventual disposal of the modules. Manufacturing safety issues are well characterized and controllable. The highest measured initial efficiency to date is 13.7% for a small triple-stacked cell and the highest stabilized module efficiency is 10%. There is a consensus among researchers, that in order to achieve a 15% stabilized efficiency, a triple-junction amorphous silicon structure is required. Fundamental improvements in alloys are needed for higher efficiencies. This is being pursued through the DOE/NREL Thin-Film Partnership Program. Cost reductions through improved manufacturing processes are being pursued under the National Renewable Energy Laboratory/US Department of Energy (NREL/DOE)-sponsored research in manufacturing technology (PVMaT). Much of the work in designing a-Si devices is a result of trying to compensate for the Staebler-Wronski effect. Some new deposition techniques hold promise because they have produced materials with lower stabilized defect densities. However, none has yet produced a high efficiency device and shown it to be more stable than those from standard glow discharge deposited material.
Crandall, R.; Luft, W.
Cordierite silicon nitride filters. Final report
Sawyer, J.; Buchan, B. [Acurex Environmental Corp., Mountain View, CA (United States); Duiven, R.; Berger, M. [Aerotherm Corp., Mountain View, CA (United States); Cleveland, J.; Ferri, J. [GTE Products Corp., Towanda, PA (United States)
Removal of Boron from Silicon by Steam and Hydrogen Impinging Jets
Presentation Title, Removal of Boron from Silicon by Steam and Hydrogen Impinging Jets. Author(s) ... grade silicon to the solar grade silicon target in a simple impinging jet setup. ... FOR NEXT GENERATION LOW-COST c-Si PHOTOVOLTAICS SYSTEMS ... Tracing impurities in silicon production in the microwave furnace�...
Development of a Commercial Processfor the Production of Silicon Carbide Fibrils
into the annulus of the boat. The MTS is dissociated to allow the carbon and silicon components to be dissolved. Department of Energy desires to use Silicon Carbide Fibrils as reinforcement for fiber reinforced silicon fiber paper as a substitute for the silicon carbide fibrils for chemical vapor infiltration development
.e. from silane to disilane to trisilane) the silicon growth rate increases for the same experimental
Low temperature plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of silicon oxide films using disilane and nitrous oxide
Keywords: disilane, low temperature, nitrous oxide, plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, silicon oxide
Juho Song; G. S. Lee; P. K. Ajmera
Role of point defects/defect complexes in silicon device processing. Book of abstracts, fourth workshop
The 41 abstracts are arranged into 6 sessions: impurities and defects in commercial substrates: their sources, effects on material yield, and material quality; impurity gettering in silicon: limits and manufacturability of impurity gettering and in silicon solar cells; impurity/defect passivation; new concepts in silicon growth: improved initial quality and thin films; and silicon solar cell design opportunities.
Method of inducing differential etch rates in glow discharge produced amorphous silicon
A method of inducing differential etch rates in glow discharge produced amorphous silicon by heating a portion of the glow discharge produced amorphous silicon to a temperature of about 365.degree. C. higher than the deposition temperature prior to etching. The etch rate of the exposed amorphous silicon is less than the unheated amorphous silicon.
Staebler, David L. (Lawrenceville, NJ); Zanzucchi, Peter J. (Lawrenceville, NJ)
Method of and apparatus for removing silicon from a high temperature sodium coolant
A method of and system for removing silicon from a high temperature liquid sodium coolant system for a nuclear reactor. The sodium is cooled to a temperature below the silicon saturation temperature and retained at such reduced temperature while inducing high turbulence into the sodium flow for promoting precipitation of silicon compounds and ultimate separation of silicon compound particles from the liquid sodium.
Yunker, Wayne H. (Richland, WA); Christiansen, David W. (Kennewick, WA)
Semiconductor grade, solar silicon purification project. Final technical report
Motorola's low cost poly silicon program is described. In the process, SiF/sub 4/, a low cost by-product is reacted with mg silicon to form SiF/sub 2/ gas which is polymerized. The (SiF/sub 2/)/sub x/ polymer is heated forming volatile Si/sub x/F/sub y/ homologues which disproportionate (C.V.D.) on a silicon particle bed forming silicon and SiF/sub 4/. During the initial phases of the investigation the silicon analysis procedure relied heavily on S.S.M.S. and E.S. analysis. This analysis demonstrated that major purification had occurred and some samples were indistinguishable from semiconductor grade silicon (except possibly for phosphorus). However, more recent electrical analysis via crystal growth reveals that the product contains compensated phosphorus and boron. Work on the control or removal of the electrically active donors and acceptors could yield a product suitable for solar application. The low projected product cost and short energy payback time suggest that the economics of this process will result in a cost less than the J.P.L./D.O.E. goal of $10/Kg (1975 dollars). Finally, assuming a successful demonstration of a pilot facility, the process appears to be readily scalable to a major silicon purification facility as was proposed by Motorola and R. Katzen.
Ingle, W.M.; Rosler, R.S.; Thompson, S.W.; Chaney, R.E.
Performance Testing using Silicon Devices - Analysis of Accuracy: Preprint
Accurately determining PV module performance in the field requires accurate measurements of solar irradiance reaching the PV panel (i.e., Plane-of-Array - POA Irradiance) with known measurement uncertainty. Pyranometers are commonly based on thermopile or silicon photodiode detectors. Silicon detectors, including PV reference cells, are an attractive choice for reasons that include faster time response (10 us) than thermopile detectors (1 s to 5 s), lower cost and maintenance. The main drawback of silicon detectors is their limited spectral response. Therefore, to determine broadband POA solar irradiance, a pyranometer calibration factor that converts the narrowband response to broadband is required. Normally this calibration factor is a single number determined under clear-sky conditions with respect to a broadband reference radiometer. The pyranometer is then used for various scenarios including varying airmass, panel orientation and atmospheric conditions. This would not be an issue if all irradiance wavelengths that form the broadband spectrum responded uniformly to atmospheric constituents. Unfortunately, the scattering and absorption signature varies widely with wavelength and the calibration factor for the silicon photodiode pyranometer is not appropriate for other conditions. This paper reviews the issues that will arise from the use of silicon detectors for PV performance measurement in the field based on measurements from a group of pyranometers mounted on a 1-axis solar tracker. Also we will present a comparison of simultaneous spectral and broadband measurements from silicon and thermopile detectors and estimated measurement errors when using silicon devices for both array performance and resource assessment.
Sengupta, M.; Gotseff, P.; Myers, D.; Stoffel, T.
Silicon/Pyrex Planar Microbattery A Silicon Process-Compatible Micro-Power Source
The design, fabrication, and performance of a planar microbattery made from a silicon wafer with a bonded lid are presented. The battery is designed with two compartments, separated by four columns of micro-posts. These posts are 3 or 5 micrometers in diameter. The posts permit transport of liquid electrolyte, but stop particles of battery material from each compartment from mixing. The anode and cathode battery compartments, the posts, fill holes, and conductive vias are all made using high-aspect-ratio reactive ion (Bosch) etching. After the silicon wafer is completed, it is anodically bonded or adhesive bonded to a Pyrex{reg_sign} wafer lid. The battery materials are made from micro-disperse particles that are 3-5 micrometers in diameter. The lithium-ion chemistry is microcarbon mesobeads and lithium cobalt oxide. The battery capacity is 1.83 micro-amp-hrs/cm{sup 2} at a discharge rate of 25 microamps.
Antifuse with a single silicon-rich silicon nitride insulating layer
An antifuse is disclosed which has an electrically-insulating region sandwiched between two electrodes. The electrically-insulating region has a single layer of a non-hydrogenated silicon-rich (i.e. non-stoichiometric) silicon nitride SiN.sub.X with a nitrogen content X which is generally in the range of 0silicon. Arrays of antifuses can also be formed.
Habermehl, Scott D.; Apodaca, Roger T.
Method for forming fibrous silicon carbide insulating material
A method whereby silicon carbide-bonded SiC fiber composites are prepared from carbon-bonded C fiber composites is disclosed. Carbon-bonded C fiber composite material is treated with gaseous silicon monoxide generated from the reaction of a mixture of colloidal silica and carbon black at an elevated temperature in an argon atmosphere. The carbon in the carbon bond and fiber is thus chemically converted to SiC resulting in a silicon carbide-bonded SiC fiber composite that can be used for fabricating dense, high-strength high-toughness SiC composites or as thermal insulating materials in oxidizing environments.
Wei, George C. (Oak Ridge, TN)
Method of fabricating silicon carbide coatings on graphite surfaces
The vacuum plasma spray process produces well-bonded, dense, stress-free coatings for a variety of materials on a wide range of substrates. The process is used in many industries to provide for the excellent wear, corrosion resistance, and high temperature behavior of the fabricated coatings. In this application, silicon metal is deposited on graphite. This invention discloses the optimum processing parameters for as-sprayed coating qualities. The method also discloses the effect of thermal cycling on silicon samples in an inert helium atmosphere at about 1600.degree.C. which transforms the coating to silicon carbide.
Varacalle, Jr., Dominic J. (Idaho Falls, ID); Herman, Herbert (Port Jefferson, NY); Burchell, Timothy D. (Oak Ridge, TN)
Control of carbon balance in a silicon smelting furnace
The present invention is a process for the carbothermic reduction of silicon dioxide to form elemental silicon. Carbon balance of the process is assessed by measuring the amount of carbon monoxide evolved in offgas exiting the furnace. A ratio of the amount of carbon monoxide evolved and the amount of silicon dioxide added to the furnace is determined. Based on this ratio, the carbon balance of the furnace can be determined and carbon feed can be adjusted to maintain the furnace in carbon balance.
Dosaj, V.D.; Haines, C.M.; May, J.B.; Oleson, J.D.
Peak Sun Silicon Corp | Open Energy Information
Corp Corp Jump to: navigation, search Name Peak Sun Silicon Corp Place Carlsbad, California Zip 92008 Product US-based manufacturer of granular electronic-grade polysilicon for the PV industry. Coordinates 31.60396°, -100.641609° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":31.60396,"lon":-100.641609,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Review of the silicon material task
The Silicon Material Task of the Flat-Plate Solar Array Project was assigned the objective of developing the technology for low-cost processes for producing polysilicon suitable for terrestrial solar-cell applications. The Task program comprised sections for process developments for semiconductor-grade and solar-cell-grade products. To provide information for deciding upon process designs, extensive investigations of the effects of impurities on material properties and the performance of cells were conducted. The silane process of the Union Carbide Corporation was carried through several stages of technical and engineering development; a pilot plant was the culmination of this effort. The work to establish silane fluidized-bed technology for a low-cost process is continuing. The advantages of the use of dichlorosilane in a Siemens-type process were shown by Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation. The development of other processes is described.
Lutwack, R.
This thin, MEMS contact-stress (CS) sensor continuously and accurately measures time-varying, solid interface loads in embedded systems over tens of thousands of load cycles. Unlike all other interface load sensors, the CS sensor is extremely thin (< 150 {micro}m), provides accurate, high-speed measurements, and exhibits good stability over time with no loss of calibration with load cycling. The silicon CS sensor, 5 mm{sup 2} and 65 {micro}m thick, has piezoresistive traces doped within a load-sensitive diaphragm. The novel package utilizes several layers of flexible polyimide to mechanically and electrically isolate the sensor from the environment, transmit normal applied loads to the diaphragm, and maintain uniform thickness. The CS sensors have a highly linear output in the load range tested (0-2.4 MPa) with an average accuracy of {+-} 1.5%.
Kotovsky, J; Tooker, A; Horsley, D
Tests of timing properties of silicon photomultipliers
Timing measurements of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM) [1] and [2] at the picosecond level were performed at Fermilab. The core timing resolution of the electronic measurement technique is approximately 2 ps. The single photoelectron time resolution (SPTR) was measured for the signals coming from the SiPM's. A SPTR of about one hundred picoseconds was obtained for SiPM's illuminated by laser pulses. The dependence of the SPTR on applied bias voltage and on the wavelength of the light was measured. A simple model is proposed to explain the difference in the SPTR for blue and red light. A time of flight system based on the SiPM's, with quartz Cherenkov radiators, was tested in a proton beam at Fermilab. The time resolution obtained is 35 ps per SiPM. Finally, requirements for the SiPM's temperature and bias voltage stability to maintain the time resolution are discussed.
Ronzhin, A.; Albrow, M.; /Fermilab; Byrum, K.; /Argonne; Demarteau, M.; Los, S.; /Fermilab; May, E.; /Argonne; Ramberg, A.; /Fermilab; Va'vra, J.; /SLAC; Zatserklyaniy, A.; /Puerto Rico U., Mayaguez
Method of producing silicon carbide articles
A method of producing articles comprising reaction-bonded silicon carbide (SiC) and graphite (and/or carbon) is given. The process converts the graphite (and/or carbon) in situ to SiC, thus providing the capability of economically obtaining articles made up wholly or partially of SiC having any size and shape in which graphite (and/or carbon) can be found or made. When the produced articles are made of an inner graphite (and/or carbon) substrate to which SiC is reaction bonded, these articles distinguish SiC-coated graphite articles found in the prior art by the feature of a strong bond having a gradual (as opposed to a sharply defined) interface which extends over a distance of mils. A method for forming SiC whisker-reinforced ceramic matrices is also given. The whisker-reinforced articles comprise SiC whiskers which substantially retain their structural integrity.
Milewski, John V. (Los Alamos, NM)
Method of casting silicon into thin sheets
Silicon (Si) is cast into thin shapes within a flat-bottomed graphite crucible by providing a melt of molten Si along with a relatively small amount of a molten salt, preferably NaF. The Si in the resulting melt forms a spherical pool which sinks into and is wetted by the molten salt. Under these conditions the Si will not react with any graphite to form SiC. The melt in the crucible is pressed to the desired thinness with a graphite tool at which point the tool is held until the mass in the crucible has been cooled to temperatures below the Si melting point, at which point the Si shape can be removed.
Sanjurjo, Angel (San Jose, CA); Rowcliffe, David J. (Los Altos, CA); Bartlett, Robert W. (Tucson, AZ)
Theory Of Alkyl Terminated Silicon Quantum Dots
We have carried out a series of ab-initio calculations to investigate changes in the optical properties of Si quantum dots as a function of surface passivation. In particular, we have compared hydrogen passivated dots with those having alkyl groups at the surface. We find that, while on clusters with reconstructed surfaces a complete alkyl passivation is possible, steric repulsion prevents full passivation of Si dots with unreconstructed surfaces. In addition, our calculations show that steric repulsion may have a dominant effect in determining the surface structure, and eventually the stability of alkyl passivated clusters, with results dependent on the length of the carbon chain. Alkyl passivation weakly affects optical gaps of silicon quantum dots, while it substantially decreases ionization potentials and electron affinities and affect their excited state properties. On the basis of our results we propose that alkyl terminated quantum dots may be size selected taking advantage of the change in ionization potential as a function of the cluster size.
Reboredo, F; Galli, G
Neutron transmutation doping of polycrystalline silicon
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of doped silane has been used by others to deposit a polycrytalline silicon film (polysil) on metal or graphite substrates, but dopant migration to grain boundaries during deposition apparently prohibits attaining a uniform or desired dopant concentration. In contrast, we have used neutron transmutation doping to introduce a uniform phosphorus dopant concentration in commercially available undoped CVD polysil at doping concentrations greater than or equal to 2 x 10/sup 15/ cm/sup -3/. Radiation damage annealing to 800/sup 0/C did not indicate dopant migration. Carrier mobility increased with doping concentration and the minority carrier lifetime (MCL) appears to be comparable to that of neutron transmutation doped (NTD) single crystal Si. Application of this technique to photovoltaic solar cell fabrication is discussed.
Cleland, J.W.; Westbrook, R.D.; Wood, R.F.; Young, R.T.
Phoenix Silicon International Corp Psi | Open Energy Information
Phoenix Silicon International Corp Psi Phoenix Silicon International Corp Psi Jump to: navigation, search Name Phoenix Silicon International Corp (Psi) Place Hsinchu, Taiwan Zip 300 Sector Solar Product Taiwan-based silicon recycler and manufacturer of wafers to the semiconductor and solar industries; also makes lithium-ion batteries. Coordinates 24.69389°, 121.148064° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":24.69389,"lon":121.148064,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
REC Silicon formerly ASiMI | Open Energy Information
Silicon formerly ASiMI Silicon formerly ASiMI Jump to: navigation, search Name REC Silicon (formerly ASiMI) Place Butte, Montana Zip 59750 Product Manufactures and sells polycrystalline silicon. Coordinates 47.838435°, -100.665669° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":47.838435,"lon":-100.665669,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Characterization of silicon surface preparation processes for advanced gate dielectrics
This paper gives a short overview of issues associated with the surface preparation of silicon surfaces for advanced gate dielectrics and the appearance and nature of the wafer surface after different chemical treatments. The main portion of the paper ...
H. F. Okorn-Schmidt
Harmful Shunting Mechanisms Found in Silicon Solar Cells (Revised...
for the degradation in open-circuit voltage and high dark currents in epitaxial silicon solar cells. The technique is also appli- cable to other PV technologies such as CIGS and...
Nonlinear silicon photonics from the near to mid infrared.
