Richard S. Crandall

Bio: Richard S. Crandall is an academic researcher from National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The author has contributed to research in topics: Amorphous silicon & Silicon. The author has an hindex of 34, co-authored 144 publications receiving 4222 citations. Previous affiliations of Richard S. Crandall include MRIGlobal.

Deposition of device quality, low H content amorphous silicon

Abstract: Device‐quality hydrogenated amorphous silicon containing as little as 1/10 the bonded H observed in device‐quality glow discharge films have been deposited by thermal decomposition of silane on a heated filament. These low H content films show an Urbach edge width of 50 mV and a spin density of ∼1/100 as large as that of glow discharge films containing comparable amounts of H. High substrate temperatures, deposition in a high flux of atomic H, and lack of energetic particle bombardment are suggested as reasons for this behavior.

Modeling of thin film solar cells: Uniform field approximation

Abstract: A model of a p‐i‐n thin‐film solar cell is presented that can be easily used to analyze solar cell properties. The continuity equations are solved using the regional approximation, producing elementary solutions that give insight into the physics of the transport in the cell. The steady‐state solutions are compared with measurements on typical hydrogenated amorphous silicon, a‐Si:H, solar cells. The ac solutions are used to explain a new source of photocapacitance due to mobile carriers.

Multi-excitation entropy: its role in thermodynamics and kinetics

Abstract: This review concerns the concept of multi-excitation entropy (MEE) and its consequences When a fluctuation involving a large number of excitations occurs, for example, when a large activation barrier is overcome, there must be a large entropy associated with this fluctuation First, the concepts of free energy and entropy, of activated processes and the Arrhenius and Eyring equations are reviewed The tendency to neglect entropy, whose value is difficult to determine, in modelling kinetic processes, is briefly discussed We then present a review of the experimental observations of the phenomenon which is variously known as the Compensation Law, the Isokinetic Rule and the Meyer–Neldel Rule (MNR) These observations include examples from chemistry, condensed matter physics, biology and geology Arguments are then presented for the importance of entropy and particularly of MEE in both kinetics and thermodynamics, when activation energies are large After a discussion of non-entropic models of compensation, we present results which support the MEE model as an explanation of MNR The behaviour of systems with low activation energies, or at high temperatures, to which the MEE model does not apply, is then discussedSeveral consequences of MEE, including applications to the interpretation of experimental data, particularly the unification of models of dc and ac electrical properties of materials are considered The high temperature behaviour of systems which obey the MNR at low temperature is then explained, and the idea of a total entropy, of which the MEE is a part, is introduced, as is the correlation between the two empirical parameters encountered in MNR Finally, these ideas lead to verified predictions of reasonable values of attempt frequencies and cross sections in kinetic processes, which initially appear unreasonable

Defect relaxation in amorphous silicon: Stretched exponentials, the Meyer-Neldel rule, and the Staebler-Wronski effect

Abstract: Annealing and production of metastable defects in disordered solids is explained quantitatively with a model in which defect relaxation is a local phenomenon. The stretched-exponential time dependence of defect relaxation and the Meyer-Neldel rule for the relaxation-time constant are natural consequences of this model. The results are obtained by using an exponential distribution of activation barriers for transitions between the two states of the local defect. The model, applied to data in hydrogenated amorphous silicon, a-Si:H, gives an exponential distribution of barriers with a characteristic temperature of 220 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C, roughly equal to the accepted freeze-in temperature for defect distributions in a-Si:H. The model explains that long degradation times convert defects with higher barriers and this results in longer annealing times. The microscopic models of the metastable defects in a-Si:H, weak-bond breaking and carrier trapping by charged dangling bonds, are discussed in the framework of this defect-relaxation model.

Model for the bleaching of WO3 electrochromic films by an electric field

Abstract: Measurements have been made of the current flow in amorphous WO3 films containing electrons and mobile cations. In a configuration in which electrons are extracted at one contact and cations at the other, the current decays as t−3/4 over many decades of time. By using space‐charge current flow ideas, we develop a theory that gives the correct time dependence and magnitude of the current for this double‐extraction phenomenon.

