The ongoing energy transition to curb carbon dioxide emissions and meet the increasing demands have enhanced need for integration of renewable into existing electricity system. Solar has been gaining an market share over past decade. Multi-junction solar cells (MJSCs) enable efficient conversion sunlight without being bound by 33% limit as in commercialized single junction silicon cells. III-V ...

The defect-free IDDQ has two major components: (i) the reverse biased p-n junction leakage current, and (ii) the transistor sub-threshold leakage (off) current. The reverse biased p-n junction leakage current can be further divided into two segments: state dependent, and state independent. The state dependent component p-n junction leakage current depends on the reverse biasing of the p-n junct...

Microsystem technology (MST) has enabled silicon sensors to evolve from simple transduction elements to microsystems (micro-instruments) that include readout circuits, self-test, and auto-zeroing facilities. This paper discusses the impact of MST in the instrumentation and measurement (I&M) field. In metrology, in particular, the development of electrical reference standards by using microtechn...

The most efficient photovoltaic devices under the AM1.5 spectrum use the design concept of dividing the solar spectrum among multiple photovoltaic subcells, or “spectrum splitting” to improve performance beyond the capabilities of single junction designs [1–3]. However, tailoring the selection of subcell band gaps to the specific design spectrum raises the possibility of increased sensitivity o...

The method of detailed balance, introduced by Shockley and Queisser, is often used to find an upper theoretical limit for the efficiency of semiconductor pn-junction based photovoltaics. Typically the solar cell is assumed to be at an ambient temperature of 300 K. In this paper, we describe and analyze the use of radiative cooling techniques to lower the solar cell temperature below the ambient...

Schottky barriers formed by graphene (monolayer, bilayer, and multilayer) on 2D layered semiconductor tungsten disulfide (WS2) nanosheets are explored for solar energy harvesting. The characteristics of the graphene-WS2 Schottky junction vary significantly with the number of graphene layers on WS2, resulting in differences in solar cell performance. Compared with monolayer or stacked bilayer gr...

Thin film silicon tandem junction solar cells based on amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and microcrystalline silicon (lc-Si:H) were developed with focus on high open-circuit voltages for the application as photocathodes in integrated photoelectrochemical cells for water electrolysis. By adjusting various parameters in the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition process of the individual lc-Si:H sin...

-Advanced thin film processing and packaging technologies are employed in the fabrication of new planar thinfilm multifunction thermal converters. The processing, packaging, and design features build on experience gained from prior NIST demonstrations of thin-film converters and are optimized for improved sensitivity, bandwidth, manufacturability, and reliability.

The Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSCs) has emerged as attractive and promising solar cells in recent years. It offers technically and economically viable option to p-n junction solar cells. However, the efficiencies of DSSCs could not compete with those of silicon solar cells. Numerous researches have been done to enhance the efficiencies of these cells over the past decades. Efficiencies up to ...

In order to make photovoltaics an economically viable energy solution, next-generation solar cells with higher energy conversion efficiencies and lower costs are urgently desired. Among many possible solutions, three-dimensional (3D) silicon nanostructures with excellent light-trapping properties are one of the promising candidates and have recently attracted considerable attention for cost-eff...