??This dissertation presents experimental work investigating silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonic waveguides for parametric nonlinear optic devices. An introduction is presented in Chapter 1, including background and� (more)
Park, Jung Soo
Processing and characterization of silicon nitride nanofiber paper
Papers of silicon nitride nanofibers were synthesized by a carbothermal reduction process. These nanofiber papers were synthesized in situ and did not require a secondary processing step. The process utilized silica nanopowders and silica gel as the ...
Kei-Peng Jen, Ronald Warzoha, Ji Guo, Michael Tang, Sridhar Santhanam
Nanoporous silicon as drug delivery systems for cancer therapies
Porous silicon nanoparticles have been established as excellent candidates for medical applications as drug delivery devices, due to their excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, and high surface area. The simple fabrication method by electrochemical ...
Sazan M. Haidary; Emma P. C�rcoles; Nihad K. Ali
Silicon-based sleeve devices for chemical reactions
A silicon-based sleeve type chemical reaction chamber that combines heaters, such as doped polysilicon for heating, and bulk silicon for convection cooling. The reaction chamber combines a critical ratio of silicon and silicon nitride to the volume of material to be heated (e.g., a liquid) in order to provide uniform heating, yet low power requirements. The reaction chamber will also allow the introduction of a secondary tube (e.g., plastic) into the reaction sleeve that contains the reaction mixture thereby alleviating any potential materials incompatibility issues. The reaction chamber may be utilized in any chemical reaction system for synthesis or processing of organic, inorganic, or biochemical reactions, such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and/or other DNA reactions, such as the ligase chain reaction, which are examples of a synthetic, thermal-cycling-based reaction. The reaction chamber may also be used in synthesis instruments, particularly those for DNA amplification and synthesis.
Northrup, M. Allen (Berkeley, CA); Mariella, Jr., Raymond P. (Danville, CA); Carrano, Anthony V. (Livermore, CA); Balch, Joseph W. (Livermore, CA)
Reactor physics assessment of thick silicon carbide clad PWR fuels
High temperature tolerance, chemical stability and low neutron affinity make silicon carbide (SiC) a potential fuel cladding material that may improve the economics and safety of light water reactors (LWRs). "Thick" SiC ...
Bloore, David A. (David Allan)
Silicon carbidonitride based phosphors and lighting devices using the same
Disclosed herein are novel families of silicon carbidonitride phosphor compositions. In certain embodiments, optimal ranges of carbon content have been identified which provide excellent luminescence and thermal stability characteristics.
Li, Yuanqiang; Romanelli, Michael Dennis; Tian, Yongchi
Progress in studies on carbon and silicon carbide nanocomposite materials
Silicon carbide nanofiber and carbon nanotubes are introduced. The structure and application of nanotubers (nanofibers) in carbon/carbon composites are emphatically presented. Due to the unique structure of nanotubers (nanofibers), they can modify the ...
Peng Xiao; Jie Chen; Xian-feng Xu
Pulsed energy synthesis and doping of silicon carbide
A method for producing beta silicon carbide thin films by co-depositing thin films of amorphous silicon and carbon onto a substrate is disclosed, whereafter the films are irradiated by exposure to a pulsed energy source (e.g. excimer laser) to cause formation of the beta-SiC compound. Doped beta-SiC may be produced by introducing dopant gases during irradiation. Single layers up to a thickness of 0.5-1 micron have been produced, with thicker layers being produced by multiple processing steps. Since the electron transport properties of beta silicon carbide over a wide temperature range of 27--730 C is better than these properties of alpha silicon carbide, they have wide application, such as in high temperature semiconductors, including HETEROJUNCTION-junction bipolar transistors and power devices, as well as in high bandgap solar arrays, ultra-hard coatings, light emitting diodes, sensors, etc.
Truher, J.B.; Kaschmitter, J.L.; Thompson, J.B.; Sigmon, T.W.
A method for producing beta silicon carbide thin films by co-depositing thin films of amorphous silicon and carbon onto a substrate, whereafter the films are irradiated by exposure to a pulsed energy source (e.g. excimer laser) to cause formation of the beta-SiC compound. Doped beta-SiC may be produced by introducing dopant gases during irradiation. Single layers up to a thickness of 0.5-1 micron have been produced, with thicker layers being produced by multiple processing steps. Since the electron transport properties of beta silicon carbide over a wide temperature range of 27.degree.-730.degree. C. is better than these properties of alpha silicon carbide, they have wide application, such as in high temperature semiconductors, including hetero-junction bipolar transistors and power devices, as well as in high bandgap solar arrays, ultra-hard coatings, light emitting diodes, sensors, etc.
Truher, Joel B. (San Rafael, CA); Kaschmitter, James L. (Pleasanton, CA); Thompson, Jesse B. (Brentwood, CA); Sigmon, Thomas W. (Beaverton, OR)
Hydrogenated amorphous silicon films prepared by glow discharge of disilane
This report describes the results of an investigation of the properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon films and the efficiency of amorphous silicon solar cells deposited from disilane at rates of 1.5 nanometers/second or greater. The study was divided into two parts, investigation of basic materials properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films and the fabrication of glass-P-I-N-metal solar cells. The thin film materials properties investigated included the dark conductivity, photoconductivity, dihydride/monohydride concentration ratio, activation energy, and mobility-lifetime product. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon solar cells were fabricated with an intrinsic layer which was deposited at 1.5 nanometers/second. The absolute and reverse bias quantum yields were measured and solar cell efficiencies of 5% were achieved. Attempts to increase the efficiency by reverse bias annealing are also reported. 7 refs., 27 figs.
Wiesmann, H.J. (UHT Corp., Dobbs Ferry, NY (USA))
Indium oxide/n-silicon heterojunction solar cells
A high photo-conversion efficiency indium oxide/n-silicon heterojunction solar cell is spray deposited from a solution containing indium trichloride. The solar cell exhibits an Air Mass One solar conversion efficiency in excess of about 10%.
Feng, Tom (Morris Plains, NJ); Ghosh, Amal K. (New Providence, NJ)
Energy Basics: Types of Silicon Used in Photovoltaics
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
make some the earliest photovoltaic (PV) devices-is still the most popular material for solar cells. Silicon is also the second-most abundant element in the Earth's crust (after...
Athermal photonic devices and circuits on a silicon platform
In recent years, silicon based optical interconnects has been pursued as an eective solution that can offer cost, energy, distance and bandwidth density improvements over copper. Monolithic integration of optics and ...
Raghunathan, Vivek
Making Silicon Melt in Reverse | Advanced Photon Source
at two U.S. Department of Energy synchrotron x-ray light sources, including the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory, has found that silicon, the most...
Potential applications of a toughened silicon-based alloy
Silicon has long been used as an alloying element in various metal alloys, in engineered ceramics, and in the semiconductor industry. However, due to its intrinsic low fracture toughness, it is generally perceived as a ...
Lei, Wang S
Low Cost, High Efficiency Tandem Silicon Solar Cells and LEDs
iency solar cells that leverage the well-established design and manufacturing technology of silicon cells while delivering the performance previously achievable only by far more complex and expensive tandem solar cells.�
Tracing Impurities in Silicon Production in the Microwave Furnace
Removal of Phosphor in Metallurgical Silicon by Rare Earth Elements
A silicon-based sleeve type chemical reaction chamber is described that combines heaters, such as doped polysilicon for heating, and bulk silicon for convection cooling. The reaction chamber combines a critical ratio of silicon and silicon nitride to the volume of material to be heated (e.g., a liquid) in order to provide uniform heating, yet low power requirements. The reaction chamber will also allow the introduction of a secondary tube (e.g., plastic) into the reaction sleeve that contains the reaction mixture thereby alleviating any potential materials incompatibility issues. The reaction chamber may be utilized in any chemical reaction system for synthesis or processing of organic, inorganic, or biochemical reactions, such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and/or other DNA reactions, such as the ligase chain reaction, which are examples of a synthetic, thermal-cycling-based reaction. The reaction chamber may also be used in synthesis instruments, particularly those for DNA amplification and synthesis. 32 figs.
Northrup, M.A.; Mariella, R.P. Jr.; Carrano, A.V.; Balch, J.W.
High temperature investigations of crystalline silicon solar cell materials
Crystalline silicon solar cells are a promising candidate to provide a sustainable, clean energy source for the future. In order to bring about widespread adoption of solar cells, much work is needed to reduce their cost. ...
Hudelson, George David Stephen, III
Geometry control of recrystallized silicon wafers for solar applications
The cost of manufacturing crystalline silicon wafers for use in solar cells can be reduced by eliminating the waste streams caused by sawing ingots into individual wafers. Professor Emanuel Sachs has developed a new method ...
Ruggiero, Christopher W
NREL: Process Development and Integration Laboratory - Silicon Cluster Tool
Silicon Cluster Tool Capabilities Silicon Cluster Tool Capabilities Photo of a cylindrical metal chamber surrounded by numerous other smaller cylindrical or rectangular chambers. Each tool has several flanges and is typically held within a metal frame or rack. A computer is on a table in front of a cabinet of electronic equipment. Silicon cluster tool in the Process Development and Integration Laboratory. The Silicon cluster tool within the Process Development and Integration Laboratory is a 10-port cluster tool designed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and manufactured by MVSystems. It handles standard 157-mm x 157-mm samples introduced into the central 10-6 torr vacuum chamber via a load lock. From there, a robotic arm moves samples from one chamber to another within the cluster tool. Contact Qi Wang for more
New Opportunities in Crystalline Silicon R&D
To support the expected growth of the silicon solar cell industry, we believe that research and development (R&D) activities should be carried out in the following areas: polysilicon feedstock for the PV industry; thin-layer silicon deposition methods, and more environmentally benign cell and module manufacturing processes. For each of these activities, we identify the main issues that needed to be addressed.
Tsuo, Y. S.; Wang, T. H.; Ciszek, T. F. (National Renewable Energy Laboratory); Menna, P. (ENEA, Portici, Italy)
Silicon detector upgrades for the Tevatron Run 2
The current silicon devices being used by the D0 and CDF collaborations for the Tevatron Run 2a, which is expected to end in 2005 after accumulating about 2 fb{sup -1} of data, will need to be replaced due to radiation damage for the following data collection period designated as Run 2b. We will discuss these silicon replacement plans, the more uniform design of the detectors between D0 and CDF, and the current status of their fabrication.
M. Kruse
Silicon ribbon growth by a capillary action shaping technique. Quarterly progress report No. 3, March 15, 1976
Objectives of the program are the technological assessment of ribbon growth of silicon by a capillary action shaping technique and economic evaluation of ribbon silicon grown by a capillary action shaping technique as low-cost silicon. The program of study included crystal growth of silicon ribbons, characterization of silicon ribbons, and economic evaluations and computer-aided simulation of ribbon growth. (WDM)
Schwuttke, G.H.; Ciszek, T.F.; Kran, A.
Deposition of device quality, low hydrogen content, amorphous silicon films by hot filament technique using ``safe`` silicon source gas
A method is described for producing hydrogenated amorphous silicon on a substrate by flowing a stream of safe (diluted to less than 1%) silane gas past a heated filament. 7 figs.
Mahan, A.H.; Molenbroek, E.C.; Nelson, B.P.
Silicon web process development. Low Cost Solar Array Project: Large Area Silicon Test Task. Annual report, April 1978-April 1979
Silicon dendritic web is a unique mode of ribbon growth in which crystallographic and surface tension forces, rather than shaping dies, are used to control crystal form. The single crystal webs, typically 2-4 cm wide, have been made into solar cells which exhibit AMl conversion efficiencies as high as 15.5%. During crystallization, silicon webs effectively segregate metal impurities to the melt (k/sub eff/ approx. 10/sup -5/) so that the use of cheaper, less pure silicon as feedstock for crystal growth appears feasible. A research program to significantly increase web output rate and to show the feasibility for simultaneous melt replenishment and growth is described. Also, an economic analysis of the silicon web process is presented. (WHK)
Duncan, C.S.; Hopkins, R.H.; Seidensticker, R.G.; McHugh, J.P.; Hill, F.E.; Heimlich, M.E.; Driggers, J.M.
Analysis of copper-rich precipitates in silicon: chemical state,gettering, and impact on multicrystalline silicon solar cellmaterial
In this study, synchrotron-based x-ray absorption microspectroscopy (mu-XAS) is applied to identifying the chemical states of copper-rich clusters within a variety of silicon materials, including as-grown cast multicrystalline silicon solar cell material with high oxygen concentration and other silicon materials with varying degrees of oxygen concentration and copper contamination pathways. In all samples, copper silicide (Cu3Si) is the only phase of copper identified. It is noted from thermodynamic considerations that unlike certain metal species, copper tends to form a silicide and not an oxidized compound because of the strong silicon-oxygen bonding energy; consequently the likelihood of encountering an oxidized copper particle in silicon is small, in agreement with experimental data. In light of these results, the effectiveness of aluminum gettering for the removal of copper from bulk silicon is quantified via x-ray fluorescence microscopy (mu-XRF),and a segregation coefficient is determined from experimental data to beat least (1-2)'103. Additionally, mu-XAS data directly demonstrates that the segregation mechanism of Cu in Al is the higher solubility of Cu in the liquid phase. In light of these results, possible limitations for the complete removal of Cu from bulk mc-Si are discussed.
Buonassisi, Tonio; Marcus, Matthew A.; Istratov, Andrei A.; Heuer, Matthias; Ciszek, Theodore F.; Lai, Barry; Cai, Zhonghou; Weber,Eicke R.
Silicon Valley Biodiesel Inc | Open Energy Information
Biodiesel Inc Biodiesel Inc Jump to: navigation, search Name Silicon Valley Biodiesel Inc. Place Sunnyvale, California Zip CA 94086 Product Manufactures biodiesel for the local diesel fuel market using local supplies of waste fats, oils and greases that is converted into fatty acid methyl esters and has properties similar to diesel fuel. Coordinates 32.780338°, -96.547405° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":32.780338,"lon":-96.547405,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Defect structure of web silicon ribbon
Web silicon ribbon has recently emerged as a material for the production of high efficiency solar cells. Since defects introduced during growth may influence locally minority carrier recombination rates, there is now a need to examine the defect structure in detail and to correlate it with electrical activity. This work describes initial observations made on web material by EBIC and HVEM. Although EBIC investigations have shown that dislocations emerging at the web surface enhance minority carrier recombination rates, their density is low enough (typically 10/sup 5/cm/sup -2/) to have only a small effect on the efficiency of the material as a solar cell. Since a condition for dendritic web growth is that the dendrites contain at least two twin boundaries it is usual to find that some of these boundaries extend into the web. These boundaries are formed parallel to the (111) growth surface and are found to be sites of strong electrical activity. HVEM has been used to study the defect structure at the twin boundary. Two types of dislocation networks lying on different (111) planes have been observed, presumably corresponding to two adjacent twin boundaries.
Cunningham, B.; Strunk, H.; Ast, D.
Silicon heat pipes for cooling electronics
The increasing power density of integrated circuits (ICs) is creating the need for improvements in systems for transferring heat away from the chip. In earlier investigations, diamond films were used to conduct heat from ICs and spread the energy across a heat sink. The authors` investigation has indicated that a 635 {mu}m (25 mil) thick silicon substrate with embedded heat pipes could perform this task better than a diamond film. From their study, it appears that the development of a heat-pipe heat-spreading system is both technically and commercially feasible. The major challenge for this heat-spreading system is to develop an effective wick structure to transport liquid to the heated area beneath the chip. This paper discusses the crucial design parameters for this heat-pipe system, such as the required wick properties, the material compatibility issues, and the thermal characteristics of the system. The paper also provides results from some recent experimental activities at Sandia to develop these heat-pipe heat spreader systems.
Adkins, D.R.; Shen, D.S.; Palmer, D.W.; Tuck, M.R.
We have investigated the reaction of room-temperature silane and disilane on a hot polycrystalline silicon surface using both a collision-free molecular beam and a very low pressure CVD cell. Reactive sticking coefficients were obtained from deposition rate data over a wide range of temperatures and silane (disilane) fluxes. The RSCs are substantially less than one, ranging from 6 x 10/sup -5/ to 4 x 10/sup -2/. For silane we observed curved Arrhenius plots with slopes decreasing from approx.60 kcal mol/sup -1/ at low temperatures to approx.2 kcal mol/sup -1/ at higher temperatures. The RSCs are independent of flux (pressure) at 1040/sup 0/C, but vary as flux to the approx.-1/2 power at 710/sup 0/C. A model comprised of a dissociative adsorption mechanism with competing associative desorption and reaction was found to give reasonable agreement. For disilane, we observed RSCs that were roughly ten times higher than those for silane. We also observed a curved Arrhenius plot and a flux dependence at 710/sup 0/C for disilane. 22 refs., 5 figs.
Silicon nucleation and film evolution on silicon dioxide using disilane: Rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition of very smooth silicon at high deposition rates
An investigation of Si{sub 2}H{sub 6} and H{sub 2} for rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition (RTCVD) of silicon on SiO{sub 2} has been performed at temperatures ranging from 590 to 900 C and pressures ranging from 0.1 to 1.5 Torr. Deposition at 590 C yields amorphous silicon films with the corresponding ultrasmooth surface with a deposition rate of 68 nm/min. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy of a sample deposited at 625 C and 1 Torr reveals a bilayer structure which is amorphous at the growth surface and crystallized at the oxide interface. Higher temperatures yield polycrystalline films where the surface roughness depends strongly on both deposition pressure and temperature. Silane-based amorphous silicon deposition in conventional systems yields the expected ultrasmooth surfaces, but at greatly reduced deposition rates unsuitable for single-wafer processing. However, disilane, over the process window considered here, yields growth rates high enough to be appropriate for single-wafer manufacturing, thus providing a viable means for deposition of very smooth silicon films on SiO{sub 2} in a single-wafer environment.
