Determining the optical properties of solar cells using low cost scanners.

This paper investigates the use of consumer flatbed scanners for the use of monitoring solar cell precursors. Two types of scanners are investigated a contact image scanner and scanners with more conventional optical setups. The contact image sensor is found to be more suitable as it does not require additional flat field calibration.

Large volume tomography using plasma FIB-SEM: A comprehensive case study on black silicon.

The xenon plasma focused ion beam and scanning electron microscopy (PFIB-SEM) system is a promising tool for 3D tomography of nano-scale materials, including nanotextured black silicon (BSi), whose topography is difficult to measure with conventional microscopy techniques. Advantages of PFIB-SEM include high material removal rates, precise control of milling parameters and automated slice-and-view procedures. However, there is no universal sample preparation procedure nor is there an established ideal workflow for the PFIB-SEM slice-and-view process.

3D characterisation using plasma FIB-SEM: A large-area tomography technique for complex surfaces like black silicon.

This paper demonstrates an improved method to accurately extract the surface morphology of black silicon (BSi). The method is based on an automated Xe plasma focused ion beam (PFIB) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) tomography technique. A comprehensive new sample preparation method is described and shown to minimize the PFIB artifacts induced by both the top surface sample-PFIB interaction and the non-uniform material density.

Reflectance properties of silicon moth-eyes in response to variations in angle of incidence, polarisation and azimuth orientation.

We report a study of the optical properties of silicon moth-eye structures using a custom-made fully automated broadband spectroscopic reflectometry system (goniometer). This measurement system is able to measure specular reflectance as a function of wavelength, polar incidence angle and azimuth orientation angle, from normal to near-parallel polar incidence angle. The system uses a linear polarized broadband super-continuum laser light source.