Passivation of black silicon boron emitters with atomic layer deposited aluminum oxide

The nanostructured surface – also called black silicon (b-Si) – is a promising texture for solar cells because of its extremely low reflectance combined with low surface recombination obtained with atomic layer deposited (ALD) thin films. However, the challenges in keeping the excellent optical properties and passivation in further processing have not been addressed before. Here we study especially the applicability of the ALD passivation on highly boron doped emitters that is present in crystalline silicon solar cells. The results show that the nanostructured boron emitters can be passivated efficiently using ALD Al2O3 reaching emitter saturation current densities as low as 51 fA/cm2. Furthermore, reflectance values less than 0.5% after processing show that the different process steps are not detrimental for the low reflectance of b-Si.Peer reviewe

The Superconductor-Insulator Transition in a Tunable Dissipative Environment

We study the influence of a tunable dissipative environment on the dynamics of Josephson junction arrays near the superconductor-insulator transition. The experimental realization of the environment is a two dimensional electron gas coupled capacitively to the array. This setup allows for the well-controlled tuning of the dissipation by changing the resistance of the two dimensional electron gas. The capacitive coupling cuts off the dissipation at low frequencies. We determine the phase diagram and calculate the temperature and dissipation dependence of the array conductivity. We find good agreement with recent experimental results.Comment: 4 pages, 4 .eps figures, revte

Quantum-Phase Transitions of Interacting Bosons and the Supersolid Phase

We investigate the properties of strongly interacting bosons in two dimensions at zero temperature using mean-field theory, a variational Ansatz for the ground state wave function, and Monte Carlo methods. With on-site and short-range interactions a rich phase diagram is obtained. Apart from the homogeneous superfluid and Mott-insulating phases, inhomogeneous charge-density wave phases appear, that are stabilized by the finite-range interaction. Furthermore, our analysis demonstrates the existence of a supersolid phase, in which both long-range order (related to the charge-density wave) and off-diagonal long-range order coexist. We also obtain the critical exponents for the various phase transitions.Comment: RevTex, 20 pages, 10 PostScript figures include

Mutational analysis of the PITX2 coding region revealed no common cause for transposition of the great arteries (dTGA)

BACKGROUND: PITX2 is a bicoid-related homeodomain transcription factor that plays an important role in asymmetric cardiogenesis. Loss of function experiments in mice cause severe heart malformations, including transposition of the great arteries (TGA). TGA accounts for 5–7% of all congenital heart diseases affecting 0.2 per 1000 live births, thereby representing the most frequent cyanotic heart defect diagnosed in the neonatal period. METHODS: To address whether altered PITX2 function could also contribute to the formation of dTGA in humans, we screened 96 patients with dTGA by means of dHPLC and direct sequencing for mutations within the PITX2 gene. RESULTS: Several SNPs could be detected, but no stop or frame shift mutation. In particular, we found seven intronic and UTR variants, two silent mutations and two polymorphisms within the coding region. CONCLUSION: As most sequence variants were also found in controls we conclude that mutations in PITX2 are not a common cause of dTGA