Abstract: A spectral radiometer system, measures incoming light intensity and spectral distribution in different wavelength-bands. An additional data storage device allows recording of the measured data. The inclusive sensor system yields very high sensitivity to incoming light. Furthermore, outstanding linearity of the detector response over several orders of magnitude of incoming light is achieved. Additional benefits are ultra low power consumption and minimum size. The sensor system can be used in remote solar radiation monitoring applications like mobile solar power units as well as in long-term environmental monitoring systems where high precision and low power consumption is a necessity.

Abstract: A method for making an ultra-thin, flexible crystalline silicon solar cell from thick, inflexible cells. A thick, inflexible cell having a plurality of electrical contacts on the back side thereof is adhered to a mount by means of a temporary bonding adhesive tape and a thickness of the mounted stack. A thickness of the bonding tape and the back-side contacts is determined and compared to a desired thickness of the final cell. Excess material is ground from the front side of the stack to obtain a thinned stack having the desired thickness and the thinned stack is removed from the mount to produce an ultra-thin, flexible rear-contact Si solar cell having a total thickness of less than 80 ?m and a bending radius of less than 20 mm. The front surface can be textured, with a passivation layer and/or a dielectric layer being deposited thereon.

Abstract: A novel, low cost method for manufacturing flexible crystalline ultra-thin Si solar cells using previously fabricated inflexible crystalline Si solar cells. A stack of metal layers is coated onto a front side of previously completed inflexible crystalline Si solar cells. The stack serves as a bonding layer as well as an electrically conducting layer between the inflexible solar cell and the carrier substrate. The front side of the coated inflexible Si solar cell is bonded onto the carrier substrate. Back side layers from the starting inflexible solar cell are removed, as is much of the base layer, so that only a thin base layer remains, with the thin base layer and emitter region having a total thickness of between 1 ?m and 30 ?m and the final cell having a total thickness of about 10 to about 125 ?m.

Abstract: Photovoltaic (PV) device comprising an ultra-thin radiation-tolerant PV absorber mounted on a flexible film having an embedded persistent phosphor and having a plurality of interdigitated top and bottom contacts on the top of the PV absorber. The PV absorber is ultra-thin, e.g., typically having a thickness of 300 nm or less for a III-V-based absorber. The phosphor absorbs some of the photons incident on the device and then discharges them for use by the device in generating electrical power during times when the device is not illuminated by the sun.

Abstract: An electroporation apparatus and its novel chamber with inlet ports for mixing cells and exogenous material. The inlet ports are oriented in nonparallel to each other immediately adjacent at the same top corner of the first wall of the chamber. The mixing chamber comprises successive wall sections, two curved walls at its bottom; the first curved corner is on the same side of the chamber where the liquids enter the chamber, and directs the liquids to the second curved corner at the opposing side of the chamber which in turn further redirects the mixing to the first curved corner. The direction of the liquid flow mixture change direction at least twice into the mixing chamber.

Abstract: A semiconductor device that utilizes intraband photon absorption in quantum dots to provide a capacitive photodetector. The presence of the quantum dots creates confined energy states within the photodetector device. Electrons are trapped in these confined energy states. When the photodetector is illuminated by light having an appropriate photon energy, the stored electrons are released to the conduction band, causing a change in the capacitance of the photodetector. By measuring this change in capacitance, light incident on the photodetector can be detected and quantified.

Abstract: A method for making an ultra-thin, flexible crystalline silicon solar cell from thick, inflexible cells. A thick, inflexible cell having a plurality of electrical contacts on the back side thereof is adhered to a mount by means of a temporary bonding adhesive tape and a thickness of the mounted stack. A thickness of the bonding tape and the back-side contacts is determined and compared to a desired thickness of the final cell. Excess material is ground from the front side of the stack to obtain a thinned stack having the desired thickness and the thinned stack is removed from the mount to produce an ultra-thin, flexible rear-contact Si solar cell having a total thickness of less than 80 ?m and a bending radius of less than 20 mm. The front surface can be textured, with a passivation layer and/or a dielectric layer being deposited thereon.

Abstract: A novel, low cost method for manufacturing flexible crystalline ultra-thin Si solar cells using previously fabricated inflexible crystalline Si solar cells. A stack of metal layers is coated onto a front side of previously completed inflexible crystalline Si solar cells. The stack serves as a bonding layer as well as an electrically conducting layer between the inflexible solar cell and the carrier substrate. The front side of the coated inflexible Si solar cell is bonded onto the carrier substrate. Back side layers from the starting inflexible solar cell are removed, as is much of the base layer, so that only a thin base layer remains, with the thin base layer and emitter region having a total thickness of between 1 ?m and 30 ?m and the final cell having a total thickness of about 10 to about 125 ?m.

Abstract: A semiconductor device that utilizes intraband photon absorption in quantum dots to provide a capacitive photodetector. The presence of the quantum dots creates confined energy states within the photodetector device. Electrons are trapped in these confined energy states. When the photodetector is illuminated by light having an appropriate photon energy, the stored electrons are released to the conduction band, causing a change in the capacitance of the photodetector. By measuring this change in capacitance, light incident on the photodetector can be detected and quantified.

Abstract: A spectral radiometer system, measures incoming light intensity and spectral distribution in different wavelength-bands. An additional data storage device allows recording of the measured data. The inclusive sensor system yields very high sensitivity to incoming light. Furthermore, outstanding linearity of the detector response over several orders of magnitude of incoming light is achieved. Additional benefits are ultra low power consumption and minimum size. The sensor system can be used in remote solar radiation monitoring applications like mobile solar power units as well as in long-term environmental monitoring systems where high precision and low power consumption is a necessity.

