Premium
Cover Picture: Phys. Status Solidi RRL 7/2010
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
physica status solidi (rrl) – rapid research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.786
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1862-6270
pISSN - 1862-6254
DOI - 10.1002/pssr.201090007
Subject(s) - cover (algebra) , section (typography) , annulus (botany) , nanopillar , amorphous silicon , coaxial , computer science , engineering physics , materials science , nanotechnology , electrical engineering , computer graphics (images) , optics , physics , mechanical engineering , telecommunications , silicon , optoelectronics , engineering , crystalline silicon , nanostructure , composite material , operating system
Any efficient solar cell must be thick enough to collect a sufficient amount of light, yet it needs to be thin enough to extract current. In their Letter on page 181ff. the authors present how transferring the concept of coaxial cables to the scale of nanostructured silicon can combine these contradictory properties. The cover shows a nanocoax solar cell array at different magnifications. On the left is a completed cell array, while the middle image illustrates how a focused‐ion beam is used to mill out a section of the array, exposing the constituent components. On the right is an expanded FIB‐milled section, revealing the central nanopillar (dark), metalized to form the center conductor of a nanoscale coaxial cable as well as the cell back electrode (light film around central pillar), coated with amorphous silicon in a radial n–i–p junction forming the coax annulus (dark film), and finally coated with indium tin oxide (outer white), which serves as the coax outer conductor as well as the top solar cell electrode.