Violette, K.E.; Oeztuerk, M.C.; Christensen, K.N.; Maher, D.M. [North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
Cavitation contributes substantially to tensile creep in silicon nitride
During tensile creep of a hot isostatically pressed (HIPed) silicon nitride, the volume fraction of cavities increases linearly with strain; these cavities produce nearly all of the measured strain. In contrast, compressive creep in the same stress and temperature range produces very little cavitation. A stress exponent that increases with stress ({dot {var_epsilon}} {proportional_to} {sigma}{sup n}, 2 < n < 7) characterizes the tensile creep response, while the compressive creep response exhibits a stress dependence of unity. Furthermore, under the same stress and temperature, the material creeps nearly 100 times faster in tension than in compression. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicates that the cavities formed during tensile creep occur in pockets of residual crystalline silicate phase located at silicon nitride multigrain junctions. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) from crept material quantifies the size distribution of cavities observed in TEM and demonstrates that cavity addition, rather than cavity growth, dominates the cavitation process. These observations are in accord with a model for creep based on the deformation of granular materials in which the microstructure must dilate for individual grains t slide past one another. During tensile creep the silicon nitride grains remain rigid; cavitation in the multigrain junctions allows the silicate to flow from cavities to surrounding silicate pockets, allowing the dilation of the microstructure and deformation of the material. Silicon nitride grain boundary sliding accommodates this expansion and leads to extension of the specimen. In compression, where cavitation is suppressed, deformation occurs by solution-reprecipitation of silicon nitride.
Luecke, W.E.; Wiederhorn, S.M.; Hockey, B.J.; Krause, R.F. Jr.; Long, G.G. [National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
Silicon bulk micromachined hybrid dimensional artifact.
A mesoscale dimensional artifact based on silicon bulk micromachining fabrication has been developed and manufactured with the intention of evaluating the artifact both on a high precision coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and video-probe based measuring systems. This hybrid artifact has features that can be located by both a touch probe and a video probe system with a k=2 uncertainty of 0.4 {micro}m, more than twice as good as a glass reference artifact. We also present evidence that this uncertainty could be lowered to as little as 50 nm (k=2). While video-probe based systems are commonly used to inspect mesoscale mechanical components, a video-probe system's certified accuracy is generally much worse than its repeatability. To solve this problem, an artifact has been developed which can be calibrated using a commercially available high-accuracy tactile system and then be used to calibrate typical production vision-based measurement systems. This allows for error mapping to a higher degree of accuracy than is possible with a glass reference artifact. Details of the designed features and manufacturing process of the hybrid dimensional artifact are given and a comparison of the designed features to the measured features of the manufactured artifact is presented and discussed. Measurement results from vision and touch probe systems are compared and evaluated to determine the capability of the manufactured artifact to serve as a calibration tool for video-probe systems. An uncertainty analysis for calibration of the artifact using a CMM is presented.
Claudet, Andre A.; Tran, Hy D.; Bauer, Todd Marks; Shilling, Katherine Meghan; Oliver, Andrew David
Defect behavior of polycrystalline solar cell silicon
The major objective of this study, conducted from October 1988 to September 1991, was to gain an understanding of the behavior of impurities in polycrystalline silicon and the influence of these impurities on solar cell efficiency. The authors studied edge-defined film-fed growth (EFG) and cast poly-Si materials and solar cells. With EFG Si they concentrated on chromium-doped materials and cells to determine the role of Cr on solar cell performance. Cast poly-Si samples were not deliberately contaminated. Samples were characterized by cell efficiency, current-voltage, deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), surface photovoltage (SPV), open-circuit voltage decay, secondary ion mass spectrometry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements. They find that Cr forms Cr-B pairs with boron at room temperature and these pairs dissociate into Cr{sub i}{sup +} and B{sup {minus}} during anneals at 210{degrees}C for 10 min. Following the anneal, Cr-B pairs reform at room temperature with a time constant of 230 h. Chromium forms CrSi{sub 2} precipitates in heavily contaminated regions and they find evidence of CrSi{sub 2} gettering, but a lack of chromium segregation or precipitation to grain boundaries and dislocations. Cr-B pairs have well defined DLTS peaks. However, DLTS spectra of other defects are not well defined, giving broad peaks indicative of defects with a range of energy levels in the band gap. In some high-stress, low-efficiency cast poly-Si they detect SiC precipitates, but not in low-stress, high-efficiency samples. SPV measurements result in nonlinear SPV curves in some materials that are likely due to varying optical absorption coefficients due to locally varying stress in the material.
Schroder, D.K.; Park, S.H.; Hwang, I.G.; Mohr, J.B.; Hanly, M.P. [Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (US). Center for Solid State Electronics Research
Solar EnerTech PAIS Jin Yu Silicon Wuhai Municipal Gvrnt JV | Open Energy
PAIS Jin Yu Silicon Wuhai Municipal Gvrnt JV PAIS Jin Yu Silicon Wuhai Municipal Gvrnt JV Jump to: navigation, search Name Solar EnerTech, PAIS, Jin Yu Silicon, & Wuhai Municipal Gvrnt JV Place Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China Sector Solar Product A solar silicon processing joint venture between Solar EnerTech, PAIS, Jin Yu Silicon, and the Wuhai Municipal Government was formed. References Solar EnerTech, PAIS, Jin Yu Silicon, & Wuhai Municipal Gvrnt JV[1] LinkedIn Connections CrunchBase Profile No CrunchBase profile. Create one now! This article is a stub. You can help OpenEI by expanding it. Solar EnerTech, PAIS, Jin Yu Silicon, & Wuhai Municipal Gvrnt JV is a company located in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China . References ↑ "[ Solar EnerTech, PAIS, Jin Yu Silicon, & Wuhai Municipal
Washington Silicon Plant Makes Way for Cheaper Solar-and Jobs |
Washington Silicon Plant Makes Way for Cheaper Solar-and Jobs Washington Silicon Plant Makes Way for Cheaper Solar-and Jobs Washington Silicon Plant Makes Way for Cheaper Solar-and Jobs November 2, 2010 - 2:00pm Addthis REC Silicon received a $154 million 48C tax credit for a $1.7 billion expansion of its Moses Lake, WA, plant. | Photo courtesy of REC Silicon | REC Silicon received a $154 million 48C tax credit for a $1.7 billion expansion of its Moses Lake, WA, plant. | Photo courtesy of REC Silicon | Stephen Graff Former Writer & editor for Energy Empowers, EERE In most industries, if it's expensive to make, it's probably expensive to buy. This is particularly evident in the solar world. Refining the raw material used in photovoltaic panels, silicon, is not a cheap endeavor, and has kept the price of panels more expensive than other energy sources.
Atomistic Study of Crack-Tip Cleavage to Dislocation Emission Transition in Silicon Single Crystals
At low temperatures silicon is a brittle material that shatters catastrophically, whereas at elevated temperatures, the behavior of silicon changes drastically over a narrow temperature range and suddenly becomes ductile. ...
Sen, Dipanjan
Femtosecond-laser irradiation as a platform for tailoring the optoelectronic properties of silicon
Silicon is the most abundant semiconductor on earth and benefits from decades of technological development driven by the integrated circuit industry. Furthermore, silicon allows for facile n-type and p-type doping, has a ...
Smith, Matthew John, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Application of Bayesian network to tendency prediction of blast furnace silicon content in hot metal
This paper proposes a new method for predicting the change tendency of silicon content in hot metal based on Bayesian networks. Firstly, some important factors that affect silicon content are selected out using grey relationship analysis (GRA). Secondly, ...
Wenhui Wang
Silicon photonics is a promising technology for addressing memory bandwidth limitations in future many-core processors. This article first introduces a new monolithic silicon-photonic technology, which uses a standard bulk ...
Batten, Christopher
Characterization of temperature profile in furnace and solubility of iron in silicon
A better understanding of the behavior of impurities, such as iron, in silicon can lead to increases in solar cell efficiency. The purpose of this thesis was to study the behavior of iron in silicon via three sub-tasks: ...
Modi, Vrajesh Y
Geek-Up[09.03.10] -- Innovative Silicon Wafers, Real-Time Power...
9.03.10 -- Innovative Silicon Wafers, Real-Time Power Traders and Petascale & Exascale Supercomputers Geek-Up09.03.10 -- Innovative Silicon Wafers, Real-Time Power Traders and...
Air-clad silicon pedestal structures for broadband mid-infrared microphotonics
Toward mid-infrared (mid-IR) silicon microphotonic circuits, we demonstrate broadband on-chip silicon structures, such as: (i) straight and bent waveguides and (ii) beam splitters, utilizing an air-clad pedestal configuration ...
Lin, Pao Tai
Fabrication and Performance of Silicon-Embedded Permanent-Magnet Microgenerators
This paper focuses on the design, fabrication, and characterization of silicon-packaged permanent-magnet (PM) microgenerators. The use of silicon packaging favors fine control on shape and dimensions in batch fabrication ...
Herrault, Florian
Joint Solar Silicon GmbH Co KG JSSI | Open Energy Information
Silicon GmbH Co KG JSSI Jump to: navigation, search Name Joint Solar Silicon GmbH & Co KG (JSSI) Place Germany Sector Solar Product Joint venture between Degussa and SolarWorld for...
Single electron effects and structural effects in ultrascaled silicon nanocrystal floating-gate memories
In this paper, we present a nanometer-sized floating-gate memory device, fabricated on silicon-on-insulator substrate and using silicon nanocrystals as storage nodes. Single electron charging and discharging phenomena occurring at room temperature will ...
G. Molas; B. De Salvo; G. Ghibaudo; D. Mariolle; A. Toffoli; N. Buffet; R. Puglisi; S. Lombardo; S. Deleonibus
High-performance porous silicon solar cell development. Final report, October 1, 1993--September 30, 1995
The goal of the program was to demonstrate use of porous silicon in new solar cell structures. Porous silicon technology has been developed at Spire for producing visible light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The major aspects that they have demonstrated are the following: porous silicon active layers have been made to show photovoltaic action; porous silicon surface layers can act as antireflection coatings to improve the performance of single-crystal silicon solar cells; and porous silicon surface layers can act as antireflection coatings on polycrystalline silicon solar cells. One problem with the use of porous silicon is to achieve good lateral conduction of electrons and holes through the material. This shows up in terms of poor blue response and photocurrents which increase with increasing reverse bias applied to the diode.
Maruska, P. [Spire Corp., Bedford, MA (United States)
Silicon Ink for High-Efficiency Solar Cells Captures a Share of the Market (Fact Sheet)
Fact sheet on 2011 R&D 100 Award winner Silicon Ink. Liquid silicon has arrived, and with it comes a power boost for solar cells and dramatic cost savings for cell manufacturers.
Luminescent, quantum dot-based anti-reflective coatings for crystalline silicon photovoltaics
This thesis demonstrates and evaluates the potential application of luminescent quantum dot/polymer solutions on crystalline silicon photovoltaics. After spin coating the QD/polymer onto silicon photodiodes, an increase ...
Bruer, Garrett (Garrett A.)
Semiconductors and the Built-In Electric Field for Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells
To separate electrical charges, crystalline silicon cells must have a built-in electric field. Light shining on crystalline silicon may free electrons within the crystal lattice, but for these...
Modeling and control of a silicon substrate heater for carbon nanotube growth experiments
The precision engineering research group at MIT is working on carbon nanotube growth experiments on silicon substrates and in microfabricated silicon devices, to try to produce improved bulk nanotube growth. For this thesis, ...
Held, David (David A.)
Japan Solar Silicon Co Ltd JSS | Open Energy Information
Japan Solar Silicon Co Ltd JSS Japan Solar Silicon Co Ltd JSS Jump to: navigation, search Name Japan Solar Silicon Co Ltd (JSS) Place Tokyo, Japan Sector Solar Product A JV company between Chisso, Nippon Mining Holdings, and Toho Titanium, to manufacture and retail solar-grade polysilicon. Coordinates 35.670479°, 139.740921° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":35.670479,"lon":139.740921,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Buckeye Silicon BeSi | Open Energy Information
Silicon BeSi Silicon BeSi Jump to: navigation, search Name Buckeye Silicon (BeSi) Place Toledo, Ohio Product Ohio-based polysilicon startup focusing on modular production. Coordinates 46.440613°, -122.847838° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":46.440613,"lon":-122.847838,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Silicon Valley Power - Solar Electric Buy Down Program | Department of
Solar Electric Buy Down Program Solar Electric Buy Down Program Silicon Valley Power - Solar Electric Buy Down Program < Back Eligibility Commercial Residential Savings Category Solar Buying & Making Electricity Maximum Rebate Residential: $20,000 Program Info State California Program Type Utility Rebate Program Rebate Amount Incentives step down over time as installed capacity goals are met. Check program web site for current incentive level. '''Rebate levels as of 9/20/12:''' Residential: $2.00/watt AC Commercial (up to 100 kW): $1.10/watt AC Commercial (>100 kW to 1 MW): $0.15/kWh for 5 years Provider Silicon Valley Power Silicon Valley Power (SVP) offers incentives for the installation of new grid-connected solar electric (photovoltaic, or PV) systems. Incentive levels will step down over the life of the program as certain installed
Engineering Metal Impurities in Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells
Engineering Metal Impurities in Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells Print Engineering Metal Impurities in Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells Print Transition metals are one of the main culprits in degrading the efficiency of multicrystalline solar cells. With a suite of x-ray microprobe techniques, a multi-institutional collaboration led by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and Berkeley Lab studied the distribution of metal clusters in a variety of multicrystalline solar cells before and after processing. Their discovery that the size, spatial distribution, and chemical binding of metals within clusters is just as important as the total metal concentration in limiting the performance of multicrystalline silicon solar cells led to the concept of defect engineering by optimizing growth and processing sequences to trap metals in their least harmful state.
GSMSolar formerly Shanghai General Silicon Material Co Ltd | Open Energy
GSMSolar formerly Shanghai General Silicon Material Co Ltd GSMSolar formerly Shanghai General Silicon Material Co Ltd Jump to: navigation, search Name GSMSolar (formerly Shanghai General Silicon Material Co Ltd) Place Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, China Zip 215300 Sector Solar Product Chinese solar ingot and wafer manufacturer. Coordinates 31.375509°, 120.949219° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":31.375509,"lon":120.949219,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Silicon Valley Power - Residential Energy Efficiency Rebate Program |
Residential Energy Efficiency Rebate Program Residential Energy Efficiency Rebate Program Silicon Valley Power - Residential Energy Efficiency Rebate Program < Back Eligibility Residential Savings Category Home Weatherization Commercial Weatherization Heating & Cooling Cooling Appliances & Electronics Commercial Lighting Lighting Water Heating Commercial Heating & Cooling Program Info State California Program Type Utility Rebate Program Rebate Amount Attic Insulation: $175 Ceiling Fan: $35 each Heat Pump Water Heater: up to $1,000 LED Bulbs: $15/bulb installed Pool Pump: $200 Refrigerator: $50 Refrigerator recycling: $35 Room AC: $25 Room AC Recycling: $25 Solar Attic Fan: $100 Whole House Fan: $200 Provider Silicon Valley Power Silicon Valley Power offers rebates to residential customers for the purchase of a variety of energy efficient products including:
Deposition of device quality low H content, amorphous silicon films
A high quality, low hydrogen content, hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) film is deposited by passing a stream of silane gas (SiH{sub 4}) over a high temperature, 2,000 C, tungsten (W) filament in the proximity of a high temperature, 400 C, substrate within a low pressure, 8 mTorr, deposition chamber. The silane gas is decomposed into atomic hydrogen and silicon, which in turn collides preferably not more than 20--30 times before being deposited on the hot substrate. The hydrogenated amorphous silicon films thus produced have only about one atomic percent hydrogen, yet have device quality electrical, chemical, and structural properties, despite this lowered hydrogen content. 7 figs.
Mahan, A.H.; Carapella, J.C.; Gallagher, A.C.
Performance prediction of cryogenically cooled silicon crystal monochromator
To predict the performance of the cryogenically cooled silicon crystal, intensive studies have been carried out to sort out the influences of various parameters, such as heat load power and power distribution, cooling coefficient, and beam size. The thermal slope error of the crystal is calculated by finite element modeling. Quadratic law was applied to calculate the rocking-curve width. Heat load tests were also performed with a channel-cut silicon monochromator on beamline ID09 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). The silicon crystal is indirectly cooled from the sides by liquid nitrogen. Measured rocking-curve widths are compared with those calculated by finite element modeling. When we include the broadening from the intrinsic rocking-curve width and mounting strain, the calculated rocking-curve width versus heat load is in excellent agreement with experiment.