Abstract: A spectral radiometer system, measures incoming light intensity and spectral distribution in different wavelength-bands. An additional data storage device allows recording of the measured data. The inclusive sensor system yields very high sensitivity to incoming light. Furthermore, outstanding linearity of the detector response over several orders of magnitude of incoming light is achieved. Additional benefits are ultra low power consumption and minimum size. The sensor system can be used in remote solar radiation monitoring applications like mobile solar power units as well as in long-term environmental monitoring systems where high precision and low power consumption is a necessity.

Abstract: Photovoltaic (PV) device comprising an ultra-thin radiation-tolerant PV absorber mounted on a flexible film having an embedded persistent phosphor and having a plurality of interdigitated top and bottom contacts on the top of the PV absorber. The PV absorber is ultra-thin, e.g., typically having a thickness of 300 nm or less for a III-V-based absorber. The phosphor absorbs some of the photons incident on the device and then discharges them for use by the device in generating electrical power during times when the device is not illuminated by the sun.

Abstract: A broken-gap tunnel junction device comprising a thin quantum well (QW) layer situated at the interface between adjacent highly doped n-type and p-type semiconductor layers, wherein the QW layer has a type-III broken-gap energy band alignment with respect to one or more of the surrounding semiconductor layers such that a conduction band of the QW layer is below the valence band of one or more of the n-type and p-type bulk semiconductor layers.

Abstract: A device is described that includes sensors that are sensitive to displacement damage, and can be configured to display a characteristic damage curve. The sensors, or diodes, can be made of one or more semiconductor materials that are sensitive to displacement damage, and can be operated in dark illumination conditions. The sensors can have multiple shields of a specific or varied thickness. The shields can be formed in different configurations, though the shielding thickness can be designed to change the level of displacement damage absorbed by the sensors. The characteristic damage curve can provide a sensor response variable that displays a functional dependence on displacement damage. For example, the characteristic damage curve can provide a sensor response variable that is one or more currents measured at one or more fixed voltages, or one or more voltages measured at one or more fixed currents.

Abstract: A multijunction (MJ) solar cell grown on an InP substrate using materials that are lattice-matched to InP. In an exemplary three-junction embodiment, the top cell is formed from In1-xAlxAs1-ySby (with x and y adjusted so as to achieve lattice-matching with InP, hereafter referred to as InAlAsSb), the middle cell from In1-a-bGaaAlbAs (with a and b adjusted so as to achieve lattice-matching with InP, hereafter referred to as InGaAlAs), and the bottom cell also from InGaAlAs, but with a much lower Al composition, which in some embodiments can be zero so that the material is InGaAs. Tunnel junctions (TJs) connect the junctions and allow photo-generated current to flow. In an exemplary embodiment, an InAlAsSb TJ connects the first and second junctions, while an InGaAlAs TJ connects the second and third junctions.

Abstract: A spectral radiometer system, measures incoming light intensity and spectral distribution in different wavelength-bands. An additional data storage device allows recording of the measured data. The inclusive sensor system yields very high sensitivity to incoming light. Furthermore, outstanding linearity of the detector response over several orders of magnitude of incoming light is achieved. Additional benefits are ultra low power consumption and minimum size. The sensor system can be used in remote solar radiation monitoring applications like mobile solar power units as well as in long-term environmental monitoring systems where high precision and low power consumption is a necessity.

Abstract: An object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for the delivery of polynucleotide vaccines into mammalian skin cells to increase T cell response and to reduce pain and discomfort due to long electric waveform application and due to muscle contractions. The method for the delivery of polynucleotide vaccines into mammalian skin cells includes the steps of: (a.) administering a polynucleotide vaccine into the skin at an administration site, (b.) applying a needle electrode to the skin in the vicinity to the administration site, and (c.) applying a sequence of at least three single, operator-controlled, independently programmed, narrow interval electrical waveforms, which have pulse intervals that are less than 100 milliseconds, to deliver the polynucleotide vaccine into the skin cells by electroporation.

Abstract: A strain-balanced quantum well tunnel junction (SB-QWTJ) device. QW structures are formed from alternating quantum well and barrier layers situated between n++ and p++ layers in a tunnel junction formed on a substrate. The quantum well layers exhibit a compressive strain with respect to the substrate, while the barrier layers exhibit a tensile strain. The composition and layer thicknesses of the quantum well and barrier layers are configured so that the compressive and tensile strains in the structure are balanced.

Abstract: A device is described that includes sensors that are sensitive to displacement damage, and can be configured to display a characteristic damage curve. The sensors, or diodes, can be made of one or more semiconductor materials that are sensitive to displacement damage, and can be operated in dark illumination conditions. The sensors can have multiple shields of a specific or varied thickness. The shields can be formed in different configurations, though the shielding thickness can be designed to change the level of displacement damage absorbed by the sensors. The characteristic damage curve can provide a sensor response variable that displays a functional dependence on displacement damage. For example, the characteristic damage curve can provide a sensor response variable that is one or more currents measured at one or more fixed voltages, or one or more voltages measured at one or more fixed currents.

Abstract: A strain-balanced quantum well tunnel junction (SB-QWTJ) device. QW structures are formed from alternating quantum well and barrier layers situated between n++ and p++ layers in a tunnel junction formed on a substrate. The quantum well layers exhibit a compressive strain with respect to the substrate, while the barrier layers exhibit a tensile strain. The composition and layer thicknesses of the quantum well and barrier layers are configured so that the compressive and tensile strains in the structure are balanced.