Symposium EP4-Emerging Silicon Science and Technology

This symposium will cover a wide range of topics in the science and technology of silicon-based materials and devices emerging beyond conventional wafer-based photovoltaics and microelectronics. Silicon-based materials include—but are not limited to—amorphous, nanocrystalline, microcrystalline, polycrystalline and monocrystalline films produced by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), layer separation/transfer, solution synthesis, and micro- or nanofabrication. Examples include: amorphous and nano/micro-crystalline silicon films grown by plasma-enhanced CVD, ultrathin silicon substrates produced by spalling or porous silicon processes, and laser-crystallized silicon films.

The symposium will also examine silicon and silicon-nanostructured alloys as well as films and structures of any material that enable unique functions within silicon-based devices. Examples include: heterojunctions, carrier-selective contacts, passivation layers, back reflectors, transparent conductive oxides, light-trapping structures for solar cells, dielectric layers in thin-film transistors, and heteroepitaxial layers on silicon. Additional topics of interest are high throughput, high-quality growth techniques and fabrication methods, as well as novel forms of characterization.

Novel concepts, applications and systems enabled in part or entirely by new silicon materials and devices are also within the scope of this symposium. Examples include: large-area, low-cost and/or flexible devices, circuits and systems for applications in information display, imaging, sensing, memory, logic and wireless transmission as well as wearable devices for medical, industrial and consumer electronics applications. Submissions are encouraged on the materials science, fabrication, device application, theory, simulation and characterization in these emerging areas.

• Silicon photovoltaic devices such as silicon heterojunction solar cells, thin-film silicon solar cells, and tandem-on-silicon solar cells
• Silicon nanostructures for device applications including light scattering or spectrum shifting by nanotextures or nanoparticles, and absorption, recombination, and charge transport in silicon nanomaterials for photovoltaic devices
• Other silicon-based devices including thin-film transistors, photoelectrochemical devices, thermoelectric devices, and sensors and imaging arrays
• Absorber, contact, passivation, transparent conductor, and metallization materials for silicon (or tandem) photovoltaic devices
• Silicon film materials such as amorphous silicon, silicon carbides and oxides, epitaxial silicon and epitaxial layers on silicon, and silicon-germanium and silicon-tin alloys
• Methods of making silicon including CVD growth, kerfless wafering, and laser- and metal-induced crystallization
• Light-silicon and particle-silicon interactions such as light trapping in silicon, laser-induced modification of silicon, and particle detecting with silicon
• Characterization and modeling of the structural, mechanical, electrical, and optical properties of silicon-related materials and devices

• EP4_Emerging Silicon Science and Technology_0 (University of Alberta, Canada)
• EP4_Emerging Silicon Science and Technology_1 (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland)
• EP4_Emerging Silicon Science and Technology_2 (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
• EP4_Emerging Silicon Science and Technology_3 (IBM, USA)
• EP4_Emerging Silicon Science and Technology_4 (University of California, Riverside, USA)
• EP4_Emerging Silicon Science and Technology_5 (Pennsylvania State University, USA)
• EP4_Emerging Silicon Science and Technology_6 (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA)
• EP4_Emerging Silicon Science and Technology_7 (Carnegie Institute, USA)
• EP4_Emerging Silicon Science and Technology_8 (University of Tsukuba, Japan)
• EP4_Emerging Silicon Science and Technology_9 (University of New South Wales, Australia)