Zhang Lin; Wulff, Michael; Eybert, Laurent [European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, F-38043 Grenoble Cedex (France); Lee, Wah-Keat [Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439 (United States); European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, F-38043 Grenoble Cedex (France)
Cooled silicon nitride stationary turbine vane risk reduction. Final report
The purpose of this program was to reduce the technical risk factors for demonstration of air cooled silicon nitride turbine vanes. The effort involved vane prototype fabrication efforts at two U.S. based gas turbine grade silicon nitride component manufacturers. The efficacy of the cooling system was analyzed via a thermal time/temperature flow test technique previously at UTRC. By having multiple vendors work on parts fabrication, the chance of program success increased for producing these challenging components. The majority of the effort under this contract focused on developing methods for, and producing, the complex thin walled silicon nitride vanes. Components developed under this program will undergo engine environment testing within N00014-96-2-0014.
Holowczak, John
Silicon nitride protective coatings for silvered glass mirrors
A protective diffusion barrier for metalized mirror structures is provided by a layer or coating of silicon nitride which is a very dense, transparent, dielectric material that is impervious to water, alkali, and other impurities and corrosive substances that typically attack the metal layers of mirrors and cause degradation of the mirrors' reflectivity. The silicon nitride layer can be deposited on the substrate prior to metal deposition thereon to stabilize the metal/substrate interface, and it can be deposited over the metal to encapsulate it and protect the metal from corrosion or other degradation. Mirrors coated with silicon nitride according to this invention can also be used as front surface mirrors.
Tracy, C.E.; Benson, D.K.
Protective coating for alumina-silicon carbide whisker composites
Ceramic composites formed of an alumina matrix reinforced with silicon carbide whiskers homogenously dispersed therein are provided with a protective coating for preventing fracture strength degradation of the composite by oxidation during exposure to high temperatures in oxygen-containing atmospheres. The coating prevents oxidation of the silicon carbide whiskers within the matrix by sealing off the exterior of the matrix so as to prevent oxygen transport into the interior of the matrix. The coating is formed of mullite or mullite plus silicon oxide and alumina and is formed in place by heating the composite in air to a temperature greater than 1200.degree. C. This coating is less than about 100 microns thick and adequately protects the underlying composite from fracture strength degradation due to oxidation.
Tiegs, Terry N. (Lenoir City, TN)
Modelling and fabrication of high-efficiency silicon solar cells
This report covers the research conducted on modelling and development of high-efficiency silicon solar cells during the period May 1989 to August 1990. First, considerable effort was devoted toward developing a ray-tracing program for the photovoltaic community to quantify and optimize surface texturing for solar cells. Second, attempts were made to develop a hydrodynamic model for device simulation. Such a model is somewhat slower than drift-diffusion type models like PC-1D, but it can account for more physical phenomena in the device, such as hot carrier effects, temperature gradients, thermal diffusion, and lattice heat flow. In addition, Fermi-Dirac statistics have been incorporated into the model to deal with heavy doping effects more accurately. Third and final component of the research includes development of silicon cell fabrication capabilities and fabrication of high-efficiency silicon cells. 84 refs., 46 figs., 10 tabs.
Rohatgi, A.; Smith, A.W.; Salami, J. [Georgia Inst. of Tech., Atlanta, GA (United States). School of Electrical Engineering] [Georgia Inst. of Tech., Atlanta, GA (United States). School of Electrical Engineering
Characterization of the impurities in tungsten/silicon-germanium contacts
Secondary ion mass spectrometry and Auger electron spectrometry depth profiling were used to determine impurity distributions in sputter deposited tungsten films over N-type and P-type 80/20 silicon-germanium elements of thermoelectric devices. These analyses showed that silicon, oxygen, sodium, boron, and phosphorous were present as impurities in the tungsten film. All these impurities except oxygen and sodium came from the substrate. Oxygen was gettered by the tungsten films, while sodium was possibly the result of sample handling. Further, the results from this study indicate that an oxide build-up, primarily at the tungsten/silicon-germanium interface of the N-type materials, is the major contributor to contact resistance in thermoelectric devices.
Gregg, H.A. Sr.
Direct-Write of Silicon and Germanium Nanostructures Print Direct-Write of Silicon and Germanium Nanostructures Print Nanostructured materials (nanowires, nanotubes, nanoclusters, graphene) are attractive possible alternatives to traditionally microfabricated silicon in continuing the miniaturization trend in the electronics industry. To go from nanomaterials to electronics, however, the precise one-by-one assembly of billions of nanoelements into a functioning circuit is required-clearly not a simple task. An interdisciplinary team from the University of Washington, in collaboration with the ALS and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has devised a strategy that could make this task a little easier. They have demonstrated the ability to directly "write" nanostructures of Si, Ge, and SiGe with deterministic size, geometry, and placement control. As purity is essential for electronic-grade semiconductors, the resulting patterns were carefully evaluated for carbon contamination using photoemission electron microscopes at ALS Beamlines 7.3.1 and 11.0.1.
Ray optical light trapping in silicon microwires: exceeding the 2n2
. Shen, T. Mallouk, E. Dickey, T. Mayer, and J. Redwing, "Radial junction silicon wire array solar cells
Heaton, Thomas H.
Silicon Anode Materials for All-Solid-State Lithium-ion Microbatteries
Symposium, Nanostructured Materials for Lithium Ion Batteries and for Supercapacitors. Presentation Title, Silicon Anode Materials for All-Solid-State�...
NIST/JQI Team 'Gets the Edge' on Photon Transport in Silicon
NIST/JQI Team 'Gets the Edge' on Photon Transport in Silicon. From NIST Tech Beat: October 22, 2013. ...
This patent discloses a method of and system for removing silicon from a high temperature liquid sodium coolant system for a nuclear reactor. The sodium is cooled to a temperature below the silicon saturation temperature and retained at such reduced temperature while inducing high turbulence into the sodium flow for promoting precipitation of silicon compounds and ultimate separation of silicon compound particles from the liquid sodium.
Yunker, W.H.; Christiansen, D.W.
Mechanical properties of silicon carbide. (Latest citations from Engineered Materials abstracts). Published Search
The bibliography contains citations concerning the mechanical characteristics and properties of silicon carbides. Citations discuss bend strength, crack propagation, creep rupture strength, ductile brittle fracture, fatigue strength, elastic modulus, shear strength, and tensile strength. Structure and chemistry of fiber/matrix interfaces for silicon carbide fiber reinforced materials are included. Sintering of silicon carbide and silicon carbide whisker reinforced composites are covered in separate bibliographies. (Contains 50-250 citations and includes a subject term index and title list.) (Copyright NERAC, Inc. 1995)
Fully-depleted, back-illuminated charge-coupled devices fabricated on high-resistivity silicon
layer capped by indium tin oxide and silicon dioxide. Thisand ? 600 ? of indium tin oxide (ITO) A is deposited [27].
Holland, Stephen E.; Groom, Donald E.; Palaio, Nick P.; Stover, Richard J.; Wei, Mingzhi
Supporting Information Silicon Nanowire Radial p-n Junction Solar Cells
. The deposition temperature was 450º C with 100 sccm disilane as the silicon source gas, 5 sccm boron trichloride
Yang, Peidong
Reductive Removal of Phosphorus in Silicon Using CaO-CaF2 Slag
About this Abstract. Meeting, 2013 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium , Solar Cell Silicon. Presentation Title, Reductive Removal of Phosphorus in�...
NREL's Black Silicon Increases Solar Cell Efficiency by Reducing Reflected Sunlight (Fact Sheet)
A fact sheet detailing the R&D 100 Award-winning Black Silicon Nanocatalytic Wet-Chemical Etch technology.
Silicon on ceramic process. Silicon sheet growth development for the Large-Area Silicon Sheet Task of the Low-Cost Silicon Solar Array Project. Annual report No. 2, September 17, 1976--September 19, 1977
The objective of this research program is to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of producing solar-cell-quality sheet silicon by coating one surface of carbonized ceramic substrates with a thin layer of large-grain polycrystalline silicon from the melt. In the past year significant progress was made in all areas of the program. The physical and chemical properties of the standard mullite refractory used for the majority of the coating runs (McDanel MV20 and Coors S1SI) have been characterized. A number of experimental compositions have been identified and procured from Coors. Characterization of the standard compositions revealed that the thermal expansion of mullite depends on both relative amounts of glass phase and on the impurity level in the glass. Since the thermal expansion in mullite exceeds that of silicon, the silicon coating should be in a state of compression. This was confirmed by x-ray measurements. After modifying and cleaning the dip-coating facility, silicon on ceramic (SOC) solar cells were fabricated which demonstrate that the SOC process can produce silicon of solar cell quality. SOC cells having 1 cm/sup 2/ active areas demonstrated measured conversion efficiencies as high as 7.2 percent. Typical open-ciruit voltages (V/sub oc/) and short-circuit current densities (J/sub sc/) were 0.51 volt and 20 mA/cm/sup 2/, respectively. Since the active surface of these solar cells is a highly reflective ''as-grown'' surface, one can expect improvement in J/sub sc/ after an anti-reflection (AR) coating is applied. Results of an economic analysis of the SOC process are presented.
Zook, J.D.; Heaps, J.D.; Maciolek, R.B.; Koepke, B.; Butter, C.D.; Schuldt, S.B.
Epitaxial silicon growth for solar cells. Final report
The objectives of this contract were: (1) to determine the feasibility of silicon epitaxial growth on low-cost silicon substrates for the development of silicon sheet capable of producing low-cost, high efficiency solar cells; (2) to achieve a goal of 12% (AM-0) efficient solar cells fabricated on thin epitaxial layers (<25 ..mu..m) grown on low-cost substrates; and (3) to evaluate the add-on cost for the epitaxial process and to develop low-cost epitaxial growth procedures for application in conjunction with low-cost silicon substrates. The basic epitaxial procedures and solar-cell fabrication and evaluation techniques are described, followed by a discussion of the development of baseline epitaxial solar-cell structures, grown on high-quality conventional silicon substrates. This work resulted in the definition of three basic structures which reproducibly yielded efficiencies in the range of 12 to 13.7%. These epitaxial growth procedures and baseline structures were then used to grow diagnostic layers and solar cells on four potentially low-cost silicon substrates. A description of the crystallographic properties of such layers and the performance of epitaxially grown solar cells fabricated on these materials is given. The major results were the achievement of cell efficiencies of 10.6 to 11.2% on multigrained substrates and approx. 13% on a low-cost single-crystal substrate. An advanced epitaxial reactor, the Rotary Disc, is described. The results of growing solar-cell structures of the baseline type and on low-cost substrates are given. The add-on cost for the epitaxial process is assessed. These cost estimates show a value of approx. 0.46/W using existing or near-term technologies and project an add-on cost of $0.10/W for future reactors.
D'Aiello, R.V.; Robinson, P.H.; Richman, D.
Silicon subsystem mechanical engineering work for the solenoidal detector collaboration
The silicon tracking system (STS) for the Solenoidal Detector Collaboration (SDC) represented an order of magnitude increase in size over any silicon system that had been previously built or even planned. In order to meet its performance requirements, it could not simply be a linear scaling of earlier systems, but instead required completely new concepts. The small size of the early systems made it possible to simply move the support hardware and services largely outside the active volume of the system. For a system five meters long, that simply is not an option. The design of the STS for the SDC experiment was the result of numerous compromises between the capabilities required to do the physics and the limitations imposed by cost, material properties, and silicon strip detector characteristics. From the point of view of the physics, the silicon system should start as close to the interaction point as possible. In addition, the detectors should measure the position of particles passing through them with no errors, and should not deflect or interact with the particles in any way. However, cost, radiation damage, and other factors limiting detector performance dictated, other, more realistic values. Radiation damage limited the inner radius of the silicon detectors to about 9 cm, whereas cost limited the outer radius of the detectors to about 50 cm. Cost also limits the half length of the system to about 250 cm. To control the effects of radiation damage on the detectors required operating the system at a temperature of 0{degrees}C or below, and maintaining that temperature throughout life of the system. To summarize, the physics and properties of the silicon strip detectors requires that the detectors be operated at or below 0{degrees}C, be positioned very accurately during assembly and remain positionally stable throughout their operation, and that all materials used be radiation hard and have a large thickness for one radiation length.
Miller, W.O.; Barney, M.; Byrd, D.; Christensen, R.W.; Dransfield, G.; Elder, M.; Gamble, M.; Crastataro, C.; Hanlon, J.; Jones, D.C. [and others
Superconducting Super Collider silicon tracking subsystem research and development
The Alamos National Laboratory Mechanical Engineering and Electronics Division has been investigating silicon-based elementary particle tracking device technology as part of the Superconducting Super Collider-sponsored silicon subsystem collaboration. Structural, materials, and thermal issues have been addressed. This paper explores detector structural integrity and stability, including detailed finite element models of the silicon wafer support and predictive methods used in designing with advanced composite materials. The current design comprises a magnesium metal matrix composite (MMC) truss space frame to provide a sparse support structure for the complex array of silicon detectors. This design satisfies the 25-{mu}m structural stability requirement in a 10-Mrad radiation environment. This stability is achieved without exceeding the stringent particle interaction constraints set at 2.5% of a radiation length. Materials studies have considered thermal expansion, elastic modulus, resistance to radiation and chemicals, and manufacturability of numerous candidate materials. Based on optimization of these parameters, the MMC space frame will possess a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) near zero to avoid thermally induced distortions, whereas the cooling rings, which support the silicon detectors and heat pipe network, will probably be constructed of a graphite/epoxy composite whose CTE is engineered to match that of silicon. Results from radiation, chemical, and static loading tests are compared with analytical predictions and discussed. Electronic thermal loading and its efficient dissipation using heat pipe cooling technology are discussed. Calculations and preliminary designs for a sprayed-on graphite wick structure are presented. A hydrocarbon such as butane appears to be a superior choice of heat pipe working fluid based on cooling, handling, and safety criteria.
Miller, W.O.; Thompson, T.C.; Ziock, H.J. (Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)); Gamble, M.T. (Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, MA (USA). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering)
1 Kinetics of Initial Lithiation of Crystalline Silicon Electrodes of 2 Lithium-Ion Batteries
1 Kinetics of Initial Lithiation of Crystalline Silicon Electrodes of 2 Lithium-Ion Batteries 3 the lithiated silicon phase. 20 KEYWORDS: Lithium-ion batteries, silicon, kinetics, plasticity 21 Lithium-ion by the National Science Foundation 648through a grant on Lithium-ion Batteries (CMMI-1031161). 649This work
Liu, X. Shirley
Porous silicon with embedded tritium as a stand-alone prime power source for optoelectronic applications
An illumination source comprising a porous silicon having a source of electrons on the surface and/or interticies thereof having a total porosity in the range of from about 50 v/o to about 90 v/o. Also disclosed are a tritiated porous silicon and a photovoltaic device and an illumination source of tritiated porous silicon.
Disclosed is an illumination source comprising a porous silicon having a source of electrons on the surface and/or interstices thereof having a total porosity in the range of from about 50 v/o to about 90 v/o. Also disclosed are a tritiated porous silicon and a photovoltaic device and an illumination source of tritiated porous silicon. 1 fig.
Tam, S.W.
An illumination source is disclosed comprising a porous silicon having a source of electrons on the surface and/or interstices thereof having a total porosity in the range of from about 50 v/o to about 90 v/o. Also disclosed are a tritiated porous silicon and a photovoltaic device and an illumination source of tritiated porous silicon. 1 fig.
& irradiation intensity 1 INTRODUCTION With the high increase in PV system production and solar energy use this information and solar irradiation data [4], electricity production during the entire lifetime of the PV system grade silicon Multicrystalline silicon ingot Multicrystalline silicon wafer Solar cell PV module PV
Kherani, Nazir P.
Features of electron mobility in a thin silicon layer in an insulator-silicon-insulator structure
Electron mobility in a thin silicon layer of a metal-insulator-semiconductor-insulator-metal system is studied as a function of longitudinal and transverse electric fields (in wide ranges of their values), temperature in the range 1.7 to 400 K, and changes in {gamma}-ray irradiation conditions. It is shown that, in the temperature range 400 to {approx}100 K, electron mobility increases in accordance with the mechanism of electron scattering at an acoustic phonon, while, with a subsequent decrease in temperature to the temperature of liquid helium, mobility drops because the Coulomb scattering of electrons at charged surface centers starts to dominate. It is demonstrated that as a result of {gamma}-ray irradiation, electron mobility decreases and the degree of this decrease strongly depends on the electrical mode of the sensor during irradiation.
Leonov, A. V., E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com; Mokrushin, A. D.; Omeljanovskaja, N. M. [Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Microelectronics Technology and High-Purity Materials (Russian Federation)
Solar-Grade Silicon from Metallurgical-Grade Silicon Via Iodine Chemical Vapor Transport Purification: Preprint
This conference paper describes the atmospheric-pressure in an ''open'' reactor, SiI2 transfers from a hot (>1100C) Si source to a cooler (>750C) Si substrate and decomposes easily via 2SiI2 Si+ SiI4 with up to 5?m/min deposition rate. SiI4 returns to cyclically transport more Si. When the source is metallurgical-grade Si, impurities can be effectively removed by three mechanisms: (1) differing free energies of formation in forming silicon and impurity iodides; (2) distillation; and (3) differing standard free energies of formation during deposition. Distillation has been previously reported. Here, we focused on mechanisms (1) and (3). We made feedstock, analyzed the impurity levels, grew Czochralski single crystals, and evaluated crystal and photovoltaic properties. Cell efficiencies of 9.5% were obtained. Incorporating distillation (step 2) should increase this to a viable level.
