Monolithic Module Research Articles

Monolithic Interconnection of Thin‐Film Perovskite Photovoltaic Modules Using Aerosol Jet Printing

Perovskite thin‐film photovoltaic (PV) modules consist of multiple cells connected in series to reduce resistive losses in the transparent electrode. Cell interconnection is typically achieved using techniques involving laser scribing and/or precise alignment during fabrication. For perovskite modules, this interconnection is implemented monolithically by integrating three laser scribing steps into the module fabrication process. Laser scribing provides high‐resolution lines (≈100–200 μm wide), necessitating equally precise or finer techniques for interconnections. Aerosol jet printing emerges as a promising solution, offering resolutions as fine as 10 μm and enabling high‐speed processing. This study demonstrates the fabrication of semi‐transparent monolithic perovskite modules using a combination of laser scribing and aerosol jet printing. Five interconnected cells are successfully produced, with the laser scribing process requiring ≈2 min and aerosol jet printing interconnections completed in about 7 min. The resulting perovskite PV modules with aerosol jet‐printed interconnects show comparable performance to those fabricated using evaporated interconnections. Key performance metrics included an open‐circuit voltage (VOC) of 4.91 V, short‐circuit current density (JSC) of 2.41 mA cm−2, fill factor (FF) of 44.56%, power conversion efficiency of 5.26%, and an effective area of 13.46 cm2. These results highlight the potential of aerosol jet printing as an efficient and precise approach for advancing perovskite module fabrication.

Optimization of laser patterning process for eco-friendly tin-halide perovskite solar module – with a nanosecond green laser

The tin-based perovskite solar cells are promising future eco-friendly photovoltaic technology with increasing efficiency, which relies on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) or indium tin oxide (ITO) as a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) for front contact. In the monolithic module fabrication process interconnections are executed by a series of three scribes with two different lasers 1064 nm and 532 nm. This study aims to simplify the interconnection process in tin-based perovskite solar modules by using a single visible laser source to perform all three scribes. The study uses an inverted device structure of Glass/TCO/ Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): Polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT: PSS)/Formamidinium-tin-iodide (FASnI3)/C60/Bathocuproine (BCP)/Ag and a 532 nm nanosecond pulsed laser source to pattern the ITO and FTO (P1 scribe), the PEDOT: PSS/FASnI3/C60/BCP stack (P2 scribe), and the PEDOT: PSS/FASnI3/C60/BCP/Ag (P3 scribe). The quality of the P1 scribe is assessed by examining the edges, completeness of film removal, cracking, film delamination, and elemental mapping using a stylus profiler, optical microscope, and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. The P1 scribe is completely removed with line widths of 70 µm and 110 µm of ITO and FTO, respectively, without damage to the glass substrate. The profiles are steep, and the electrical isolation is greater than 40 MΩ. The same 532 nm laser is used for P2 and P3 scribes. The ablation of PEDOT: PSS during P2 and P3 scribe is studied by Raman spectroscopy. The results show that the use of a single 532 nm laser source can simplify the patterning process of monolithic tin-based perovskite solar modules, and potentially reduce production costs.

Structural features and electrical properties of si(al) thermal migration channels for high-voltage photovoltaic converters

The results of a study of the structural features and electrical properties of Si(Al) through thermomigration p-channels in a silicon wafer are presented. Structural studies were performed using X-ray methods of projection topography, diffraction reflection curves and scanning electron microscopy. It is shown that the channel-matrix interface is coherent without the formation of mismatch dislocations. The possibility of using an array of thermomigration p-channels of 15 elements to form a monolithic photovoltaic solar module in a Si(111) silicon wafer based on p-channels with a width of 100 microns with walls in the plane is shown. The monolithic solar module has a conversion efficiency of 13.1%, an idle voltage of 8.5 V and a short-circuit current density of 33 mA/cm².

Monolithic MIPI SOI CMOS single-pole fourteen-throw antenna switch module with on-chip transmit filters for cellular handsets

Monolithic MIPI SOI CMOS single-pole fourteen-throw antenna switch module with on-chip transmit filters for cellular handsets

Roll-to-roll Screen Printed Monolithic Supercapacitors and Modules with Varying Electrode Areas

Roll-to-roll Screen Printed Monolithic Supercapacitors and Modules with Varying Electrode Areas

On the thermoelectric alloy SixGe1-x

The temperature dependences of the electronic quality factor and universal electrical conductivity of the n-type SixGe1-x alloy, as well as the dependence of the Seebeck coefficient on the specific and universal electrical conductivities are studied. Based on the measured thermoelectric parameters (Seebeck and thermal conductivity coefficients, specific resistance) the values of thermoelectric efficiency Z are calculated. The temperature dependences of universal electrical conductivity shows that the experimental points form almost a single set. This is due to the fact that changes of σ and B_E compensate each other. And, in general, the electronic quality factor BE performs scaling of thermoelectric quantities. The temperature dependences of thermoelectric efficiency shown that all SixGe1-x samples have a fairly high efficiency (≥7∙10-4 grad-1), the maximum of which is reached at about 700℃. The studied alloy were used as an element of a monolithic thermoelectric module.

