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Article
Distributed Recycling of Post-Consumer Plastic Waste in Rural Areas
Although the environmental benefits of recycling plastics are well established and most geographic locations within the U.S. offer some plastic recycling, recycling rates are often low. Low recycling rates are...
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Article
Carrier Transport and Recombination In A-SI:H P-I-N Solar Cells in Dark and Under Illumination
A study has been carried out on the forward bias dark current and the short circuit current -open circuit voltage characteristics of a-Si:H p-i-n solar cells over wide range of illumination intensities. Result...
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Article
Protocrystalline Si:H p-type Layers for Maximization of the Open Circuit Voltage in a-Si:H n-i-p Solar Cells
We have revisited the issue of p-layer optimization for amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells, correlating spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) measurements of the p-layer in the device configuration with light cu...
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Article
Evolution of Crystallinity in Mixed-Phase (a+μc)-Si:H as Determined by Real Time Spectroscopic Ellipsometry
The ability to characterize the phase of the intrinsic (i) layers incorporated into amorphous silicon [a-Si:H] and microcrystalline silicon [μc-Si:H] thin film solar cells is critically important for cell opti...
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Article
Recombination in n-i-p (Substrate) a-Si:H Solar Cells with Silicon Carbide and Protocrystalline p-Layers
A study was carried out on hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) n-i-p (substrate) solar cell structures with p-a-SiC:H and highly diluted p-Si:H layers grown with different dilution ratios R=[H2]/[SiH4]. The c...
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Article
Light Induced Defect Creation Kinetics in Thin Film Protocrystalline Silicon Materials and Their Solar Cells
Using real time spectroscopic ellipsometry to characterize the microstructure and evolutionary growth of Si:H materials deposited with and without hydrogen dilution, phase diagrams were developed which clearly...
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Article
The Nature of Native and Light Induced Defect States in i-layers of High Quality a-Si:H Solar Cells Derived from Dark Forward-Bias Current-Voltage Characteristics
Results are presented on the defect state distributions in intrinsic a-Si:H layers with and without hydrogen dilution in p-i-n solar cells obtained directly from the analysis of dark forward-bias current-volta...
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Article
The Creation and Annealing Kinetics of Fast Light Induced Defect States created by 1 Sun Illumination in a-Si:H
Preliminary results are presented on the kinetics of fast states at 25°C created by 1 sun illumination in protocrystalline hydrogen diluted a-Si:H films. The results are for the bulk properties of the a-Si:H f...
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Article
Characterization of the Bulk Recombination in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells
Dark forward bias current, JD-V, characteristics offer a probe for characterizing carrier recombination and the defect states in the intrinsic layers of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells. Detail...
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Article
Evolution of D0 and non-D0 Light Induced Defect States in a-Si:H Materials and Their Respective Contribution to Carrier Recombination
A study has been carried out on the evolution of light induced defects in protocrystalline (diluted) a-Si:H films under 1 sun illumination. A room temperature reversal is observed in the photocurrents at 25 °C...
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Article
Comparison of Phase Diagrams for vhf and rf Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition of Si:H Films
Deposition phase diagrams are convenient for categorizing the evolution of the surface microstructure and phase with accumulated thickness for hydrogenated silicon (Si:H) films during plasma-enhanced chemical ...
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Article
Evolution of the Mobility Gap with Thickness in Hydrogen-Diluted Intrinsic Si:H Materials in the Phase Transition Region and Its Effect on p-i-n Solar Cell Characteristics
Insights into the growth processes and evolution of microstructure in intrinsic hydrogenated silicon (Si:H) films obtained from real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry (RTSE) are extended to the characterization ...
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Article
Numerical Modeling and Column Experiments to Simulate the Alkaline Disturbed Zone Around a Cementitious Radioactive Waste Repository
In order to be able to describe the migration of an alkaline plume, coupled chemistry and flow computer models may be employed. A series of laboratory column experiments were conducted to test the capabilities...