Ciszek, T. F.; Wang, T. H.; Page, M. R.; Bauer, R. E.; Landry, M. D.
Transmissive metallic contact for amorphous silicon solar cells
A transmissive metallic contact for amorphous silicon semiconductors includes a thin layer of metal, such as aluminum or other low work function metal, coated on the amorphous silicon with an antireflective layer coated on the metal. A transparent substrate, such as glass, is positioned on the light reflective layer. The metallic layer is preferably thin enough to transmit at least 50% of light incident thereon, yet thick enough to conduct electricity. The antireflection layer is preferably a transparent material that has a refractive index in the range of 1.8 to 2.2 and is approximately 550A to 600A thick.
Madan, A.
Wideband silicon bolometers'' on the LSX field reversed configuration experiment
Silicon photodiode detectors, which have nearly flat energy response from 1 eV to 6 keV (R. Korde and L. Randall Canfield, Proc. SPIE {bold 1140}, 126 (1989)), were used as bolometers in the field reversed theta pinch experiment LSX. Plasma escaping from the field reversed configuration is naturally diverted to the ends of the vacuum enclosure. There it affects the bolometer measurements either by direct energy deposition or by emission of low energy photons. These two particle effects can be avoided by optimizing the location of the bolometers and restricting their field of view. Good agreement is observed between the silicon bolometers and a gold foil calorimeter.
Maqueda, R.J.; Wurden, G.A. (Aerospace and Energetics Research Program, FL-10, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 (United States)); Crawford, E.A. (STI Optronics, 2755 Northup Way, Bellevue, Washington 98004 (United States))
Slicing of silicon into sheet material. Silicon sheet growth development for the large area silicon sheet task of the low cost silicon solar array project. Second quarterly report, March 22, 1976--June 20, 1976
Slicing tests of silicon to show the dependence of cutting rate on operating conditions are complete. Cutting rate is linear with cutting force per blade and bladehead speed, and inversely proportional to kerf width (loss) and kerf length. The dimensionless parameter of cutting efficiency is a good measure of the performance of a multiblade slicing system. Low contact pressure between the blades and the silicon workpiece result in increased wafer accuracy and cutting efficiency. Blade wear seems to be stable for all slicing tests, and is slightly lower with low cutting pressure. (WDM)
Holden, S.C.
Formation and Characterization of Silicon Self-assembled Nanodots
Silicon self-assembled quantum dots have been successfully prepared on corning glass (7059) substrate. The samples were fabricated using the common technique RF magnetron sputtering system depend on plasma excitation at varying growth parameters and high temperature of more than 500 deg. C. The measurements of average dots size estimated to be 36 nm is confirmed by using AFM. The PL peak located at 570 nm, informed band gap energy = 2.10 eV larger than bulk material band gap, that confirmed the miniaturized of the dots. To measure the Silicon atomic% deposit on corning glass (7059) substrate EDX has been used.
Idrees, Fatima Aldaw; Sakrani, Samsudi; Othaman, Zulkafli [Physics Dept, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor Bahru (Malaysia)
MIS and SIS solar cells on polycrystalline silicon
MIS and SIS structured solar cells are receiving much attention in the photovoltaic community. Seemingly, these cells could be a viable alternative to thermally diffused p-n junctions for use on thin-film polycrystalline silicon substrates. This review describes MIS/SIS structured solar cells and the possible advantages of these structures for use with thin-film polycrystalline silicon. The results of efficiency calculations are presented. Also addressed are lifetime stability and fabrication techniques amenable to large scale production. Finally, the relative advantages and disadvantages of these cells and the results obtained are presented.
Cheek, G.; Mertens, R.
Tight-binding model for hydrogen-silicon interactions
We have developed an empirical tight-binding model for use in molecular-dynamics simulations to study hydrogen-silicon systems. The hydrogen-silicon interaction is constructed to reproduce the electronic energy levels and vibration frequencies of silane (SiH{sub 4}). Further use of the model in the studies of disilane (Si{sub 2}H{sub 6}) and of hydrogen on the Si(111) surface also yields results in good agreement with first-principles calculations and experiments.
Min, B.J.; Lee, Y.H.; Wang, C.Z.; Chan, C.T.; Ho, K.M. (Microelectronics Research Center, Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011 (United States) Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011 (United States))
Fabrication of the GLAST Silicon Tracker Readout Electronics
A unique electronics system has been built and tested for reading signals from the silicon-strip detectors of the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope mission. The system amplifies and processes signals from 884,736 36-cm long silicon strips in a 4 x 4 array of tower modules. An aggressive mechanical design fits the readout electronics in narrow spaces between the tower modules, to minimize dead area. This design and the resulting departures from conventional electronics packaging led to several fabrication challenges and lessons learned. This paper describes the fabrication processes and how the problems peculiar to this design were overcome.
Baldini, Luca; Brez, Alessandro; Himel, Thomas; Johnson, R.P.; Latronico, Luca; Minuti, Massimo; Nelson, David; Sadrozinski, H.F.-W.; Sgro, Carmelo; Spandre, Gloria; Sugizaki, Mutsumi; Tajima, Hiro; Cohen Tanugi, Johann; Young, Charles; Ziegler, Marcus; /Pisa U. /INFN, Pisa /SLAC /UC, Santa Cruz
Silicon Isotopic Fractionation of CAI-like Vacuum Evaporation Residues
Calcium-, aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) are often enriched in the heavy isotopes of magnesium and silicon relative to bulk solar system materials. It is likely that these isotopic enrichments resulted from evaporative mass loss of magnesium and silicon from early solar system condensates while they were molten during one or more high-temperature reheating events. Quantitative interpretation of these enrichments requires laboratory determinations of the evaporation kinetics and associated isotopic fractionation effects for these elements. The experimental data for the kinetics of evaporation of magnesium and silicon and the evaporative isotopic fractionation of magnesium is reasonably complete for Type B CAI liquids (Richter et al., 2002, 2007a). However, the isotopic fractionation factor for silicon evaporating from such liquids has not been as extensively studied. Here we report new ion microprobe silicon isotopic measurements of residual glass from partial evaporation of Type B CAI liquids into vacuum. The silicon isotopic fractionation is reported as a kinetic fractionation factor, {alpha}{sub Si}, corresponding to the ratio of the silicon isotopic composition of the evaporation flux to that of the residual silicate liquid. For CAI-like melts, we find that {alpha}{sub Si} = 0.98985 {+-} 0.00044 (2{sigma}) for {sup 29}Si/{sup 28}Si with no resolvable variation with temperature over the temperature range of the experiments, 1600-1900 C. This value is different from what has been reported for evaporation of liquid Mg{sub 2}SiO{sub 4} (Davis et al., 1990) and of a melt with CI chondritic proportions of the major elements (Wang et al., 2001). There appears to be some compositional control on {alpha}{sub Si}, whereas no compositional effects have been reported for {alpha}{sub Mg}. We use the values of {alpha}Si and {alpha}Mg, to calculate the chemical compositions of the unevaporated precursors of a number of isotopically fractionated CAIs from CV chondrites whose chemical compositions and magnesium and silicon isotopic compositions have been previously measured.
Knight, K; Kita, N; Mendybaev, R; Richter, F; Davis, A; Valley, J
Carbon--silicon coating alloys for improved irradiation stability
For ceramic nuclear fuel particles, a fission product-retaining carbon-- silicon alloy coating is described that exhibits low shrinkage after exposure to fast neutron fluences of 1.4 to 4.8 x 10/sup 21/ n/cm/sup 2/ (E = 0.18 MeV) at irradiation temperatures from 950 to 1250 deg C. Isotropic pyrolytic carbon containing from 18 to 34 wt% silicon is co-deposited from a gaseous mixiure of propane, helium, and silane at a temperature of 1350 to 1450 deg C. (Official Gazette)
Bokros, J.C.
Electronic states in epitaxial graphene fabricated on silicon carbide
An analytical expression for the density of states of a graphene monolayer interacting with a silicon carbide surface (epitaxial graphene) is derived. The density of states of silicon carbide is described within the Haldane-Anderson model. It is shown that the graphene-substrate interaction results in a narrow gap of {approx}0.01-0.06 eV in the density of states of graphene. The graphene atom charge is estimated; it is shown that the charge transfer from the substrate is {approx}10{sup -3}-10{sup -2}e per graphene atom.
Davydov, S. Yu., E-mail: email@example.com [Russian Academy of Sciences, Ioffe Physical Technical Institute (Russian Federation)
Interactions of chlorine plasmas with silicon chloride-coated reactor walls during and after silicon etching
The interplay between chlorine inductively coupled plasmas (ICP) and reactor walls coated with silicon etching products has been studied in situ by Auger electron spectroscopy and line-of-sight mass spectrometry using the spinning wall method. A bare silicon wafer mounted on a radio frequency powered electrode (-108 V dc self-bias) was etched in a 13.56 MHz, 400 W ICP. Etching products, along with some oxygen due to erosion of the discharge tube, deposit a Si-oxychloride layer on the plasma reactor walls, including the rotating substrate surface. Without Si-substrate bias, the layer that was previously deposited on the walls with Si-substrate bias reacts with Cl-atoms in the chlorine plasma, forming products that desorb, fragment in the plasma, stick on the spinning wall and sometimes react, and then desorb and are detected by the mass spectrometer. In addition to mass-to-charge (m/e) signals at 63, 98, 133, and 168, corresponding to SiCl{sub x} (x = 1 - 4), many Si-oxychloride fragments with m/e = 107, 177, 196, 212, 231, 247, 275, 291, 294, 307, 329, 345, 361, and 392 were also observed from what appear to be major products desorbing from the spinning wall. It is shown that the evolution of etching products is a complex 'recycling' process in which these species deposit and desorb from the walls many times, and repeatedly fragment in the plasma before being detected by the mass spectrometer. SiCl{sub 3} sticks on the walls and appears to desorb for at least milliseconds after exposure to the chlorine plasma. Notably absent are signals at m/e = 70 and 72, indicating little or no Langmuir-Hinshelwood recombination of Cl on this surface, in contrast to previous studies done in the absence of Si etching.
Khare, Rohit; Srivastava, Ashutosh; Donnelly, Vincent M. [Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204 (United States)
Utility-Scale Silicon Carbide Semiconductor: Monolithic Silicon Carbide Anode Switched Thyristor for Medium Voltage Power Conversion
ADEPT Project: GeneSiC is developing an advanced silicon-carbide (SiC)-based semiconductor called an anode-switched thyristor. This low-cost, compact SiC semiconductor conducts higher levels of electrical energy with better precision than traditional silicon semiconductors. This efficiency will enable a dramatic reduction in the size, weight, and volume of the power converters and electronic devices it's used in.GeneSiC is developing its SiC-based semiconductor for utility-scale power converters. Traditional silicon semiconductors can't process the high voltages that utility-scale power distribution requires, and they must be stacked in complicated circuits that require bulky insulation and cooling hardware. GeneSiC's semiconductors are well suited for high-power applications like large-scale renewable wind and solar energy installations.
Silicon carbide (SiC) materials are prime candidates for high temperature heat exchangers for next generation nuclear reactors due to their refractory nature and high thermal conductivity at elevated temperatures. This research has focused on demonstrating the potential of liquid silicon infiltration (LSI) for making SiC to achieve this goal. The major advantage of this method over other ceramic processing techniques is the enhanced capability of making high dense, high purity SiC materials in complex net shapes. For successful formation of net shape SiC using LSI techniques, the carbon preform reactivity and pore structure must be controlled to allow the complete infiltration of the porous carbon structure which allows complete conversion of the carbon to SiC. We have established a procedure for achieving desirable carbon properties by using carbon precursors consisting of two readily available high purity organic materials, crystalline cellulose and phenolic resin. Phenolic resin yields a glassy carbon with low chemical reactivity and porosity while the cellulose carbon is highly reactive and porous. By adjusting the ratio of these two materials in the precursor mixtures, the properties of the carbons produced can be controlled. We have identified the most favorable carbon precursor composition to be a cellulose resin mass ratio of 6:4 for LSI formation of SiC. The optimum reaction conditions are a temperature of 1800 C, a pressure of 0.5 Torr of argon, and a time of 120 minutes. The fully dense net shape SiC material produced has a density of 2.96 g cm{sup -3} (about 92% of pure SiC) and a SiC volume fraction of over 0.82. Kinetics of the LSI SiC formation process was studied by optical microscopy and quantitative digital image analysis. This study identified six reaction stages and provided important understanding of the process. Although the thermal conductivity of pure SiC at elevated temperatures is very high, thermal conductivities of most commercial SiC materials are much lower due to phonon scattering by impurities (e.g., sintering aids located at the grain boundaries of these materials). The thermal conductivity of our SiC was determined using the laser flash method and it is 214 W/mK at 373 K and 64 W/mK at 1273 K. These values are very close to those of pure SiC and are much higher than those of SiC materials made by industrial processes. This SiC made by our LSI process meets the thermal properties required for use in high temperature heat exchanger. Cellulose and phenolic resin carbons lack the well-defined atomic structures associated with common carbon allotropes. Atomic-scale structure was studied using high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), nitrogen gas adsorption and helium gas pycnometry. These studies revealed that cellulose carbon exhibits a very high degree of atomic disorder and angstrom-scale porosity. It has a density of only 93% of that of pure graphite, with primarily sp2 bonding character and a low concentration of graphene clusters. Phenolic resin carbon shows more structural order and substantially less angstrom-scale porosity. Its density is 98% of that of pure graphite, and Fourier transform analysis of its TEM micrographs has revealed high concentrations of sp3 diamond and sp2 graphene nano-clusters. This is the first time that diamond nano-clusters have been observed in carbons produced from phenolic resin. AC and DC electrical measurements were made to follow the thermal conversion of microcrystalline cellulose to carbon. This study identifies five regions of electrical conductivity that can be directly correlated to the chemical decomposition and microstructural evolution during carbonization. In Region I, a decrease in overall AC conductivity occurs due to the initial loss of the polar groups from cellulose molecules. In Region II, the AC conductivity starts to increase with heat treatment temperature due to the formation and growth of conducting carbon clusters. In Region III, a further increase of AC conductivity with increasing heat treatment temperature is obs
Research Opportunities in Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaics for the 21st Century: Preprint
Crystalline silicon continues to be the dominant semiconductor material used for terrestrial photovoltaics. This paper discusses the scientific issues associated with silicon photovoltaics processing and cell design that may yield cell and module performance improvements, both evolutionary and revolutionary in nature. We first survey critical issues in ''thick'' crystalline silicon photovoltaics, including novel separations processes for impurity removal, impurity and defect fundamentals, interface passivation, the role of hydrogen, and high-throughput, kinetically-limited materials processing. Second, we outline emerging opportunities for creation of a very different ''thin-layer'' silicon cell structure, including the scientific issues and engineering challenges associated with thin-layer silicon processing and cell design.
Atwater, H. A. (California Institute of Technology); Sopori, B.; Ciszek, T. (National Renewable Energy Laboratory); Feldman, L. C. (Vanderbilt University); Gee, J. (Sandia National Laboratories); Rohatgi, A. (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Research Opportunities in Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaics for the 21st Century
Crystalline silicon continues to be the dominant semiconductor material used for terrestrial photovoltaics. This paper discusses the scientific issues associated with silicon photovoltaics processing, and cell design that may yield cell and module performance improvements that are both evolutionary and revolutionary in nature. We first survey critical issues in ''thick'' crystalline silicon photovoltaics, including novel separations processes for impurity removal, impurity and defect fundamentals, interface passivation, the role of hydrogen. Second, we outline emerging opportunities for creation of a very different ''thin-layer'' silicon cell structure, including the scientific issues and engineering challenges associated with thin-layer silicon processing and cell design.
Atwater, Harry A.; Ciszek, Ted; Feldman, Leonard C.; Gee, James; Rohatgi, Ajeet; Sopori, Bhushan
Method of making selective crystalline silicon regions containing entrapped hydrogen by laser treatment
A novel hydrogen rich single crystalline silicon material having a band gap energy greater than 1.1 eV can be fabricated by forming an amorphous region of graded crystallinity in a body of single crystalline silicon and thereafter contacting the region with atomic hydrogen followed by pulsed laser annealing at a sufficient power and for a sufficient duration to recrystallize the region into single crystalline silicon without out-gasing the hydrogen. The new material can be used to fabricate semi-conductor devices such as single crystalline silicon solar cells with surface window regions having a greater band gap energy than that of single crystalline silicon without hydrogen.