Full Stokes polarimetry using a monolithic off-axis polarizing interferometer and a 2D array sensor.

This paper describes a full Stokes polarimeter employing a monolithic off-axis polarizing interferometric module and a 2D array sensor. The proposed passive polarimeter provides a dynamic full Stokes vector measurement capability of around 30Hz. As the proposed polarimeter employs no active devices and is operated by employing an imaging sensor, it has significant potential to become a highly compact polarization sensor for smartphone applications. To show the feasibility of the proposed passive dynamic polarimeter scheme, the full Stokes parameters of a quarter-wave plate are extracted and displayed on a Poincare sphere by varying the polarization state of the measured beam.

Development of a large-area, light-weight module using the MALTA monolithic pixel detector

The MALTA pixel chip is a 2 cm × 2 cm large monolithic pixel detector developed in the Tower 180 nm imaging process. The chip contains four CMOS transceiver blocks at its sides which allow chip-to-chip data transfer. The power pads are located mainly at the side edges on the chip which allows for chip-to-chip power transmission. The MALTA chip has been used to study module assembly using different interconnection techniques to transmit data and power from chip to chip and to minimise the overall material budget. Several 2-chip and 4-chip modules have been assembled using standard wire bonding, ACF (Anisotropic Conductive Films) and laser reflow interconnection techniques. These proceedings will summarise the experience with the different interconnection techniques and performance tests of MALTA modules with 2 and 4 chips tested in a cosmic muon telescope. They will also show first results on the effect of serial power tests on chip performance as well as the impact of the different interconnection techniques and the results of mechanical tests. Finally, a conceptual study for a flex based ultra-light weight monolithic pixel module based on the MALTA chip with minimum interconnections is presented.

Deep Realistic Facial Editing via Label-restricted Mask Disentanglement.

With the rapid development of GAN (generative adversarial network), recent years have witnessed an increasing number of tasks on reference-guided facial attributes transfer. Most state-of-the-art methods consist of facial information extraction, latent space disentanglement, and target attribute manipulation. However, they either adopt reference-guided translation methods for manipulation or monolithic modules for diverse attribute exchange, which cannot accurately disentangle the exact facial attributes with specific styles from the reference image. In this paper, we propose a deep realistic facial editing method (termed LMGAN) based on target region focusing and dual label constraint. The proposed method, manipulating target attributes by latent space exchange, consists of subnetworks for every individual attribute. Each subnetwork exerts label-restrictions on both the target attributes exchanging stage and the training process aimed at optimizing generative quality and reference-style correlation. Our method performs greatly on disentangled representation and transferring the target attribute's style accurately. A global discriminator is introduced to combine the generated editing regional image with other nonediting areas of the source image. Both qualitative and quantitative results on the CelebA dataset verify the ability of the proposed LMGAN.

Robustness enhancement of dynamic spectroscopic ellipsometry by compensating temperature dependency of the monolithic polarizing interferometer.

This paper describes a robust dynamic spectroscopic ellipsometer that can provide a highly accurate and reliable real-time spectroscopic polarization measurement capability for various in-line nanoscale measurement applications. The robustness of dynamic spectroscopic ellipsometry is enhanced significantly by employing a compensation channel that removes the temperature dependency of the monolithic polarizing interferometric module, and it results in highly accurate dynamic spectral ellipsometric measurements. We present how the monolithic interferometer is affected by external disturbances and show experimentally that the proposed scheme can provide a few hundreds of times long-term stability enhancement compared with a single-channel-based dynamic spectroscopic ellipsometer scheme.

Enhanced Performance of Monolithic Chalcogenide Thermoelectric Modules for Energy Harvesting via Co-optimization of Experiment and Simulation.

