Progress on large area n‐type silicon solar cells with front laser doping and a rear emitter

We report on the progress of imec's n‐type passivated emitter, rear totally diffused rear junction silicon solar cells. Selective laser doping has been introduced in the flow, allowing the implementation of a shallow diffused front surface field and a reduction of the recombination current in the contact area. Simplifications have been implemented towards a more industrial annealing sequence, by replacing expensive forming gas annealing steps with a belt furnace annealing. By applying these improvements, together with an advanced texturing process and emitter passivation by atomic layer deposition of Al₂O₃, 22.5% efficient cells (three busbars) have been realized on commercial 156 · 156 mm² Czochralski‐Si. This result has been independently confirmed by ISE CalLab. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A physically based stochastic-deterministic procedure for the estimation of flood frequency

A procedure based on the method of derived distributions is proposed for the estimation of flood frequency from ungauged watersheds. The results of previous research on rainfall characteristics and watershed response are incorporated into the proposed procedure. These rainfall characteristics are storm depth, storm duration, space and time distribution. A simplified watershed model is used which has previously given good simulation of the watershed response. Some of the rainfall and watershed model parameters are stochastic in nature and are assumed to follow various probability distributions. Monte Carlo simulation is used for the generation of the various parameter values and simulation of the peak flow hydrographs. After 5000 realizations, the frequency of the hourly and daily peak flow and the flood volume is estimated. The proposed procedure is applied to eight coastal British Columbia watersheds and the results compare well with the observed data and with fitted probability distributions. The method is easy to apply, requires limited data and is shown to be reliable. Sensitivity analysis shows that the procedure is not very sensitive to uncertainty of the parameter values and is not dependent on the parameter probability distributions used.     

The effect of lipoxygenase action on the mechanical development of doughs from fat-extracted and reconstituted wheat flours

The mechanism by which soya lipoxygenase enzyme action improves the Theological properties of wheat flour doughs during mechanical development in air has been investigated further. Free-lipid extraction, reconstitution and replacement experiments have shown that the rheological effect of lipoxygenase action, which is consistent with an oxidative improvement of the dough proteins and may also result in extended mixing tolerance, only occurred in the presence of an oxidisable, polyunsaturated, free-lipid substrate. Addition of this substrate in an oxidised state (produced either by autoxidation or enzyme-oxidation) to doughs mixed from fat-extracted flour under nitrogen resulted only in a small rheological improvement, greater for the autoxidised than the enzyme-oxidised lipid, but in no way comparable with the large rheological effect of lipoxygenase action during dough mixing in air. Furthermore, the presence of an antioxidant, nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA), during dough development, although greatly inhibiting peroxide formation, only marginally impaired the rheological improvement due to lipoxygenase action. Additional evidence is therefore provided for a coupled oxidation mechanism being responsible for the rheological effect, since lipoxygenase-catalysed oxidation actively occurring in the dough during mixing appears to be the fundamental requirement, irrespective of whether the primary oxidation products lead to lipid peroxides or oxidised NDGA.     

Dispersoid Formation and Stability in Alloys

Analysis of dispersoid formation and stability indicates that in-situ formation of an adequate volume fraction of fine particles can be thermodynamically incompatible with stability against high-temperature coarsening. The theory of particle coarsening is extended to include the effects of grain boundaries and dislocations. Theoretical analysis predicts that particle dragging by migrating grain boundaries combined with enhanced coarsening by grain boundary diffusion can give denuded regions near grain boundaries. These predictions of enhanced coarsening and particle dragging are in accord with experimental observations on α-Ti and Ti₃Al based alloys.     

Tin naphthalocyanine complexes for infrared absorption in organic photovoltaic cells

In this work, we examine the optical properties of tin naphthalocyanine dichloride (SnNcCl₂), and its performance as an electron donor material in organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs). As an active material, SnNcCl₂ is attractive for its narrow energy gap which facilitates optical absorption past a wavelength of λ = 1100 nm. We demonstrate a power conversion efficiency of η_P = (1.2 ± 0.1)% under simulated AM1.5G solar illumination at 100 mW/cm² using the electron donor–acceptor pairing of SnNcCl₂ and C₆₀ in a bilayer device architecture. While some phthalocyanines have been previously used to improve infrared absorption, this is often realized through the formation of molecular dimers. In SnNcCl₂, the infrared absorption is intrinsic to the molecule, arising as a result of the extended conjugation. Consequently, it is expected that SnNcCl₂ could be utilized in bulk heterojunction OPVs without sacrificing infrared absorption.     