Wanxiang Silicon Peak Electronics Co Ltd | Open Energy Information
Wanxiang Silicon Peak Electronics Co Ltd Wanxiang Silicon Peak Electronics Co Ltd Jump to: navigation, search Name Wanxiang Silicon-Peak Electronics Co Ltd Place Kaihua, Zhejiang Province, China Zip 324300 Sector Solar Product Maker of monocrystalline silicon ingots and wafers and subsidiary of the Wanxiang Group which includes solar cell and module maker Wanxiang Solar. Coordinates 29.140209°, 118.405113° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":29.140209,"lon":118.405113,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
NGEN Partners LLC (Silicon Valley) | Open Energy Information
Silicon Valley) Silicon Valley) Jump to: navigation, search Logo: NGEN Partners LLC (Silicon Valley) Name NGEN Partners LLC (Silicon Valley) Address 720 University Avenue Place Palo Alto, California Zip 94301 Region Bay Area Product Invest in early to late-stage clean energy businesses. Year founded 2001 Phone number (650) 321-4100 Website http://www.ngenpartners.com/ Coordinates 37.450711°, -122.156278° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":37.450711,"lon":-122.156278,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Silicon materials outlook study for 1980-85 calendar years
Photovoltaic solar cell arrays converting solar energy into electrical energy can become a cost-effective, alternative energy source provided that an adequate supply of low-priced solar cell materials and automated fabrication techniques are available. Presently, the photovoltaic industry is dependent upon polycrystalline silicon which is produced primarily for the discrete semiconductor device industry. This dependency is expected to continue until DOE-sponsored new technology developments mature. Recent industry forecasts have predicted a limited supply of polycrystalline silicon material and a shortage could occur in the early 80's. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Technology Development and Application Lead Center formed an ad hoc committee at JPL, SERI and consultant personnel to conduct interviews with key polycrystalline manufacturers and a large cross-section of single crystal ingot growers and wafer manufacturers. Industry consensus and conclusions reached from the analysis of the data obtained by the committee are reported. The highlight of the study is that there is a high probability of polycrystalline silicon shortage by the end of CY 1982 and a strong seller's market after CY 1981 which will foster price competition for available silicon.
Costogue, E.; Ferber, R.; Hasbach, W.; Pellin, R.; Yaws, C.
Lithium-Assisted Electrochemical Welding in Silicon Nanowire Battery Electrodes
-healing, interfacial lithium diffusivity, in situ TEM, lithium-ion battery Silicon is an auspicious candidate to replace today's widely utilized graphitic anodes in lithium ion batteries because its specific energy evidence of facile transport of lithium ions, which are both desirable properties for enhanced battery
Li, Teng
Germanium near infrared detector in silicon on insulator
The authors demonstrate near infraredphotodetectors in evaporated germanium on silicon-on-insulator waveguides. The authors achieve peak responsivities as high as 1 A ? W and dark current densities as low as 40 nA at a reverse bias of 1 V . Owing to the low deposition temperature
L. Colace; V. Sorianello; M. Balbi; G. Assanto
EELE408 Photovoltaics Lecture 16: Silicon Solar Cell Fabrication Techniques
1 EELE408 Photovoltaics Lecture 16: Silicon Solar Cell Fabrication Techniques Dr. Todd J. Kaiser - Bozeman Screen Printed Solar Cells · Starting wafer is about 0.5 mm thick and 10 x 10 cm2. The wafer is p-type and lightly doped with Boron (1016/cm3) 2 Screen Printed Solar Cells · Saw Damage Etch The starting wafer
Kaiser, Todd J.
Photovoltaic Measurements in Single-Nanowire Silicon Solar Cells
Photovoltaic Measurements in Single-Nanowire Silicon Solar Cells Michael D. Kelzenberg, Daniel B Single-nanowire solar cells were created by forming rectifying junctions in electrically contacted vapor-voltage measurements were made under simulated Air Mass 1.5 global illumination. Photovoltaic spectral response
Processes for producing low cost, high efficiency silicon solar cells
Processes which utilize rapid thermal processing (RTP) are provided for inexpensively producing high efficiency silicon solar cells. The RTP processes preserve minority carrier bulk lifetime .tau. and permit selective adjustment of the depth of the diffused regions, including emitter and back surface field (bsf), within the silicon substrate. Silicon solar cell efficiencies of 16.9% have been achieved. In a first RTP process, an RTP step is utilized to simultaneously diffuse phosphorus and aluminum into the front and back surfaces, respectively, of a silicon substrate. Moreover, an in situ controlled cooling procedure preserves the carrier bulk lifetime .tau. and permits selective adjustment of the depth of the diffused regions. In a second RTP process, both simultaneous diffusion of the phosphorus and aluminum as well as annealing of the front and back contacts are accomplished during the RTP step. In a third RTP process, the RTP step accomplishes simultaneous diffusion of the phosphorus and aluminum, annealing of the contacts, and annealing of a double-layer antireflection/passivation coating SiN/SiO.sub.x.
Rohatgi, Ajeet (Marietta, GA); Chen, Zhizhang (Duluth, GA); Doshi, Parag (Atlanta, GA)
High quality factor and high confinement silicon resonators using
waveguides," IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 8, 647648 (1996). 4. I. Kiyat, A. Aydinli, and N. Dagli, "High-Q. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 12, 16781687 (2006). 2. Y. Okawachi, A. Gaeta, and M. Lipson. Xiao, M. H. Khan, H. Shen, and M. Qi, "Compact silicon microring resonators with ultra-low propagation
Lipson, Michal
Lithium Insertion In Silicon Nanowires: An ab Initio Study
Lithium Insertion In Silicon Nanowires: An ab Initio Study Qianfan Zhang, Wenxing Zhang, Wenhui Wan, and § School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China ABSTRACT The ultrahigh specific lithium ion opportunities for energy storage. However, a systematic theoretical study on lithium insertion in SiNWs remains
Cui, Yi
Chemical vapor deposition of amorphous silicon films from disilane
Amorphous silicon films for fabrication of solar cells have been deposited by thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from disilane (Si/sub 2/H/sub 6/) using a tubular flow reactor. A mathematical description for the CVD reactor was developed and solved by a numerical procedure. The proposed chemical reaction network for the model is based on silylene (SiH/sub 2/) insertion in the gas phase and film growth from SiH/sub 2/ and silicon polymers (Si/sub n/N/sub 2n/, n approx. 10). Estimates of the rate constants have been obtained for trisilane decomposition, silicon polymer formation, and polymer dehydrogenation. The silane unimolecular decomposition rate constants were corrected for pressure effects. The model behavior is compared to the experimental results over the range of conditions: reactor temperature (360 to 485/sup 0/C), pressures (2 to 48 torr), and gas holding time (1 to 70 s). Within the above range of conditions, film growth rate varies from 0.01 to 30 A/s. Results indicate that silicon polymers are the main film precursors for gas holding times greater than 3 s. Film growth by silylene only becomes important at short holding times, large inert gas dilution, and positions near the beginning of the reactor hot zone.
Bogaert, R.J.
Performance of amorphous silicon photovoltaic systems, 1985--1989
This report discusses the performance of commercial amorphous silicon modules used in photovoltaic power systems from 1985 through 1989. Topics discussed include initial degradation, reliability, durability, and effects of temperature and solar irradiance on peak power and energy production. 6 refs., 18 figs.
Nuclear breeder reactor fuel element with silicon carbide getter
An improved cesium getter 28 is provided in a breeder reactor fuel element or pin in the form of an extended surface area, low density element formed in one embodiment as a helically wound foil 30 located with silicon carbide, and located at the upper end of the fertile material upper blanket 20.
Christiansen, David W. (Kennewick, WA); Karnesky, Richard A. (Richland, WA)
Point defects in silicon crystals studied via complexes with hydrogen
We studied the properties of irradiation-induced point defects and thermal equilibrium vacancies in Si by detecting hydrogen interacting with these point defects. First, we show the irradiation temperature dependence of the point defect concentration. ... Keywords: Frenkel pairs, hydrogen, migration energy, self-interstitials, silicon, vacancies
M. Suezawa; N. Fukata; Y. Takada; R. Taniguchi; F. Hori; R. Oshima
APIVT-Grown Silicon Thin Layers and PV Devices: Preprint
Large-grained (5-20 ..mu..m) polycrystalline silicon layers have been grown at intermediate temperatures of 750-950C directly on foreign substrates without a seeding layer by iodine vapor transport at atmospheric pressure with rates as high as 3 mm/min. A model is constructed to explain the atypical temperature dependence of growth rate. We have also used this technique to grow high-quality epitaxial layers on heavily doped CZ-Si and on upgraded MG-Si substrates. Possible solar cell structures of thin-layer polycrystalline silicon on foreign substrates with light trapping have been examined, compared, and optimized by two-dimensional device simulations. The effects of grain boundary re-combination on device performance are presented for two grain sizes of 2 and 20 mm. We found that 104 cm/s recombination velocity is adequate for 20-m m grain-sized thin silicon, whereas a very low recombination velocity of 103 cm/s must be accomplished in order to achieve reasonable performance for a 2- mm grain-sized polycrystalline silicon device.
Wang, T. H.; Ciszek, T. F.; Page, M. R.; Bauer, R. E.; Wang, Q.; Landry, M. D.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Advanced Silicon Photovoltaics
for conversion by #12;2 the cell. Cells based on "hot" carriers are also being investigated since they offer line of research. A third is the investigation of schemes for implementing hot-carrier cells. 15 Figure known as solar cells. Silicon is the most common material used to make these cells, as well as being
NANO-INDENTATION OF COPPER THIN FILMS ON SILICON SUBSTRATES S. Suresh1 , T.-G. Nieh2 and B.W. Choi2: Mechanical properties; Nano-indentation; Thin films; Copper; Dislocations Introduction Indentation methods films on substrates (e.g., [2,3]) using instrumented indentation. Nano-indentation studies of thin films
Suresh, Subra
Evaluation and silicon nitride internal combustion engine components
The feasibility of silicon nitride (Si[sub 3]N[sub 4]) use in internal combustion engines was studied by testing three different components for wear resistance and lower reciprocating mass. The information obtained from these preliminary spin rig and engine tests indicates several design changes are necessary to survive high-stress engine applications. The three silicon nitride components tested were valve spring retainers, tappet rollers, and fuel pump push rod ends. Garrett Ceramic Components' gas-pressure sinterable Si[sub 3]N[sub 4] (GS-44) was used to fabricate the above components. Components were final machined from densified blanks that had been green formed by isostatic pressing of GS-44 granules. Spin rig testing of the valve spring retainers indicated that these Si[sub 3]N[sub 4] components could survive at high RPM levels (9,500) when teamed with silicon nitride valves and lower spring tension than standard titanium components. Silicon nitride tappet rollers showed no wear on roller O.D. or I.D. surfaces, steel axles and lifters; however, due to the uncrowned design of these particular rollers the cam lobes indicated wear after spin rig testing. Fuel pump push rod ends were successful at reducing wear on the cam lobe and rod end when tested on spin rigs and in real-world race applications.
Voldrich, W. (Allied-Signal Aerospace Co., Torrance, CA (United States). Garrett Ceramic Components Div.)
4765Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 20 / Tuesday, January 31, 2012 / Notices 1 See Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells,
Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, From the People's Republic of China
And the Award Goes to... Silicon Ink Solar Technology Supported by
And the Award Goes to... Silicon Ink Solar Technology Supported by And the Award Goes to... Silicon Ink Solar Technology Supported by SunShot's PV Incubator And the Award Goes to... Silicon Ink Solar Technology Supported by SunShot's PV Incubator July 19, 2011 - 5:00pm Addthis Innovalightâs silicon ink technology | Photo courtesy of Innovalight Innovalight's silicon ink technology | Photo courtesy of Innovalight What does this mean for me? Pioneering startup Innovalight partnered with NREL to invent the first liquid silicon on the market. When paired with Innovalight's industrial screen printing process, this silicon ink technology offers a novel path to producing solar cells with higher conversion efficiencies at lower cost. A pair of presenters approach the microphone carrying a sealed envelope, a faint drum roll is heard, cameras zoom in on the anxious faces of the
NREL: Photovoltaics Research - Silicon Materials and Devices R&D
Silicon Materials and Devices R&D Silicon Materials and Devices R&D R&D 100 Awards Since 2010, we have won three R&D 100 Awards. Flash Quantum Efficiency (Flash QE) System for Solar Cells Innovalight Silicon Ink Process Low-Cost Black Silicon Etching Process Graphic of three layers. The bottom layer, called inexpensive substrate, is white. Middle dark blue layer is called the seed. Top light blue layer has the text epi c-Si absorber. Schematic diagram of the film crystal silicon solar cell. A high-quality crystal silicon absorber is grown epitaxially on a seed layer applied to an inexpensive foreign substrate (e.g., display glass or rolled metal foil). At NREL, we are developing various emitter, back-surface field, and light-trapping strategies. NREL has world-leading research capabilities and expertise in silicon
Carbothermic reduction and prereduced charge for producing aluminum-silicon alloys
Disclosed is a method for the carbothermic reduction of aluminum oxide to form an aluminum alloy including producing silicon carbide by heating a first mix of carbon and silicon oxide in a combustion reactor to an elevated temperature sufficient to produce silicon carbide at an accelerated rate, the heating being provided by an in situ combustion with oxygen gas, and then admixing the silicon carbide with carbon and aluminum oxide to form a second mix and heating the second mix in a second reactor to an elevated metal-forming temperature sufficient to produce aluminum-silicon alloy. The prereduction step includes holding aluminum oxide substantially absent from the combustion reactor. The metal-forming step includes feeding silicon oxide in a preferred ratio with silicon carbide. 1 fig.
Stevenson, D.T.; Troup, R.L.
Disclosed is a method for the carbothermic reduction of aluminum oxide to form an aluminum alloy including producing silicon carbide by heating a first mix of carbon and silicon oxide in a combustion reactor to an elevated temperature sufficient to produce silicon carbide at an accelerated rate, the heating being provided by an in situ combustion with oxygen gas, and then admixing the silicon carbide with carbon and aluminum oxide to form a second mix and heating the second mix in a second reactor to an elevated metal-forming temperature sufficient to produce aluminum-silicon alloy. The prereduction step includes holding aluminum oxide substantially absent from the combustion reactor. The metal-forming step includes feeding silicon oxide in a preferred ratio with silicon carbide.
Stevenson, David T. (Washington Township, Armstrong County, PA); Troup, Robert L. (Murrysville, PA)
Method for rapid, controllable growth and thickness, of epitaxial silicon films
A method of producing epitaxial silicon films on a c-Si wafer substrate using hot wire chemical vapor deposition by controlling the rate of silicon deposition in a temperature range that spans the transition from a monohydride to a hydrogen free silicon surface in a vacuum, to obtain phase-pure epitaxial silicon film of increased thickness is disclosed. The method includes placing a c-Si substrate in a HWCVD reactor chamber. The method also includes supplying a gas containing silicon at a sufficient rate into the reaction chamber to interact with the substrate to deposit a layer containing silicon thereon at a predefined growth rate to obtain phase-pure epitaxial silicon film of increased thickness.
Wang, Qi (Littleton, CO); Stradins, Paul (Golden, CO); Teplin, Charles (Boulder, CO); Branz, Howard M. (Boulder, CO)
Quantitative analysis of defects in silicon: silicon sheet growth development for the large area silicon sheet task of the Low-Cost Solar Array Project. Quarterly progress report No. 4, 1 January 1979-31 March 1979
This report describes the various steps involved in the chemical polishing and etching of Motorola silicon samples. Data on twins, dislocation pits, and grain boundaries from thirty-one (31) Mobil Tyco silicon sample numbers 47 to 77 are also discussed. A brief review of the changes made to upgrade the Quantimet 720 Image Analysis System is included.
Natesh, R.; Smith, J.M.; Qidwai, H.A.
Development of Solar Grade (SoG) Silicon
The rapid growth of the photovoltaics (PV) industry is threatened by the ongoing shortage of suitable solar grade (SoG) silicon. Until 2004, the PV industry relied on the off spec polysilicon from the electronics industry for feedstock. The rapid growth of PV meant that the demand for SoG silicon predictably surpassed this supply. The long-term prospects for PV are very bright as costs have come down, and efficiencies and economies of scale make PV generated electricity ever more competitive with grid electricity. However, the scalability of the current process for producing poly silicon again threatens the future. A less costly, higher volume production technique is needed to supply the long-term growth of the PV industry, and to reduce costs of PV even further. This long-term need was the motivation behind this SBIR proposal. Upgrading metallurgical grade (MG) silicon would fulfill the need for a low-cost, large-scale production. Past attempts to upgrade MG silicon have foundered/failed/had trouble reducing the low segregation coefficient elements, B, P, and Al. Most other elements in MG silicon can be purified very efficiently by directional solidification. Thus, in the Phase I program, Crystal Systems proposed a variety of techniques to reduce B, P, and Al in MG silicon to produce a low cost commercial technique for upgrading MG silicon. Of the variety of techniques tried, vacuum refining and some slagging and additions turned out to be the most promising. These were pursued in the Phase II study. By vacuum refining, the P was reduced from 14 to 0.22 ppmw and the Al was reduced from 370 ppmw to 0.065 ppmw. This process was scaled to 40 kg scale charges, and the results were expressed in terms of half-life, or time to reduce the impurity concentration in half. Best half-lives were 2 hours, typical were 4 hours. Scaling factors were developed to allow prediction of these results to larger scale melts. The vacuum refining required the development of new crucibles, as well as liners and coatings to allow the vacuum to be achieved. These developments also hold the promise of lower cost ingot growth, because several of these developments led to a reusable crucible. Liners and coatings were tested on 37 runs, under a variety of conditions. Although many of these did not fulfill the requirements of the program, several were very successful, particularly in allowing the crucible to be reused several times. The most interesting result was with slags and additives used to reduce P and Al. Although slags have been much studied with little success in removing P and B effectively, certain modeling suggested a particular type of slagging might be effective. This was tried, and found to be highly effective for P and surprisingly effective for B, as well. The best results indicate that > 99% of the P was removed, and > 75% of the B was removed by a slagging treatment. An operability issue involving separation of the slag and silicon was the final technical problem preventing the full-scale use of this technique, and there has been progress on this front. A slagging/additive technique is highly promising, because the rates of equilibration are very high, and this is a rapid technique that scales very well to large volumes with little increase in time. Materials of containment and slag/metal separation are issues that are continuing to be developed.