With the development of application of wireless sensor nodes (WSNs), the need for energy harvesting is rapidly increasing. In this study, we designed and fabricated a robust monolithic thermoelectric generator (TEG) using a simple, low-energy, and low-cost device fabrication process. Our monolithic device consists of Ag2S0.2Se0.8 and Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 as n-type and p-type legs, respectively, while the empty space between the legs was filled with highly dense, flexible, and thin Ag2S that serves as both an insulating spacer and a shock absorber, which potentially augments the robustness of preventing from damage from an external mechanical force. From the optimization of the device structure via finite element method (FEM) simulations, a three-pair device with dimensions of 12 mm × 10 mm × 10 mm was found to have a theoretical maximum power density of 8.2 mW cm-2 at a ΔT of 50 K. For considering this inevitable contact resistance, experimental measurement and FEM simulation were combined for quantifying the junction resistance; a power density of 2.1 mW cm-2 was established with the consideration of the contact resistance at the p-n junctions. Using these optimized structural parameters, a device was fabricated and was found to have a maximum power density of 2.02 mW cm-2 at a ΔT of 50 K, which is in good agreement with our simulations. The results from our monolithic TEG show that despite the simple, low-energy, and low-cost device fabrication process, the power generation is still comparable to other reported TEGs. It is worth mentioning that our design could be extended to other chalcogenide materials of appropriate temperature regions and/or better zT. Besides, the quantification of contact resistance also exhibited reference value for the enhancement of thermoelectric conversion application. These results provide a convenient, economic, and efficient strategy for waste energy harvesting close to room temperature, which can broaden the applications of waste heat harvesting.

Scalable Subsecond Synthesis of Drug Scaffolds via Aryllithium Intermediates by Numbered-up 3D-Printed Metal Microreactors.

Continuous-flow microreactors enable ultrafast chemistry; however, their small capacity restricts industrial-level productivity of pharmaceutical compounds. In this work, scale-up subsecond synthesis of drug scaffolds was achieved via a 16 numbered-up printed metal microreactor (16N-PMR) assembly to render high productivity up to 20 g for 10 min operation. Initially, ultrafast synthetic chemistry of unstable lithiated intermediates in the halogen–lithium exchange reactions of three aryl halides and subsequent reactions with diverse electrophiles were carried out using a single microreactor (SMR). Larger production of the ultrafast synthesis was achieved by devising a monolithic module of 4 numbered-up 3D-printed metal microreactor (4N-PMR) that was integrated by laminating four SMRs and four bifurcation flow distributors in a compact manner. Eventually, the 16N-PMR system for the scalable subsecond synthesis of three drug scaffolds was assembled by stacking four monolithic modules of 4N-PMRs.

Compact, Reflectionless Band-Pass Filter: Based on GaAs IPD Process for Highly Reliable Communication

For highly reliable and compact communication of front-end modules, a miniaturized reflectionless band-pass filter, based on the GaAs integrated passive device (IPD) process, is proposed in this work. The stop-band signal absorption rate of the filter can reach more than 90% and greatly reduce the influence of electromagnetic interference for sensitive devices. First, a circuit topology of reflectionless filter is proposed. Then, the miniaturized reflectionless band-pass filter is designed and fabricated based on GaAs IPD process with a compact size of only 0.85 mm × 1.33 mm × 0.09 mm (0.011λ × 0.018λ × 0.001λ). The filter operates at frequency ranging from 3.3 GHz to 4.5 GHz for 5G communication, the insertion loss (S21) is less than 3 dB, the return loss in the passband (S11) is over 15 dB, the stopband return loss (S11) is over 10 dB, and the out-of-band suppression (S21) reached 19 dB. All the measured results are in good agreement with the simulated results. It shows great potential in the process of designing highly reliable and compact monolithic integrated wireless modules and wearable electronics.

ORGANIZATION OF THE BASIC MODEL OF BUSINESS PROCESSES

This article discusses the issues of organizing a general model from local ones. When organizing models into a team, not only the structure of the organization is important, but also the nature of the relationship between the models and the type of protocol (universal or unique), for example, the type of technologies for integrating data, information, knowledge, and rules based on: BUS, AHI, AII, and interfaces, such as a service or agent. But the organization of local models depends on the peculiarities of the local models. Therefore, before considering the organization of local models, we reveal the essence of local models. It is clear, that the properties of a business process of a single monolithic module cannot be fully displayed. Therefore, the concept of a basic model is proposed, which is integrated from the so-called local models. The work reveals the purpose and essence of the functions of local models (LM) and options for organizing the base model (GM) from local models.

A Sustainable and Flexible Microbrush-Faced Triboelectric Generator for Portable/Wearable Applications.

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are put forward as a state-of-the-art energy-scavenging technology for self-powered electronics, but their severe wear and degradation driven by inevitable friction can pose significant durability and sustainability concerns. Here, an array of microfibers is reported that functions as a robust and sustainable TENG in both in-plane sliding and vertical contact-separation modes, with excellent electrical potential as high as 20V and a high cyclability of 3000. The design flexibility of this microbrush TENG (MB-TENG) on the counter materials facilitates the further improvement of electrical outputs, benefiting numerous applications of human-interactive triboelectrification. Significantly, these MB-TENGs offer sufficient output power for successfully driving a smartwatch as well as an electromyography module. This technology uses a simple and cost-effective manner to provide a robust and reliable monolithic TENG module, which is expected to serve as a promising energy-harvesting source for self-powered electronics in the near future.