Device Physics of Polymer:Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

Abstract: Plastic solar cells bear the potential for large-scale power generation based on materials that provide the possibility of flexible, lightweight, inexpensive, efficient solar cells. Since the discovery of the photoinduced electron transfer from a conjugated polymer to fullerene molecules, followed by the introduction of the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) concept, this material combination has been extensively studied in organic solar cells, leading to several breakthroughs in efficiency, with a power conversion efficiency approaching 5 %. This article reviews the processes and limitations that govern device operation of polymer.-fullerene BHJ solar cells, with respect to the charge-carrier transport and photogeneration mechanism. The transport of electrons/holes in the blend is a crucial parameter and must be controlled (e.g., by controlling the nanoscale morphology) and enhanced in order to allow fabrication of thicker films to maximize the absorption, without significant recombination losses. Concomitantly, a balanced transport of electrons and holes in the blend is needed to suppress the build-up of the space-charge that will significantly reduce the power conversion efficiency. Dissociation of electron-hole pairs at the donor/acceptor interface is an important process that limits the charge generation efficiency under normal operation condition. Based on these findings, there is a compromise between charge generation (light absorption) and open-circuit voltage (V-oc) when attempting to reduce the bandgap of the polymer (or fullerene). Therefore, an increase in V-oc of polymer.-fullerene cells, for example by raising the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital level of the fullerene, will benefit cell performance as both fill factor and short-circuit current increase simultaneously.

Materials and applications for large area electronics: solution-based approaches.

Abstract: 2.3. Medical Devices and Sensors 9 2.4. Radio Frequency Applications 10 3. Materials 12 3.1. Organic Electronics Materials 12 3.2. Semiconducting Polymer Design 13 3.3. Poly(3-alkylthiophenes) 14 3.4. Poly(thieno(3,2-b)thiophenes 15 3.5. Benchmark Polymer Semiconductors 15 3.6. High Performance Polymer Semiconductors 15 4. Device Stability 16 4.1. Bias Stress in Organic Transistors 17 4.1.1. Bias Stress Characterization 17 4.1.2. Bias Stress Mechanism 18 4.2. Short Channel Effects in Organic Transistors 19 5. Materials Patterning and Integration 20 6. Conclusions 22 7. Acknowledgments 22 8. References 22

Nanoelectronics from the bottom up

Abstract: Electronics obtained through the bottom-up approach of molecular-level control of material composition and structure may lead to devices and fabrication strategies not possible with top-down methods. This review presents a brief summary of bottom-up and hybrid bottom-up/top-down strategies for nanoelectronics with an emphasis on memories based on the crossbar motif. First, we will discuss representative electromechanical and resistance-change memory devices based on carbon nanotube and core-shell nanowire structures, respectively. These device structures show robust switching, promising performance metrics and the potential for terabit-scale density. Second, we will review architectures being developed for circuit-level integration, hybrid crossbar/CMOS circuits and array-based systems, including experimental demonstrations of key concepts such lithography-independent, chemically coded stochastic demultipluxers. Finally, bottom-up fabrication approaches, including the opportunity for assembly of three-dimensional, vertically integrated multifunctional circuits, will be critically discussed.

Nanoscale thermal transport. II. 2003–2012

Abstract: A diverse spectrum of technology drivers such as improved thermal barriers, higher efficiency thermoelectric energy conversion, phase-change memory, heat-assisted magnetic recording, thermal management of nanoscale electronics, and nanoparticles for thermal medical therapies are motivating studies of the applied physics of thermal transport at the nanoscale. This review emphasizes developments in experiment, theory, and computation in the past ten years and summarizes the present status of the field. Interfaces become increasingly important on small length scales. Research during the past decade has extended studies of interfaces between simple metals and inorganic crystals to interfaces with molecular materials and liquids with systematic control of interface chemistry and physics. At separations on the order of ∼1 nm, the science of radiative transport through nanoscale gaps overlaps with thermal conduction by the coupling of electronic and vibrational excitations across weakly bonded or rough interface...