Engineering Commons^™

Plasmonic And Photonic Designs For Light Trapping In Thin Film Solar Cells, Liming Ji

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thin film solar cells are promising to realize cheap solar energy. Compared to conventional wafer cells, they can reduce the use of semiconductor material by 90%. The efficiency of thin film solar cells, however, is limited due to insufficient light absorption. Sufficient light absorption at the bandgap of semiconductor requires a light path more than 10x the thickness of the semiconductor. Advanced designs for light trapping are necessary for solar cells to absorb sufficient light within a limited volume of semiconductor. The goal is to convert the incident light into a trapped mode in the semiconductor layer.

In this dissertation, …

Effects Of Deposition Parameters And Oxygen Addition On Properties Of Sputtered Indium Tin Oxide Films, Badrul Munir, Rachmat Adhi Wibowo, Kim Kyoo Ho

Makara Journal of Technology

Indium tin oxide (ITO) films were sputtered on corning glass substrate. Oxygen admixture and sputtering deposition parameters were optimized to obtain the highest transparency as well as lowest resistivity. Structural, electrical and optical properties of the films were then examined. Increasing deposition rate and film thickness changed the crystallographic orientation from (222) to (400) and (440), as well as higher surface roughness. It was necessary to apply substrate heating during reposition to get films with better crystallinity. The lowest resistivity of 5.36 x 10-4 Ω•cm was obtained at 750 nm film thickness. The films’ resistivity was increased by addition of …

Nanowire Giant Magnetoresistance Thin Films For Magnetic Sensors, Bryan Cox

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation details a novel method to fabricate magnetic sensors using nanowire giant magnetoresistance (GMR) thin films. In 1988, Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg both independently discovered a new physical phenomenon called GMR. GMR is a quantum mechanical effect found in thin film materials that are composed of alternating nanoscale ferromagnetic and non-magnetic conductive layers. When a GMR material is in the presence of a magnetic field, a change in electrical resistance is observed. The GMR effect has been utilized to produce magnetic sensors that have been used in a variety of applications, such as computer hard drive read heads, …

Ba-Hexaferrite Films For Next Generation Microwave Devices, Vincent Harris (1962-), Zhaohui Chen, Yajie Chen, Soack Yoon, Tomokuza Sakai, Anton Geiler, Aria Yang, Yongxue He, Katherine Ziemer, Nian Sun, C. Vittoria

Nian X. Sun

Next generation magnetic microwave devices require ferrite films to be thick (>300 μm), self-biased (high remanent magnetization), and low loss in the microwave and millimeter wave bands. Here we examine recent advances in the processing of thick Ba-hexaferrite (M-type) films using pulsed laser deposition (PLD), liquid-phase epitaxy, and screen printing. These techniques are compared and contrasted as to their suitability for microwave materials processing and industrial production. Recent advances include the PLD growth of BaM on wide-band-gap semiconductor substrates and the development of thick, self-biased, low-loss BaM films by screen printing.

Effects Of Boron Addition To The Atomic Structure And Soft Magnetic Properties Of Fecob Films, Aria Yang, Hassan Imrane, Jing Lou, Johnny Kirkland, Carmine Vittoria, Nian Sun, Vincent G. Harris

Nian X. Sun

The magnetic, microwave, and the atomic structure properties of (Fe₀.₇Co₀.₃)1-xBx sputtered films on glass substrates were investigated. The addition of boron induced a decrease in coercivity and ferromagnetic resonance linewidth. The amorphous structure was formed at x ∽0.075. Extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) of Fe and Co showed the reduced Fourier transform (FT) amplitude, and increased Debye-Waller factors as x was increased, indicating the increased disorder due to the thermal and structural displacements. Possible Fe-B bonding was observed with a reduced bond length, which indicates boron atoms' preference for staying in the interstitial sites in bcc unit cell.