Glucose kinetics, plasma metabolites, and endocrine responses during experimental ketosis in steers

Phlorizin and 1,3-butanediol were used to determine effects of glucosuria and ketonemia on concentrations of metabolites in blood plasma and on kinetics of glucose metabolism. Four steers received four treatments (control; control plus dietary 1,3-butanediol; control plus phlorizin injections; and control plus phlorizin and 1,3-butanediol) in a Latin square design. Treatments lasted 14 days. All steers received a 30% grain, 70% forage ration in equal meals every 2 h. Metabolite concentrations in blood plasma and urine and glucose kinetics were measured on each of the last 3 days of each treatment period. Phlorizin caused glucosuria; decreased plasma glucose, glucose total entry rate, and glucose recycling; and increased plasma free fatty acids and glucose irreversible loss. Glucose pool size was increased by 1,3-butanediol. Phlorizin plus 1,3-butanediol caused glucosuria and ketonuria; decreased plasma glucose; and increased blood ketone bodies, plasma free fatty acids, glucose irreversible loss, and glucose pool size. Growth hormone, insulin, and glucagon were not affected by treatment. Physiological perturbations in these steers were characteristic of some of those in ketotic cows.     

The selection and modification of brewer's yeast strains

In order to achieve a beer of high quality, the yeast culture must be effective in removing the desired nutrients from the growth medium (i.e. the wort), it must impart the required flavour to the beer and finally, the micro-organisms themselves must be effectively removed from the fermented wort after they have fulfilled their metabolic role. Brewer's wort contains the sugars sucrose, fructose, glucose, maltose and maltotriose, together with dextrin material. In the normal situation, brewer's yeast strains are incapable of fermenting the dextrin material; however, yeast strains capable of fermenting at least a part of this dextrin material and producing a palatable beer are now available.One of the important factors known to affect the fermentation rate is the intracellular yeast glycogen concentration which has been found to be influenced by storage conditions. The glycogen level at pitching significantly affects the fermentation rate of the yeast culture.     

Integrated automotive sensors

Focuses on automotive applications and discusses the development of a suite of integrated radar and IR sensors that can be used to surround a vehicle (car, truck, boat, etc.). The primary function is to provide information to the vehicle systems and operator as enhancements to passenger and vehicle safety. It may also provide vehicle information (speed, location, destination, etc.) and integrate information (weather, road/traffic conditions, service/rest-area location, route details, etc.) from an intelligent vehicle highway system     

Evaluation of a conductance method for enumerating Escherichia coli on chicken, pork, fish, beef, and milk

Experiments were conducted to evaluate a rapid method for enumerating Escherichia coli on food products of animal origin. In study I, rinses from samples of chicken, ground beef, pork, and fish and samples of milk were inoculated with various levels of actively growing E. coli. Conductance assays were monitored at 44 degrees C on each sample using coliform medium supplemented with 2% dextrose. High correlations between E. coli concentrations and E. coli conductance detection times (ECDTs) were found (r = -0.97 to -0.99) for all foods tested in all replicates; however, in most cases, the concordance correlation coefficients (r(c)) were low, indicating a lack of predictive accuracy. In this study, low accuracy of the conductance method for estimating E. coli counts was attributed to use of concentrations of E. coli that exceed 10(6) CFU/ml, the detection threshold of the instrument. Slopes of the linear regression lines (E. coli concentration vs. ECDT) for each type of food tested were not significantly different (P < 0.0001), indicating that a single regression equation may be used to estimate E. coli counts for all of the types of food tested in 1 to 7.5 hours using ECDT. In study II, ECDTs for pork, fish, beef, and milk significantly (P < 0.05) decreased in a linear manner as time of temperature abuse increased. Although the ECDT for chicken decreased linearly, no significant differences were observed between 3 and 6 or between 9 and 12 h of abuse. These data demonstrate a strong relationship between increasing populations of E. coli due to temperature abuse and decreasing ECDT. Therefore, results from both studies indicate that this method could be useful for estimating naturally occurring populations of E. coli on foods of animal origin.