Joyce, David B; Schmid, Frederick
Low-resistivity photon-transparent window attached to photo-sensitive silicon detector
The invention comprises a combination of a low resistivity, or electrically conducting, silicon layer that is transparent to long or short wavelength photons and is attached to the backside of a photon-sensitive layer of silicon, such as a silicon wafer or chip. The window is applied to photon sensitive silicon devices such as photodiodes, charge-coupled devices, active pixel sensors, low-energy x-ray sensors and other radiation detectors. The silicon window is applied to the back side of a photosensitive silicon wafer or chip so that photons can illuminate the device from the backside without interference from the circuit printed on the frontside. A voltage sufficient to fully deplete the high-resistivity photosensitive silicon volume of charge carriers is applied between the low-resistivity back window and the front, patterned, side of the device. This allows photon-induced charge created at the backside to reach the front side of the device and to be processed by any circuitry attached to the front side. Using the inventive combination, the photon sensitive silicon layer does not need to be thinned beyond standard fabrication methods in order to achieve full charge-depletion in the silicon volume. In one embodiment, the inventive backside window is applied to high resistivity silicon to allow backside illumination while maintaining charge isolation in CCD pixels.
Holland, Stephen Edward (Hercules, CA)
Production of solar grade (SoG) silicon by refining liquid metallurgical grade (MG) silicon: Annual Report: June 10 1998--October 19, 1999
Pyro-metallurgical refining techniques are being developed for use with molten metallurgical-grade (MG) silicon so that directionally solidified refined MG silicon can be used as solar-grade (SoG) silicon feedstock for photovoltaic applications. The most problematic impurity elements are B and P because of their high segregation coefficients. Refining processes such as evacuation, formation of impurity complexes, oxidation of impurities, and slagging have been effective in removal of impurities from MG silicon. Charge sizes have been scaled up to 60 kg. Impurity analysis of 60-kg charges after refining and directional solidification has shown reduction of most impurities to <1 ppma and B and P to the 10-ppma level. It has been demonstrated that B and P, as well as other impurities, can be reduced from MG silicon. Further reduction of impurities will be necessary for use as SoG silicon. The procedures developed are simple and scaleable to larger charge sizes and carried out in a foundry or MG silicon production plant. Therefore, SoG silicon production using these procedures should be at low cost.
Khattak, C.P.; Joyce, D.B.; Schmid, F.
NREL: Energy Analysis - Crystalline Silicon and Thin Film Photovoltaic
Crystalline Silicon and Thin Film Photovoltaic Results - Life Cycle Crystalline Silicon and Thin Film Photovoltaic Results - Life Cycle Assessment Harmonization Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Solar Photovoltaics (Fact Sheet) Cover of the Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Solar Photovoltaics factsheet Download the Fact Sheet Over the last 30 years, hundreds of life cycle assessments (LCAs) have been conducted and published for a variety of residential and utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) systems with wide-ranging results. The inconsistencies in these results can be attributed to the technologies evaluated-such as differing system designs, real-world versus conceptual systems, or technology improvements over time-and life cycle assessment methods and assumptions. To better understand greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from commercial
Half-Metallicity in Europium Oxide Conductively Matched with Silicon
EuO1-x--a remarkably versatile ferromagnetic semiconductor with variable transport properties--incorporated into a heterostructure with n+ doped silicon is shown to be {approx}90% spin polarized by Andreev reflection (AR) spin spectroscopy. The AR measurements were done in a planar geometry with an InSn superconducting film. A simple reactive growth technique was used to controllably introduce oxygen vacancies into EuO1-x to adjust its carrier concentration. We demonstrate by direct measurements of spin polarization that half-metallicity of EuO1-x can be achieved in the films conductively matched with Si, thus making EuO1-x one of the most attractive materials for silicon-based spintronics.
Panguluri,R.; Santos, T.; Negusse, E.; Dvorak, J.; Idzerda, Y.; Moodera, J.; Nadgorny, B.
First-principles Approaches to Simulate Lithiation in Silicon Electrodes
Silicon is viewed as an excellent electrode material for lithium batteries due to its high lithium storage capacity. Various Si nano-structures, such as Si nanowires, have performed well as lithium battery anodes and have opened up exciting opportunities for the use of Si in energy storage devices. The mechanism of lithium insertion and the interaction between Li and the Si electrode must be understood at the atomic level; this understanding can be achieved by first-principles simulation. Here, first-principles computations of lithiation in silicon electrodes are reviewed. The review focuses on three aspects: the various properties of bulk Li-Si compounds with different Li concentrations, the electronic structure of Si nanowires and Li insertion behavior in Si nanowires, and the dynamic lithiation process at the Li/Si interface. Potential study directions in this research field and difficulties that the field still faces are discussed at the end.
Zhang, Qianfan; Wang, Enge
Epitaxial Growth and Characterization of Silicon Carbide Films
Silicon carbide (SiC) epitaxial layers have been grown in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system designed and fabricated in our laboratory. Silicon tetrachloride-propane as well as silane-propane were used as precursor gases. The hot zone was designed based on simulation by using numerical modeling. Growth rates up to 200 {mu}m could be achieved. A new growth-assisted hydrogen etching was developed to show the distribution of the micropipes present in the substrate. Higher growth rate was observed on off-axis (0 0 0 1) 4 H SiC compared to the on-axis (0 0 0 1) wafer and growth mechanism was explained.
Dhanaraj,G.; Dudley, M.; Chen, Y.; Ragothamachar, B.; Wu, B.; Zhang, H.
Micron-sized stardust grains that originated in ancient stars are recovered from meteorites and analyzed using high-resolution mass spectrometry. The most widely studied type of stardust is silicon carbide (SiC). Thousands of these grains have been analyzed with high precision for their Si isotopic composition. Here we show that the distribution of the Si isotopic composition of the vast majority of stardust SiC grains carries the imprints of a spread in the age-metallicity distribution of their parent stars and of a power-law increase of the relative formation efficiency of SiC dust with the metallicity. This result offers a solution for the long-standing problem of silicon in stardust SiC grains, confirms the necessity of coupling chemistry and dynamics in simulations of the chemical evolution of our Galaxy, and constrains the modeling of dust condensation in stellar winds as a function of the metallicity.
Lewis, Karen M.; Lugaro, Maria; Gibson, Brad K.; Pilkington, Kate, E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com, E-mail: email@example.com, E-mail: email@example.com, E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com [Monash Centre for Astrophysics (MoCA), Monash University, Clayton VIC 3800 (Australia)
Chemical method for producing smooth surfaces on silicon wafers
An improved method for producing optically smooth surfaces in silicon wafers during wet chemical etching involves a pre-treatment rinse of the wafers before etching and a post-etching rinse. The pre-treatment with an organic solvent provides a well-wetted surface that ensures uniform mass transfer during etching, which results in optically smooth surfaces. The post-etching treatment with an acetic acid solution stops the etching instantly, preventing any uneven etching that leads to surface roughness. This method can be used to etch silicon surfaces to a depth of 200 .mu.m or more, while the finished surfaces have a surface roughness of only 15-50 .ANG. (RMS).
Yu, Conrad (Antioch, CA)
Chemical vapor deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon from disilane
The authors describe hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films deposited at growth rates of 1 to 30 A/s by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from disilane source gas at 24 torr total pressure in a tubular reactor. The effects of substrate temperature and gas holding time (flow rate) on film growth rate and effluent gas composition were measured at temperatures ranging from 360{sup 0} to 485{sup 0}C and gas holding times from 3 to 62s. Effluent gases determined by gas chromatography included silane, disilane and other higher order silanes. A chemical reaction engineering model, based on a silylene (SiH/sub 2/) insertion gas phase reaction network and film growth from both SiH/sub 2/ and high molecular weight silicon species, Si/sub n/H/sub 2n/, was developed. The model predictions were in good agreement with experimentally determined growth rates and effluent gas compositions.
Bogaert, R.J.; Russell, T.W.F.; Klein, M.T. (Delaware Univ., Newark, DE (USA). Dept. of Chemical Engineering); Rocheleau, R.E.; Baron, B.N. (Delaware Univ., Newark, DE (USA). Inst. of Energy Conversion)
Polymorphism of the glass former ethanol confined in mesoporous silicon
X-ray diffraction patterns of ethanol confined in parallel-aligned channels of approx. 10 nm diameter and 50 micrometer length in mesoporous silicon have been recorded as a function of filling fraction, temperature and for varying cooling and heating rates. A sorption isotherm, recorded in the liquid state, indicates a three monolayer thick, strongly adsorbed wall layer and a capillary condensed fraction of molecules in the pore center. Though the strongly adsorbed film remains in an amorphous state for the entire temperature range investigated, the capillary condensed molecules reproduce the polymorphism of bulk solid ethanol, that is the formation of either crystalline or glass-like states as a function of cooling rate. The critical rate necessary to achieve a vitrification in the mesopores is, however, at least two orders of magnitude smaller than in the bulk state. This finding can be traced both to pure geometrical constraints and quenched disorder effects, characteristic of confinement in mesoporous silicon.
Anke Henschel; Klaus Knorr; Patrick Huber
Quantitative Analysis of Spectral Impacts on Silicon Photodiode Radiometers: Preprint
Inexpensive broadband pyranometers with silicon photodiode detectors have a non-uniform spectral response over the spectral range of 300-1100 nm. The response region includes only about 70% to 75% of the total energy in the terrestrial solar spectral distribution from 300 nm to 4000 nm. The solar spectrum constantly changes with solar position and atmospheric conditions. Relative spectral distributions of diffuse hemispherical irradiance sky radiation and total global hemispherical irradiance are drastically different. This analysis convolves a typical photodiode response with SMARTS 2.9.5 spectral model spectra for different sites and atmospheric conditions. Differences in solar component spectra lead to differences on the order of 2% in global hemispherical and 5% or more in diffuse hemispherical irradiances from silicon radiometers. The result is that errors of more than 7% can occur in the computation of direct normal irradiance from global hemispherical irradiance and diffuse hemispherical irradiance using these radiometers.
Myers, D. R.
Chlorine Free Technology for Solar-Grade Silicon Manufacturing: Preprint
Due to the development of the solar energy industry, a significant increase of polysilicon feedstock (PSF) production will be required in near future. The creation of special technology of solar grade polysilicon feedstock production is an important problem. Today, semiconductor-grade polysilicon is mainly manufactured using the trichlorosilane (SiHCl3) distillation and reduction. The feed-stock for trichlorosilane is metallurgical-grade silicon, the product of reduction of natural quartzite (silica). This polysilicon production method is characterized by high energy consumption and large amounts of wastes, containing environmentally harmful chlorine based compounds. In the former USSR the principles of industrial method for production of monosilane and polycrystalline silicon by thermal decomposition of monosilane were founded. This technology was proved in industrial scale at production of gaseous monosilane and PSF. We offered new chlorine free technology (CFT). Originality and novelty of the process were confirmed by Russian and US patents.
Strebkov, D. S.; Pinov, A. P.; Zadde, V. V.; Lebedev, E. N.; Belov, E. P.; Efimov, N. K.; Kleshevnikova, S. I.; Touryan, K.; Bleak, D.
The ALICE Silicon Pixel Detector Control and Calibration Systems
The work presented in this thesis was carried out in the Silicon Pixel Detector (SPD) group of the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The SPD is the innermost part (two cylindrical layers of silicon pixel detec- tors) of the ALICE Inner Tracking System (ITS). During the last three years I have been strongly involved in the SPD hardware and software development, construction and commissioning. This thesis is focused on the design, development and commissioning of the SPD Control and Calibration Systems. I started this project from scratch. After a prototyping phase now a stable version of the control and calibration systems is operative. These systems allowed the detector sectors and half-barrels test, integration and commissioning as well as the SPD commissioning in the experiment. The integration of the systems with the ALICE Experiment Control System (ECS), DAQ and Trigger system has been accomplished and the SPD participated in the experimental December 2007 commissioning run. The complex...
Cal�, Ivan Amos; Manzari, Vito; Stefanini, Giorgio
Junction Transport in Epitaxial Film Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells: Preprint
We report our progress toward low-temperature HWCVD epitaxial film silicon solar cells on inexpensive seed layers, with a focus on the junction transport physics exhibited by our devices. Heterojunctions of i/p hydrogenated amorphous Si (a-Si) on our n-type epitaxial crystal Si on n++ Si wafers show space-charge-region recombination, tunneling or diffusive transport depending on both epitaxial Si quality and the applied forward voltage.
Young, D. L.; Li, J. V.; Teplin, C. W.; Stradins, P.; Branz, H. M.
Free-standing luminescent layers of porous silicon
Free-standing layers of porous silicon with a thickness ranging from 50 to 200 {mu}m have been fabricated using an electrolyte composed of HF and acetic acid. Chemical aspects of the etching process associated with the evolution of gases that favor detachment of layers from substrates are considered. The layers exhibit stable photoluminescence in the visible spectral region observed from both of their sides.
Goryachev, D. N., E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com; Belyakov, L. V.; Sreseli, O. M. [Russian Academy of Sciences, Ioffe Physical Technical Institute (Russian Federation)
Process for growing silicon carbide whiskers by undercooling
A method of growing silicon carbide whiskers, especially in the .beta. form, using a heating schedule wherein the temperature of the atmosphere in the growth zone of a furnace is first heated to or beyond the growth temperature and then is cooled to or below the growth temperature to induce nucleation of whiskers at catalyst sites at a desired point in time which results in the selection.
Shalek, Peter D. (Los Alamos, NM)
Formation of thin-film resistors on silicon substrates
The formation of thin-film resistors by the ion implantation of a metallic conductive layer in the surface of a layer of phosphosilicate glass or borophosphosilicate glass which is deposited on a silicon substrate. The metallic conductive layer materials comprise one of the group consisting of tantalum, ruthenium, rhodium, platinum and chromium silicide. The resistor is formed and annealed prior to deposition of metal, e.g. aluminum, on the substrate.
Schnable, George L. (Montgomery County, PA); Wu, Chung P. (Hamilton Township, Mercer County, NJ)
GCL Solar Energy Technology Holdings formerly GCL Silicon aka Jiangsu
Solar Energy Technology Holdings formerly GCL Silicon aka Jiangsu Solar Energy Technology Holdings formerly GCL Silicon aka Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon Jump to: navigation, search Name GCL Solar Energy Technology Holdings (formerly GCL Silicon, aka Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon) Place Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China Zip 221131 Sector Solar Product China-based solar grade polysilicon producer. Coordinates 34.255489°, 117.190201° Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","type":"ROADMAP","zoom":14,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"geoservice":"google","maxzoom":false,"width":"600px","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"wmsoverlay":"","layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"kml":[],"gkml":[],"fusiontables":[],"resizable":false,"tilt":0,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"imageoverlays":[],"markercluster":false,"searchmarkers":"","locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":null,"lat":34.255489,"lon":117.190201,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}]}
Processes which utilize rapid thermal processing (RTP) are provided for inexpensively producing high efficiency silicon solar cells. The RTP processes preserve minority carrier bulk lifetime .tau. and permit selective adjustment of the depth of the diffused regions, including emitter and back surface field (bsf), within the silicon substrate. In a first RTP process, an RTP step is utilized to simultaneously diffuse phosphorus and aluminum into the front and back surfaces, respectively, of a silicon substrate. Moreover, an in situ controlled cooling procedure preserves the carrier bulk lifetime .tau. and permits selective adjustment of the depth of the diffused regions. In a second RTP process, both simultaneous diffusion of the phosphorus and aluminum as well as annealing of the front and back contacts are accomplished during the RTP step. In a third RTP process, the RTP step accomplishes simultaneous diffusion of the phosphorus and aluminum, annealing of the contacts, and annealing of a double-layer antireflection/passivation coating SiN/SiO.sub.x. In a fourth RTP process, the process of applying front and back contacts is broken up into two separate respective steps, which enhances the efficiency of the cells, at a slight time expense. In a fifth RTP process, a second RTP step is utilized to fire and adhere the screen printed or evaporated contacts to the structure.
Rohatgi, Ajeet (Marietta, GA); Doshi, Parag (Altanta, GA); Tate, John Keith (Lawrenceville, GA); Mejia, Jose (Atlanta, GA); Chen, Zhizhang (Duluth, GA)
Processes which utilize rapid thermal processing (RTP) are provided for inexpensively producing high efficiency silicon solar cells. The RTP processes preserve minority carrier bulk lifetime {tau} and permit selective adjustment of the depth of the diffused regions, including emitter and back surface field (bsf), within the silicon substrate. In a first RTP process, an RTP step is utilized to simultaneously diffuse phosphorus and aluminum into the front and back surfaces, respectively, of a silicon substrate. Moreover, an in situ controlled cooling procedure preserves the carrier bulk lifetime {tau} and permits selective adjustment of the depth of the diffused regions. In a second RTP process, both simultaneous diffusion of the phosphorus and aluminum as well as annealing of the front and back contacts are accomplished during the RTP step. In a third RTP process, the RTP step accomplishes simultaneous diffusion of the phosphorus and aluminum, annealing of the contacts, and annealing of a double-layer antireflection/passivation coating SiN/SiO{sub x}. In a fourth RTP process, the process of applying front and back contacts is broken up into two separate respective steps, which enhances the efficiency of the cells, at a slight time expense. In a fifth RTP process, a second RTP step is utilized to fire and adhere the screen printed or evaporated contacts to the structure. 28 figs.
