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My primary research interests are in the areas of thin film materials science and plasma physics. My current focus is on reactive magnetron sputtering of thin film semiconductors used in photovoltaic devices (solar cells). In particular we are interested in how near-substrate plasma density affects the properties of the deposited films. In one project, we are studying the properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon-geranium alloys produced by dc sputtering of a silicon-germanium composite target in an argon-hydrogen atmosphere. This material is used as one of the absorber layers in multijunction amorphous silicon-based solar cells. In another project we are depositing aluminum doped zinc oxide films that are used in solar cells as a transparent contact layer. As part of these studies we also perform plasma diagnostics using Langmuir probes, and have recently started some plasma simulation work. During a recent sabbatical at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (in 2005), I worked on hot-wire deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon-germanium alloys. This is a non-plasma based deposition method that has great promise for high rate and large area thin film deposition. Other interests, often pursued with students as senior honors theses, include chaotic analog circuits, circuit implementation of neural networks, computer simulation of ion-molecule reactions, and electrochemical deposition of semiconductors. See Vitae and Publications for a list of publications and presentations.
Optical and Device Properties of Thin Metal Films of GaAs, Jerry Darko-Appianti, (2005) Morphology and Electron Transport in Very Thin Gold Films, Trevor David Rhone (2005) Field Programmable Gate Array Implementation of Artificial Neural Networks, Evan Acharya (joint with Mathematics. Computer Science), 2004. Fabrication and Characterization of Zn)/p-Si Heterojunction Solar Cells, Fitih Mohammed, 2003 Synchronization of Coupled Chaotic Circuits, Erik Hoffman (joint with Mathematics Computer Science) 2002. A Monte Carlo Simulation of Sputter Atom Transport, Rachel Erickson, 2001 A Study of the Diffusion-Reaction Problem in Methane Glow Discharge Plasmas, Doug Dole, 2000 Electrodepositied CuInSe2 for photovoltaic Applications, Mark Hassan, 2000. A Computational Investigation of Ion-Dipole Reaction Kinetics, Just Johnson (joint with Chemistry), 1999 Particle-in-Cell / Monte-Carlo Simulations of Plasmas, Boris Magocsi (joint with Computer Science) 1999 Electrodeposition of ZnS, Patricia Clearly, 1998. Chemical Deposition of Semiconducting Thin Films for Photovoltaic Applications, Amanda VanderVenter, 1997. Opto-electronic Properties of dc Magnetron Sputtered a-Ge:H Thin Films, Daryl J. Dagel, 1996. |
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