NIEL Dose Dependence for Solar Cells Irradiated with Electrons and Protons

The investigation of solar cells degradation and the prediction of its end-of-life performance is of primary importance in the preparation of a space mission. In the present work, we investigate the reduction of solar-cells' maximum power resulting from irradiations with electrons and protons. Both GaAs single junction and GaInP/GaAs/Ge triple junction solar cells were studied. The results obtained indicate how i) the dominant radiation damaging mechanism is due to atomic displacements, ii) the relative maximum power degradation is almost independent of the type of incoming particle, i.e., iii) to a first approximation, the fitted semi-empirical function expressing the decrease of maximum power depends only on the absorbed NIEL dose, and iv) the actual displacement threshold energy value (Ed=21 eV) accounts for annealing treatments, mostly due to self-annealing induced effects. Thus, for a given type of solar cell, a unique maximum power degradation curve can be determined as a function of the absorbed NIEL dose. The latter expression allows one to predict the performance of those solar cells in space radiation environment.Comment: To appear on the Proceedings of the 13th ICATPP Conference on Astroparticle, Particle, Space Physics and Detectors for Physics Applications, Villa Olmo (Como, Italy), 23--27 October, 2013, to be published by World Scientific (Singapore

Computational study of boron nitride nanotube synthesis: how catalyst morphology stabilizes the boron nitride bond

In an attempt to understand why catalytic methods for the growth of boron nitride nanotubes work much worse than for their carbon counterparts, we use first-principles calculations to study the energetics of elemental reactions forming N2, B2 and BN molecules on an iron catalyst. We observe that in the case of these small molecules, the catalytic activity is hindered by the formation of B2 on the iron surface. We also observe that the local morphology of a step edge present in our nanoparticle model stabilizes the boron nitride molecule with respect to B2 due to the ability of the step edge to offer sites with different coordination simultaneously for nitrogen and boron. Our results emphasize the importance of atomic steps for a high yield chemical vapor deposition growth of BN nanotubes and may outline new directions for improving the efficiency of the method.Comment: submitted to physical review

Adsorption of acetic and trifluoroacetic acid on the TiO2(110) surface

We use the first-principles static and dynamic simulations to study the adsorption of acetic (CH3COOH) and trifluoroacetic (CF3COOH)acid on the TiO2(110)surface. The most favorable adsorption for both molecules is a dissociative process, which results in the two oxygens of the carboxylate ion bonding to in-plane titanium atoms in the surface. The remaining proton then bonds to a bridging oxygen site, forming a hydroxyl group. We further show that, by comparing the calculated dipoles of the molecules on the surface, it is possible to understand the difference in contrast over the acetate and trifluoroacetate molecules in the atomically resolved noncontact atomic force microscopy images.Peer reviewe

Parasitbekämpning och renarnas kondition

Av de parasitmedel som man anvandt hade Ivomec den basta effekten på hudkorm (Oedemagena tarandi). Hos renar som behandlats med denna medicin kunde man observera varken larvar av hudkorm eller svalgkorm (Cephenemyia trompe)

Ab initio study of point defects in CdF2

The plane-wave pseudopotential method is used to study point defects in CdF2. We present comprehensive results for the native defects as well as for dominant impurities. In addition to Fi, VCd and OF were found to be easily formed compensating acceptors. For In and Ga impurities the experimentally observed large Stokes shift could not be established, and the results rule out symmetric atomic relaxation as the mechanism leading to the bistable behavior. The limitations of the present approach utilizing density-functional theory and the local-density approximation in the case of ionic materials are addressed.Peer reviewe

Two-Electron Quantum Dot Molecule: Composite Particles and the Spin Phase Diagram

We study a two-electron quantum dot molecule in a magnetic field by the direct diagonalization of the Hamiltonian matrix. The ground states of the molecule with the total spin S=0 and S=1 provide a possible realization for a qubit of a quantum computer. Switching between the states is best achieved by changing the magnetic field. Based on an analysis of the wave function, we show that the system consists of composite particles formed by an electron and flux quanta attached to it. This picture can also be used to explain the spin phase diagram.Peer reviewe

Wave function for quantum-dot ground states beyond the maximum-density droplet

We study the possible lowest energy states for spin-polarized electrons in a parabolic quantum dot in the strong magnetic field, for filling factors 1>ν>~1/3. We present a variational wave function that correctly predicts the possible angular momentum values obtained from numerical diagonalizations. The wave function is optimized using quantum Monte Carlo techniques.Peer reviewe

Antisites in silicon carbide

Ten years ago, deep-level-transient-spectroscopy (DLTS) signals, assigned to centers labeled as H1, H2, H3, and E2, have been detected in neutron-irradiated 3C SiC. The H centers were believed to be the primary point defects and the E2 center a secondary defect, which forms after the H centers start to migrate. A conclusive identification of these signals has not been presented so far. We present computational evidence that the H centers are due to silicon antisite defects (SiC). In both cubic (3C) and hexagonal (2H) polytypes, the silicon antisite has several ionization levels in the band gap. The positions of these ionization levels in 3C SiC have been calculated accurately with the plane wave pseudopotential method using a large 128-atom site supercell, and compared with the DLTS spectrum. A very good agreement with experimental data indicates that H centers are due to the formation of SiC during neutron irradiation. The formation energies and local geometries of the antisite defects in SiC are also reported.Peer reviewe