MOEMS/MEMS Names Best Green Photonics Papers

Research papers on solar cells and LEDs were singled out for their contributions to green photonics by the MOEMS-MEMS (micro-optoelectromechanical systems/microelectromechanical systems) symposium committee at SPIE Photonics West Monday morning. The papers were among more than 202 research papers on micro- and nanofabrication presented during the MOEMS-MEMS conference.

The winning papers were announced by Stephen J. Eglash of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University, who described green photonics as encompassing technologies such as solid-state lighting, displays, communications, and renewable energy generation. Eglash is chair of the 2011 SPIE Green Photonics Symposium, a "virtual symposium" within Photonics West. The program committee has assembled 270 papers that advance a more sustainable and energy-efficient future.

Winning for his paper, "Microscale printed LEDs for unusual lighting and display systems," was John A. Rogers of the department of materials science and engineering, Beckman Institute and Materials Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His paper describes materials, fabrication techniques and mechanical design strategies for systems that consist of arrays of interconnected, ultrathin inorganic LEDs on unusual substrates, ranging from sheets of plastic, to elastic membranes and bands, to sheets of aluminum foil and paper, to balloons, thin ribbons and fine threads.

Also receiving acknowledgement was the paper, "Microfabrication of microsystem-enabled photovoltaic (MEPV) cells," by Gregory N. Nielson, Murat Okandan, Jose L. Cruz-Campa, Paul J. Resnick, Peggy J. Clews, Tammy C. Pluym, and Carlos A. Gupta of Sandia National Labs; and Mark W. Wanlass of the National Renewable Energy Lab.

MEPV cells allow solar PV systems to take advantage of scaling benefits that occur as solar cells are reduced in size. As described in the Sandia paper, the researchers have developed MEPV cells that are 2 to 20 µm thick and down to 250 µm across and have demonstrated solar conversion efficiencies of nearly 15 percent. To fabricate the cells, the researchers combined microfabrication techniques developed using microsystem technologies such as MEMS and integrated circuits. In the paper, they present detailed information on the microfabrication techniques and lessons learned in manufacturing both crystalline silicon and gallium arsenide MEPV cells.

For more information, visit: www.spie.org

See also our Photonics West coverage page.

by Melinda Rose, Senior Editor