Ba-Hexaferrite Films For Next Generation Microwave Devices, Vincent Girard Harris (1962-), Zhaohui Chen, Yajie Chen, Soack Dae Yoon, Tomokuza Sakai, Anton Geiler, Aria Fan Yang, Yongxue He, Katherine S. Ziemer, Nian X. Sun, C. Vittoria

Yajie Chen

Next generation magnetic microwave devices require ferrite films to be thick (>300 μm), self-biased (high remanent magnetization), and low loss in the microwave and millimeter wave bands. Here we examine recent advances in the processing of thick Ba-hexaferrite (M-type) films using pulsed laser deposition (PLD), liquid-phase epitaxy, and screen printing. These techniques are compared and contrasted as to their suitability for microwave materials processing and industrial production. Recent advances include the PLD growth of BaM on wide-band-gap semiconductor substrates and the development of thick, self-biased, low-loss BaM films by screen printing.

Alternating Target Laser Ablation Deposition Of High Quality Barium Hexaferrite Thin Films From Barium Monoferrite And Hematite Targets, A. L. Geiler, S. D. Yoon, Y. Chen, A. Yang, C. N. Chinnasamy, M. Geiler, V. G. Harris, C. Vittoria

Vincent G. Harris

An optimized alternating target laser ablation deposition (ATLAD) technique has been developed to grow high quality barium hexaferrite (BaFe₁₂O₁₉) thin films on basal plane oriented sapphire(Al₂O₃) substrates from barium monoferrite (BaFe₂O₄) and hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) targets. Crystallographic and structural characterization results show that the films possess low c-axis dispersion of Δ ω=0.259 degrees and hexagonal terraced surface morphology. Saturation magnetization and uniaxial magnetic anisotropy field were determined to be consistent with reference data on high quality barium hexaferrite films and bulk single crystals grown by other techniques. Ferromagnetic resonance linewidth of 42 Oe was measured at 52 GHz by the shorted …

Alternating Target Laser Ablation Deposition Of High Quality Barium Hexaferrite Thin Films From Barium Monoferrite And Hematite Targets, A. L. Geiler, S. D. Yoon, Y. Chen, A. Yang, C. N. Chinnasamy, M. Geiler, V. G. Harris, C. Vittoria

Carmine Vittoria

An optimized alternating target laser ablation deposition (ATLAD) technique has been developed to grow high quality barium hexaferrite (BaFe₁₂O₁₉) thin films on basal plane oriented sapphire(Al₂O₃) substrates from barium monoferrite (BaFe₂O₄) and hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) targets. Crystallographic and structural characterization results show that the films possess low c-axis dispersion of Δ ω=0.259 degrees and hexagonal terraced surface morphology. Saturation magnetization and uniaxial magnetic anisotropy field were determined to be consistent with reference data on high quality barium hexaferrite films and bulk single crystals grown by other techniques. Ferromagnetic resonance linewidth of 42 Oe was measured at 52 GHz by the shorted …

Effects Of Boron Addition To The Atomic Structure And Soft Magnetic Properties Of Fecob Films, Aria Yang, Hassan Imrane, Jing Lou, Johnny Kirkland, Carmine Vittoria, Nian Sun, Vincent G. Harris

Vincent G. Harris

The magnetic, microwave, and the atomic structure properties of (Fe₀.₇Co₀.₃)1-xBx sputtered films on glass substrates were investigated. The addition of boron induced a decrease in coercivity and ferromagnetic resonance linewidth. The amorphous structure was formed at x ∽0.075. Extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) of Fe and Co showed the reduced Fourier transform (FT) amplitude, and increased Debye-Waller factors as x was increased, indicating the increased disorder due to the thermal and structural displacements. Possible Fe-B bonding was observed with a reduced bond length, which indicates boron atoms' preference for staying in the interstitial sites in bcc unit cell.

Effects Of Boron Addition To The Atomic Structure And Soft Magnetic Properties Of Fecob Films, Aria Yang, Hassan Imrane, Jing Lou, Johnny Kirkland, Carmine Vittoria, Nian Sun, Vincent G. Harris

Carmine Vittoria

The magnetic, microwave, and the atomic structure properties of (Fe₀.₇Co₀.₃)1-xBx sputtered films on glass substrates were investigated. The addition of boron induced a decrease in coercivity and ferromagnetic resonance linewidth. The amorphous structure was formed at x ∽0.075. Extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) of Fe and Co showed the reduced Fourier transform (FT) amplitude, and increased Debye-Waller factors as x was increased, indicating the increased disorder due to the thermal and structural displacements. Possible Fe-B bonding was observed with a reduced bond length, which indicates boron atoms' preference for staying in the interstitial sites in bcc unit cell.