The contact formation on high efficiency solar cells using a high temperature process is the subject of this research. Thermal gravimetric analyses were used to study the chemical reactions between ink components and solar cell during the firing process. The mechanism behind the etching process and the opening of the dielectric layer are explained and the influence of the glass concentration on...

We derive a model for voltage-induced wetting, so-called electrowetting, from the principle of virtual displacement. Our model includes the possibility that charge is trapped in or on the wetted surface. Experimentally, we show reversible electrowetting for an aqueous droplet on an insulating layer of 10 µm thickness. The insulator is coated with a highly fluorinated layer impregnated with oil,...

During a six months internship, the structuring of electrical vias by direct dewetting on gold substrates patterned with microcontact printing has been explored. A high modulus polymer has been tested to avoid roof collapse during the printing of the contact holes. The dewetting behaviour of potential candidates for the dielectric layer has been investigated. Conclusions: 1. Printing of the con...

A perfect ohmic contact is formed at the interface of indium tin oxide (ITO) and N,N'-di(naphthalene-1-yl)-N,N'-diphenyl-benzidine (NPB) using ReO3 as the interfacial layer. The hole injection efficiency is close to 100% at the interface, which is much higher than those for interfacial layers of 1,4,5,8,9,11-hexaazatripheylene hexacarbonitrile (HAT-CN) and MoO3. Interestingly, the ReO3 and MoO3...

By functionalizing the surfaces of ZnO nanobelts (NBs) with a thin self-assembled molecular layer, the electrical and optoelectronic performances of a single NB-based device are drastically improved. For a single NB-based device, due to energy band tuning and surface modification, the conductance was enhanced by 6 orders of magnitude upon functionalization; a coating molecule layer has changed ...

Symmetric cell divisions have been proposed to rapidly increase neuronal number late in neurogenesis, but how critical this mode of division is to establishing a specific neuronal layer is unknown. Using in vivo time-lapse imaging methods, we discovered that in the laminated zebrafish retina, the horizontal cell (HC) layer forms quickly during embryonic development upon division of a precursor ...

The front transparent conductive oxide layer is a source of significant optical and electrical losses in silicon heterojunction solar cells because of the trade-off between free-carrier absorption and sheet resistance. We demonstrate that hydrogen-doped indium oxide (IO:H), which has an electron mobility of over 100 cm/V s, reduces these losses compared to traditional, low-mobility transparent ...

The limit of detection of advanced immunoassays, biochips and micro/nano biodetection devices is impacted by the non-specific adsorption of target molecules at the sample surface. In this paper, we present a simple and versatile low cost method for generating active surfaces composed of antibodies arrays surrounded by an efficient anti-fouling layer, capable to decrease drastically the fluoresc...

A comparison between two known strategies of modeling lap joint interfaces, namely, zero-thickness and thin layer interface theories and their associated updating procedures, is made. Finite element...

Electrical, structural and morphological properties of Ni silicide films formed in Ni(Pt 4at.% )/Si(100) and Ni0.6Si0.4(Pt4at.% )/Si(100) structures at various annealing temperatures ranging from 200 to 1000 oC were studied. The Ni(Pt) and Ni0.6Si0.4(Pt) films with thickness of 15 and 25 nm were deposited by RF magnetron co-sputtering method, respectively.  The annealing process of the structur...