Organic Light‐Emitting Transistors in a Smart‐Integrated System for Plasmonic‐Based Sensing

AbstractThe smart integration of multiple devices in a single functional unit is boosting the advent of compact optical sensors for on‐site analysis. Nevertheless, the development of miniaturized and cost‐effective plasmonic sensors is hampered by the strict angular constraints of the detection scheme, which are fulfilled through bulky optical components. Here, an ultracompact system for plasmonic‐sensing is demonstrated by the smart integration of an organic light‐emitting transistor (OLET), an organic photodiode (OPD), and a nanostructured plasmonic grating (NPG). The potential of OLETs, as planar multielectrode devices with inherent micrometer‐wide emission areas, offers the pioneer incorporation of an OPD onto the source electrode to obtain a monolithic photonic module endowed with light‐emitting and light‐detection characteristics at unprecedented lateral proximity of them. This approach enables the exploitation of the angle‐dependent sensing of the NPG in a miniaturized system based on low‐cost components, in which a reflective detection is enabled by the elegant fabrication of the NPG onto the encapsulation glass of the photonic module. The most effective layout of integration is unraveled by an advanced simulation tool, which allows obtaining an optics‐less plasmonic system able to perform a quantitative detection up to 10−2 RIU at a sensor size as low as 0.1 cm3.

Ultra-compact reconfigurable device for mode conversion and dual-mode DPSK demodulation via inverse design.

The mode multiplexing/de-multiplexing devices are key components for mode-division multiplexing (MDM) technology. Here, we propose an ultra-compact and reconfigurable mode-conversion device via inverse design, which can selectively implement multichannel mode conversion controlled by input phase shifts (Δφ). The device can transform input TE0 (TE1) mode to TE4 (TE3) mode at Δφ=0, or from TE0 (TE1) to TE1 (TE2) at Δφ=π spanning the wavelength range of 1525-1565 nm. We further demonstrate an integrated monolithic module based on the mode conversions to directly demodulate the dual-mode difference phase shift keying (DPSK) signal which significantly reduces the device size and benefits for future dense integrations in MDM systems.

Quantification of the Contact Resistance of ZnO/MoSe2/Mo Contact Formed in a Monolithic CIGS Photovoltaic Module

Quantification of the Contact Resistance of ZnO/MoSe2/Mo Contact Formed in a Monolithic CIGS Photovoltaic Module

Three‐junction monolithic interconnected modules for concentrator photovoltaics

AbstractA core issue in concentrator photovoltaic technology (CPV) is the resistive losses in cells that usually limits the maximum photoconversion efficiency under high concentration. We propose the use of three‐junction monolithic interconnected modules (MIM) to mitigate resistive losses by providing high‐voltage low‐current power. First, we present the fabrication of InGaP/InGaAs/Ge front‐contacted microcells with various designs and dimensions. Front‐contacted cells are the key enabler for the MIM fabrication and demonstrate good electrical characteristics under one sun, similar to standard‐contacted cells. The base front contact size is minimized to limit the unutilized area on the wafer. Second, fabrication techniques for interconnecting cells in MIM are described. Finally, electrical measurements show a record conversion efficiency of 35.1% under 798 suns for the first three‐junction MIM reported (17.8% when considering the entire device area). Versatility and further optimization of the devices are discussed to enlarge their field of application.

Efficient Sb2(S,Se)3 Solar Modules Enabled by Hydrothermal Deposition

Antimony selenosulfide (Sb2(S,Se)3) is a promising solar absorber due to the excellent stability and suitable photovoltaic parameters. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) has overcome 10% in lab scale. In terms of practical applications, the efficiency should be further improved and the suitable scalable fabrication approach should also be established. Herein, a large‐area fabrication of Sb2(S,Se)3 solar cell by hydrothermal deposition is demonstrated. It is found that this approach is able to generate Sb2(S,Se)3 film with high uniformity with regard to both the chemical composition and surface morphology. Taking advantage of laser scribing technology, series connected antimony selenosulfide monolithic integrated photovoltaic modules are obtained. The prepared solar cell achieved PCE of 7.43%, with an active area of 15.66 cm2, which is the highest efficiency at module scale. A convenient approach for the fabrication of large‐area series‐connected Sb2(S,Se)3 solar cells is offered.