Observing Variation in Whispering Gallery Mode Resonance of a Trapped and Levitated Dye Doped Microdrop.

Whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonance was created in a spherical micro drop. A gradual shift in the resonance were observed. For a 600 nm droplet radius, the blue shift were 1.5, 0.7, 3.7 nm. It was estimated that such a shift corresponds to a reduction in optical radius of the droplet by 1.3, 0.6, 3.3 nm respectively. The droplet was created from a solution of glycerol, methanol and rhodamine 6G dye, and was trapped and levitated in a modified Paul trap. The WGMs were created by optically exciting the dye material from an external 532 nm cw laser beam. A shift in the WGM was observed during a gradual increase in power of the excitation laser, and a reason for such a shift was thought to be thermal evaporation of the liquid. For a larger droplet an initial 0.1 nm thermal expansion was also estimated, preceding the volume contraction. Such an expansion was negligible for a smaller droplet. The rate of change of the blue shift depends upon initial radius of the droplet. For the smaller droplet the estimated rate of change of WGM with a change in optical radius, was 0.771. For larger droplet, this rate is lower.

Improving the efficiency of rear emitter silicon solar cell using an optimized n-type silicon oxide front surface field layer.

Optical and electrical characteristics of n-type nano-crystalline-silicon oxide (n-µc-SiO:H) materials can be varied to optimize and improve the performance of a solar cell. In silicon heretojunction (SHJ) solar cells, it can be used to improve carrier selectivity and optical transmission at the front side, both of which are vitally important in device operation. For this purpose, the n-µc-SiO:H was investigated as the front surface field (FSF) layer. During film deposition, an increased CO2 flow rate from 0 to 6 sccm resulted in changes of crystalline volume fractions from 57 to 28%, optical band-gaps from 1.98 to 2.21 eV, dark conductivities from 7.29 to 1.1 × 10-5 S/cm, and activation energies from 0.019 to 0.29 eV, respectively. In device applications, a minimum optical reflection was estimated for the FSF layer that was fabricated with 4 sccm CO2 (FSF-4), and therefore obtained the highest external quantum efficiency, although short circuit current density (Jsc) was 38.83 mA/cm2 and power conversion efficiency (PCE) was 21.64%. However, the highest PCE of 22.34% with Jsc = 38.71 mA/cm2 was observed with the FSF prepared with 2 sccm CO2 (FSF-2), as the combined opto-electronic properties of FSF-2 were better than those of the FSF-4.

Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Germanium Active Layer for Top Cell of a Multi Junction Cell Structure.

Intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon-germanium (a-SiGe:H) alloy is generally used in the bottom cell because of its low band gap. The a-SiGe:H has a higher photo conductivity in comparison to the a-Si:H; thus, it is expected that the a-SiGe:H can show better short circuit current density than that of the a-Si:H based solar cell. Therefore, we optimized a-SiGe:H active layer that can be a suitable choice for the front cell of a multi junction.solar cell. Furthermore, we carried out a comparative study of the solar cells that have a-SiGe:H and a-Si:H as respective active layers. The a-SiGe:H based solar cells show higher short circuit current density, while the a-Si:H based cells show higheropen circuit voltage. The current-voltage characteristics of these cells are as follows: (a) V(oc) = 770 mV, J(sc) = 15.0 mA/cm2, FF = 64.5%, and η = 7.47% for a-SiGe:H based cell; and (b) V(oc) = 826 mV, J(sc) = 13.63 mA/cm2, FF = 72.0%, and η = 8.1% for a-Si:H based cell.

Investigation of Electrical and Optical Properties of Highly Transparent TCO/Ag/TCO Multilayer.

Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) have been widely used as transparent electrodes for opto-electronic devices, such as solar cells, flat-panel displays, and light-emitting diodes, because of their unique characteristics of high optical transmittance and low electrical resistivity. Among various TCO materials, zinc oxide based films have recently received much attention because they have advantages over commonly used indium and tin-based oxide films. Most TCO films, however, exhibit valleys of transmittance in the wavelength range of 550-700 nm, lowering the average transmittance in the visible region and decreasing short-circuit current (Isc) of solar cells. A TCO/Ag/TCO multi-layer structure has emerged as an attractive alternative because it provides optical characteristics without the valley of transmittance compared with a 100-nm-thick single-layer TCO. In this article, we report the electrical, optical and surface properties of TCO/Ag/TCO. These multi-layers were deposited at room temperature with various Ag film thicknesses from 5 to 15 nm while the thickness of TCO thin film was fixed at 40 nm. The TCO/Ag/TCO multi-layer with a 10-nm-thick Ag film showed optimum transmittance in the visible (400-800 nm) wavelength region. These multi-layer structures have advantages over TCO layers of the same thickness.