Rohatgi, A.; Doshi, P.; Tate, J.K.; Mejia, J.; Chen, Z.
Method For Silicon Surface Texturing Using Ion Implantation
As the semiconductor industry continues to show more interest in the photovoltaic market, cheaper and readily integrable methods of silicon solar cell production are desired. One of these methods - ion implantation - is well-developed and optimized in all commercial semiconductor fabrication facilities. Here we have developed a silicon surface texturing technique predicated upon the phenomenon of surface blistering of H-implanted silicon, using only ion implantation and thermal annealing. We find that following the H implant with a second, heavier implant markedly enhances the surface blistering, causing large trenches that act as a surface texturing of c-Si. We have found that this method reduces total broadband Si reflectance from 35% to below 5percent;. In addition, we have used Rutherford backscattering/channeling measurements investigate the effect of ion implantation on the crystallinity of the sample. The data suggests that implantation-induced lattice damage is recovered upon annealing, reproducing the original monocrystalline structure in the previously amorphized region, while at the same time retaining the textured surface.
Kadakia, Nirag; Naczas, Sebastian; Bakhru, Hassaram; Huang Mengbing [College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, State University of New York at Albany, 255 Fuller Road, Albany NY 12203 (United States)
Ceramic composites reinforced with modified silicon carbide whiskers
Test-to-Failure of Crystalline Silicon Modules: Preprint
Accelerated lifetime testing of five crystalline silicon module designs was carried out according to the Terrestrial Photovoltaic Module Accelerated Test-to-Failure Protocol. This protocol compares the reliability of various module constructions on a quantitative basis. The modules under test are subdivided into three accelerated lifetime testing paths: 85..deg..C/85% relative humidity with system bias, thermal cycling between ?40..deg..C and 85..deg..C, and a path that alternates between damp heat and thermal cycling. The most severe stressor is damp heat with system bias applied to simulate the voltages that modules experience when connected in an array. Positive 600 V applied to the active layer with respect to the grounded module frame accelerates corrosion of the silver grid fingers and degrades the silicon nitride antireflective coating on the cells. Dark I-V curve fitting indicates increased series resistance and saturation current around the maximum power point; however, an improvement in junction recombination characteristics is obtained. Shunt paths and cell-metallization interface failures are seen developing in the silicon cells as determined by electroluminescence, thermal imaging, and I-V curves in the case of negative 600 V bias applied to the active layer. Ability to withstand electrolytic corrosion, moisture ingress, and ion drift under system voltage bias are differentiated.
Hacke, P.; Terwilliger, K.; Glick, S.; Trudell, D.; Bosco, N.; Johnston, S.; Kurtz, S. R.
Method for removing oxide contamination from silicon carbide powders
The described invention is directed to a method for removing oxide contamination in the form of oxygen-containing compounds such as SiO/sub 2/ and B/sub 2/O/sub 3/ from a charge of finely divided silicon carbide. The silicon carbide charge is contacted with a stream of hydrogen fluoride mixed with an inert gas carrier such as argon at a temperature in the range of about 200/sup 0/ to 650/sup 0/C. The oxides in the charge react with the heated hydrogen fluoride to form volatile gaseous fluorides such as SiF/sub 4/ and BF/sub 3/ which pass through the charge along with unreacted hydrogen fluoride and the carrier gas. Any residual gaseous reaction products and hydrogen fluoride remaining in the charge are removed by contacting the charge with the stream of inert gas which also cools the powder to room temperature. The removal of the oxygen contamination by practicing the present method provides silicon carbide powders with desirable pressing and sintering characteristics. 1 tab.
Brynestad, J.; Bamberger, C.E.
Radiation Damage Study for PHENIX Silicon Stripixel Sensors
Silicon stripixel sensors which were developed at BNL will be installed as part of the RHIC-PHENIX silicon vertex tracker (VTX). RHIC II operations provide luminosity up to 2x10^32 /cm2/s so the silicon stripixel sensors will be exposed to a significant amount of radiation. The most problematic radiation effect for VTX is the increase of leakage current, which degrades the signal to noise ratio and may saturate the readout electronics. We studied the radiation damage using the same diodes as CERN-RD48. First, the proportionality between the irradiation fluence and the increase of leakage current of CERN-RD48 was reproduced. Then beam experiments with stripixel sensor were done in which leakage current was found to increase in the same way as that of thereference diode. A stripixel sensor was also irradiated at the PHENIX interaction region (IR) during the 2006 run. We found the same relation between the integrated luminosity and determined fluence from increase of leakage current. The expected fluence is 3-6x10^12 Neq/cm2 (1 MeV neutron equivalent) in RHIC II operations for 10 years. Due to this expected exposure, setting the operating temperature in PHENIX to T< 0 deg. C to suppress leakage current is needed to avoid saturation of preamplifiers.
J. Asai; S. Batsouli; K. Boyle; V. Castillo; V. Cianciolo; D. Fields; C. Haegeman; M. Hoeferkamp; Y. Hosoi; R. Ichimiya; Y. Inoue; M. Kawashima; T. Komatsubara; K. Kurita; Z. Li; D. Lynch; M. Nguyen; T. Murakami; R. Nouicer; H. Ohnishi; R. Pak; K. Sakashita; T. -A. Shibata; K. Suga; A. Taketani; J. Tojo
Silicon-on ceramic process. Silicon sheet growth and device developmentt for the Large-Area Silicon Sheet Task of the Low-Cost Solar Array Project. Quarterly report No. 13, October 1-December 31, 1979
Research on the technical and economic feasibility of producing solar-cell-quality sheet silicon by coating inexpensive ceramic substrates with a thin layer of polycrystalline silicon is reported. The coating methods to be developed are directed toward a minimum-cost process for producing solar cells with a terrestrial conversion efficiency of 11 percent or greater. By applying a graphite coating to one face of a ceramic substrate, molten silicon can be caused to wet only that graphite-coated face and produce uniform thin layers of large-grain polycrystalline silicon; thus, only a minimal quantity of silicon is consumed. A variety of ceramic materials have been dip coated with silicon. The investigation has shown that mullite substrates containing an excess of SiO/sub 2/ best match the thermal expansion coefficient of silicon and hence produce the best SOC layers. With such substrates, smooth and uniform silicon layers 25 cm/sup 2/ in area have been achieved with single-crystal grains as large as 4 mm in width and several cm in length. Crystal length is limited by the length of the substrate. The thickness of the coating and the size of the crystalline grains are controlled by the temperature of the melt and the rate at which the substrate is withdrawn from the melt. The solar-cell potential of this SOC sheet silicon is promising. To date, solar cells with areas from 1 to 10 cm/sup 2/ have been fabricated from material with an as-grown surface. Conversion efficiencies of about 10 percent with antireflection (AR) coating have been achieved. Such cells typically have open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current densities of 0.55V and 23 mA/cm/sup 2/, respectively.
Chapman, P W; Zook, J D; Grung, B L; McHenry, K; Schuldt, S B
Toward a Monolithic Lattice-Matched III-V on Silicon Tandem Solar Cell
A two-junction device consisting of a 1.7-eV GaNPAs junction on a 1.1-eV silicon junction has the theoretical potential to achieve nearly optimal efficiency for a two-junction tandem cell. We have demonstrated some of the key components toward realizing such a cell, including GaNPAs top cells grown on silicon substrates, GaP-based tunnel junctions grown on silicon substrates, and diffused silicon junctions formed during the epitaxial growth of GaNP on silicon. These components have required the development of techniques for the growth of high crystalline quality GaNPAs on silicon by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy.
Geisz, J. F.; Olson, J. M.; Friedman, D. J.
Lattice-Matched GaNPAs-On-Silicon Tandem Solar Cells
A two-junction device consisting of a 1.7-eV GaNPAs junction on a 1.1-eV silicon junction has the theoretical potential to achieve nearly optimal efficiency for a two-junction tandem cell. We have demonstrated a monolithic III-V-on-silicon tandem solar cell in which most of the III-V layers are nearly lattice-matched to the silicon substrate. The cell includes a 1.8 eV GaNPAs top cell, a GaP-based tunnel junction (TJ), and a diffused silicon junction formed during the epitaxial growth of GaNP on the silicon substrate. This tandem on silicon has a Voc of 1.53 V and an AM1.5G efficiency of 5.2% without any antireflection coating. Low currents in the top cell are the primary limitation to higher efficiency at this point.
Geisz, J. F.; Olson, J. M.; Friedman, D. J.; Jones, K. M.; Reedy, R. C.; Romero, M. J.
High-efficiency cell structures and processes applied to photovoltaic-grade Czochralski silicon
The authors performed a detailed study to examine the limiting performance available using photovoltaic-grade Cz silicon. Photovoltaic-grade silicon refers to silicon produced by the photovoltaic industry, which may differ from the silicon used in the semiconductor device industry in impurity and defect concentrations.The study included optimization of fabrication processes, development of advanced device structures, and detailed model calculations to project future performance improvements. Process and device optimization resulted in demonstration of 75-{micro}s bulk lifetimes and 17.6%-efficient large-area cells using photovoltaic-grade Cz silicon. Detailed calculations based on the material and device evaluation of the present work project efficiencies of 20% for photovoltaic-grade Cz silicon with properly optimized processing and device structures.
Gee, J.M. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States). Photovoltaic System Components Dept.; King, R.R.; Mitchell, K.W. [Siemens Solar Industries, Camarillo, CA (United States)
Seventh workshop on the role of impurities and defects in silicon device processing
This workshop is the latest in a series which has looked at technological issues related to the commercial development and success of silicon based photovoltaic (PV) modules. PV modules based on silicon are the most common at present, but face pressure from other technologies in terms of cell performance and cell cost. This workshop addresses a problem which is a factor in the production costs of silicon based PV modules.
Analytical and experimental evaluation of joining silicon nitride to metal and silicon carbide to metal for advanced heat engine applications
This report summarizes the results of Phase I of Analytical and Experimental Evaluation of Joining Silicon Nitride to Metal and Silicon Carbide to Metal and Silicon Carbide to Metal for Advanced Heat Engine Applications. A general methodology was developed to optimize the joint geometry and material systems for 650 and 950{degree}C applications. Failure criteria were derived to predict the fracture of the braze and ceramic. Extensive finite element analyses (FEA), using ABAQUS code, were performed to examine various joint geometries and to evaluate the affect of different interlayers on the residual stress state. Also, material systems composed of coating materials, interlayers, and braze alloys were developed for the program based on the chemical stability and strength of the joints during processing and service. Finally, the FEA results were compared with experiments using an idealized strength relationship. The results showed that the measured strength of the joint reached 30--90% of the strength by predicted by FEA. Overall results demonstrated that FEA is an effective tool for designing the geometries of ceramic-metal joints and that joining by brazing is a relevant method for advanced heat engine applications. 33 refs., 54 figs., 36 tabs.
Kang, S.; Selverian, J.H.; Kim, H.; O'Niel, D.; Kim, K. (GTE Labs., Inc., Waltham, MA (USA))
097- Silicone Cookware as an Alternative Drying Vessel for BaTiO 3 ...
Author(s), Eric Walton, Steven M Pilgrim. On-Site Speaker (Planned), Steven M Pilgrim. Abstract Scope, Silicone cookware, a product developed commercially�...
Study program to develop and evaluate die and container materials for the growth of silicon ribbons
The Large Area Silicon Sheet Growth Task objective of lowering the cost of silicon photovoltaic material requires the development of materials which exhibit improved chemical and dimensional stability in contact with molten silicon. These materials may find application as containers and/or shaping dies in processes such as edge-defined film growth. The development and evaluation of proprietary coatings of pure silicon carbide, silicon nitride and aluminum nitride on less pure hot pressed substrates of the respective ceramic materials are described. Silicon sessile drop experiments were performed on coated test specimens under controlled oxygen partial pressures. X-ray diffraction and SEM Characterization was performed prior to testing. The reaction interfaces were characterized after testing with optical and scanning electron microscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy. Increasing the oxygen partial pressure was found to increase the molten silicon contact angle, apparently because adsorbed oxygen lowers the solid-vapor interfacial free energy. Adsorbed oxygen was also found to increase the degree of attack of molten silicon upon the chemical vapor deposited coatings. Prototypic containers and dies were delivered and cost projections show that reasonably priced, coated, molten silicon resistant refractory material shapes are obtainable.
Addington, L.A.; Ownby, P.D.; Yu, B.B.; Barsoum, M.W.; Romero, H.V.; Zealer, B.G.
Distribution of Oxygen in mc-Silicon Ingots for Solar Cell Applications
May 1, 2007 ... Distribution of Oxygen in mc-Silicon Ingots for Solar Cell Applications by Marisa Di Sabatino, Eivind J. �vrelid, Espen Olsen, Thorvald A. Engh�...
Fullerene Film as a Coating Material for Silicon Thick Film Anodes ...
Presentation Title, Fullerene Film as a Coating Material for Silicon Thick Film Anodes for Lithium Ion Batteries. Author(s), Arenst Andreas Arie. On-Site Speaker
Direct spark plasma erosion synthesis of tin and silicon alloy nano ...
However, silicon and tin must be reduced to the nano-level to mitigate pulverization from drastic volume changes during lithium insertion/extraction. Current�...
Low Wind Speed Technology Phase II: Breakthrough in Power Electronics from Silicon Carbide; Peregrine Power LLC
This fact sheet describes a subcontract with Peregrine Power LLC to perform baseline characterization of Silicon carbide (SiC) chips to determine their operating characteristics.
Silicon Surface Texturing by Electro-Deoxidation of a Thin Silica ...
Presentation Title, Silicon Surface Texturing by Electro-Deoxidation of a Thin Silica Layer in Molten Salt. Author(s), Eimutis Juzeliunas, Antony Cox, Derek Fray
Mono-Like Ingot/Wafers Made of Solar-Grade Silicon for Solar Cells ...
About this Abstract. Meeting, 2012 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Symposium , Solar Cell Silicon. Presentation Title, Mono-Like Ingot/Wafers Made of�...
??The importance of the global silicon cycle is becoming increasingly recognized because of its role in the consumption of atmospheric CO2. However, the terrestrial component� (more)
Garvin, Christopher J.
Enabling Thin Silicon Technologies for Next Generation Low-cost c ...
Symposium, Solar Cell Silicon ... from fossil fuels to renewable sources has spurred companies to reduce the cost of their solar photovoltaics (PV) systems.
Purification of solar-grade silicon by induction melting in cold crucible
Abstract Scope, New method for purification of SoG-Si (solar-grade silicon) is ... suitable for using in directional solidification process (DS) for PV application.
Kinetic Model for Gaz-liquid Extraction of Boron from Solar Silicon
Abstract Scope, To predict the rate of purification of liquid silicon in liquid/gas ... A New Centrifuge CVD Reactor that will Challenge the Siemens Process.
Separation of Si and SiC Microparticles of Solar Grade Silicon ...
Various methods such as sedimentation, centrifugation, flotation have been ... Boron Removal from Silicon Melts by H2O/H2 Gas Blowing � Gas-phase Mass�...
Silicon Photomultiplier Arrays at TJNAF| U.S. DOE Office of Science...
Office of Science (SC) Website
Silicon Photomultiplier Arrays at TJNAF Nuclear Physics (NP) NP Home About Research Facilities Science Highlights Benefits of NP Spinoff Applications Spinoff Archives SBIRSTTR...
Method for enhancing the solubility of boron and indium in silicon
A method for enhancing the equilibrium solubility of boron and indium in silicon. The method involves first-principles quantum mechanical calculations to determine the temperature dependence of the equilibrium solubility of two important p-type dopants in silicon, namely boron and indium, under various strain conditions. The equilibrium thermodynamic solubility of size-mismatched impurities, such as boron and indium in silicon, can be raised significantly if the silicon substrate is strained appropriately. For example, for boron, a 1% compressive strain raises the equilibrium solubility by 100% at 1100.degree. C.; and for indium, a 1% tensile strain at 1100.degree. C., corresponds to an enhancement of the solubility by 200%.
Sadigh, Babak (Oakland, CA); Lenosky, Thomas J. (Pleasanton, CA); Diaz de la Rubia, Tomas (Danville, CA); Giles, Martin (Hillsborough, OR); Caturla, Maria-Jose (Livermore, CA); Ozolins, Vidvuds (Pleasanton, CA); Asta, Mark (Evanston, IL); Theiss, Silva (St. Paul, MN); Foad, Majeed (Santa Clara, CA); Quong, Andrew (Livermore, CA)
Characterization for the Onset of Crystallization of Amorphous to Microcrystalline Silicon by Optical Spectroscopies
We study the amorphous to microcrystalline silicon films made at three laboratories by using Raman, photoluminescence- and optical-abosrption spectroscopies.
Yue, G.; Han, D.; Ganguly, G.; Wang, Q.; Yang, J.; Guha, S.