Carlos M. Hangarter

Three dimensionally structured interdigitated back contact thin film heterojunction solar cells

Three dimensionally structured thin film photovoltaic devices based on interdigitated arrays of microscale electrodes are examined by external quantum efficiency simulations, indicating considerable JSC enhancement is possible through elimination of the front contact and window layer required in planar geometry devices. Electrode parameters including, pitch, width, height, and material are modeled and experimentally probed, demonstrating experimentally and capturing in models dependence on intrinsic material properties and electrode dimensions. In contrast to analogous silicon wafer back contact solar cells where the electrodes are placed on the silicon absorber at the end of processing, in this design the semiconductor is deposited on the electrodes, taking advantage of the thin film processing already required. Electrodeposited CdS/CdTe heterojunction devices approach 1% efficiencies with simulations as well as optical measurements indicating significant potential for improvement. Suboptimal performance...

Magnetometry of single ferromagnetic nanoparticles using magneto-optical indicator films with spatial amplification

We present a magneto-optical technique to spatially amplify and image fringe fields from single ferromagnetic nanorods. The fringe fields nucleate magnetic domains in a low-coercivity, perpendicularly magnetized indicator film, which are expanded by an applied out-of-plane field from the nanoscale to the microscale for measurement with polar Kerr microscopy. The nucleation location and therefore magnetic orientation of the sample nanorod are detected as spatially dependent field biases in locally measured hysteresis loops of the indicator film. We first discuss our method to fabricate the high-sensitivity indicator film with low energy argon ion irradiation. We then present a map of the amplified signal produced from a single nanorod as measured by the indicator film and compare it with a simultaneously obtained, unamplified fringe field map. The comparison demonstrates the advantage of the amplification mechanism and the capability of the technique to be performed with single-spot magneto-optical Kerr ef...

Quantitative magnetometry of ferromagnetic nanorods by microfluidic analytical magnetophoresis

We introduce an implementation of magnetophoresis to measure the absolute magnetization of ferromagnetic nanorods dispersed in fluids, by analyzing the velocity of single nanorods under an applied magnetic field gradient. A microfluidic guideway prevents aggregation of nanorods, isolates them, and confines their motion for analysis. We use a three-dimensional imaging system to precisely track nanorod velocity and particle-surface proximity. We test the effect of the guideway on nanorod velocity under field gradient application, finding that it guides magnetophoresis, but imposes insignificant drag beyond that of a planar surface. This result provides insight into the transport of magnetic nanorods at microstructured interfaces and allows the use of an analytical model to accurately determine the reacted viscous drag in the force balance needed for quantitative magnetometry. We also estimate the confining potential of the guideway with Brownian motion measurements and Boltzmann statistics. We use our techn...

3D Geometries: Enabling Optimization Toward the Inherent Limits of Thin-Film Photovoltaics

Three dimensionally patterned photovoltaic (3D PV) geometries are the subject of modeling and experimental study because theory indicates such devices could outperform traditional one-dimensional planar devices. The proposed functional improvements possible through the 3D geometry broadly arise from (1) decoupling of conflicting criteria for performance optimization, (2) elimination or relaxation of criteria for performance optimization, and (3) enhancement of performance through material or device properties that are not observed with bulk materials. Examples of 3D PV research focused on assessing and/or improving the performance of inorganic thin-film PV devices through each of these three approaches are detailed in this chapter.