Effects of target angle on the properties of aluminum doped zinc oxide films prepared by DC magnetron sputtering for thin film solar cell applications.

An aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) films for front contacts of thin film solar cells, in this work, were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering with different target angles. Effects of target angles on the structural and electro-optical properties of AZO films were investigated. Also, to clarify the light trapping of textured AZO film, amorphous silicon thin film solar cells were fabricated on the textured AZO/glass substrate and the performance of solar cells were studied. The surface became more irregular with increasing the target angle due to larger grains. The self-surface textured morphology, which is a favorable property as front layer of solar cell, exhibited at target angle of 72.5 degrees. We obtained the films with various opto-electronic properties by controlling target angle from 32.5 degrees to 72.5 degrees. The spectral haze increased substantially with the target angle, whereas the electrical resistivity was increased. The conversion efficiency of amorphous silicon solar cells with textured AZO film as a front electrode was improved by the increase of short-circuit current density and fill factor, compared to cell with relatively flat AZO films.

Reduction of tail state on boron doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide films prepared at high hydrogen dilution.

In this report, we have investigated on the defect state of diborane (B2H6) doped wide bandgap hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide (p-type a-SiO:H) films prepared using silane (SiH4), hydrogen (H2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in a radio frequency (RF) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system with different hydrogen dilutions. The films prepared with higher hydrogen dilution show lower Urbach energy (Eu), lower microstructure (R*), lower short and medium range disorder (omegaTO, Gamma(TO), I(TA)/I(TO), I(LA)/I(TO)), higher dark conductivity (sigma d) and higher refractive index (n) with high optical gap (Eg). Eu decreases from 248 meV to 153 meV, and R* decreases from 0.46 to 0.26, Raman peak omegaTO-TO mode position shifts from 480.24 to 483.28, GammaTO-full width half maximum of omegaTO decreases from 78.16 to 63.87, I(TA)/I(TO)-the ratio of integrated area of TA and TO mode decreases from 0.624 to 0.474, I(LA)/I(TO)-the ratio of integrated area of LA and TO mode deceases from 0.272 to 0.151, sigma d increases from 4.6 x 10(-7) S/cm to 1.1 x 10(-6) S/cm, n increases from 3.70 to 3.86. Reduced Nd, Eu and R* at wide Eg indicates that the films are more useful for solar cell window layer. Applying this layer to a single junction solar cell shows open circuit voltage (Voc) = 0.80 V, short circuit current density (Jsc) = 16.3 mA/cm2, fill factor (FF) = 72%, efficiency (eta) = 9.4%.

Spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis of amorphous silicon thin films for Si-nanocrystals.

Hydrogenated amorphous and nano-crocrystalline silicon thin films were grown by very-high-frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (VHF-PECVD, 60 MHz). In this paper, we report the defects of nano-crystallites embedded in an amorphous matrix of hydrogenated silicon alloy (a-Si:H) thin film as investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). The peak intensity and position of the imaginary part of the dielectric constant (epsilon2) as a function of the energy show various material states, including a-Si:H (3.5 eV) and nc-Si (4.2 eV), along with the absorption coefficient, thickness, optical gap, and the characteristics of the defects. The ratio of the characteristic Raman features, the TA/LO and LA/LO ratio, is related to the defect states in the films. It was correlated to the SE data. Following this, we look into the systematic change in the crystallinity of the film from the SE results. Quantized crystallinity values from the SE data show good agreement by more than 88.75% with the crystallinity information obtained through Raman spectroscopy.

Application of photon scanning tunneling microscope to measure optical near field for atom manipulation.

Photon scanning tunneling microscope has been employed to measure the three-dimensional evanescent optical field of an atom funnel. A 3.8 neV repulsive optical potential has been estimated by a 300 microm long probe with a tip radius of curvature of 21 nm. We have estimated limiting conditions for cold Rb atoms to reflect from the atom funnel. A two-dimensional doughnut-shaped optical near field has also been investigated. An aperture fiber probe is used to profile a focussed TEM(01) beam at the minimum beam waist and measure a dark center of about 10 microm while it is focussed by a converging lens of focal length 8 cm.