The current trend concerning the thinning of solar cell devices is mainly motivated by economic aspects, such as the cost of the used rare-earth elements, and by the requirements of emergent technologies. The introduction of ultra-thin absorber layers results in a reduction of used materials and thus contributes to a more cost-effective and time-efficient production process.However, the use of absorber layers with thicknesses below 500nm gives rise to multiple apprehensions, including concerns regarding light management and the absorber’s quality.Therefore, this experimental work presents a novel solar cell architecture that aims to tackle the issues of optical and electrical losses associated with ultra-thin absorber layers. To that end, a Hafnium Oxide (H f O2) rear side passivation layer was introduced in-between the copper indium gallium (di)selenide Cu(In, Ga)Se2, CIGS-based absorber layer and the Molybdenum (Mo) back contact. Then, the proposed Potassium Fluoride (KF) alkali treatment successfully established point contacts on the ALD-deposited oxide layer, resulting in a passivation effect with minimum current blockage.The established cell architecture showed significant improvements regarding both open circuit voltage (Open-Circuit Voltage (Voc)) and efficiency when compared to unpassivated reference devices. The used solar cell simulator (SCAPS) attributes the observed improvements to a reduced minority carrier recombination velocity at the rear side of the device. Moreover, the provided photoluminescence (PL) results report a higher peak intensity and lifetime for passivated devices.Furthermore, the overlay of the given external quantum efficiency (EQE) spectra with the performed simulations show that the HfO2 passivation layer improves the optical reflection from the rear contact over a wavelength interval ranging from 500 to 1100 nm, resulting in a short circuit current (Jsc) improvement. An increased quantum efficiency observed throughout almost the entire measurement range, confirms that the enhance in Jsc is also due to electronic effects.Here, a produced solar cell device including a 3nm-thick HfO2 rear passivation layer and a 500nm-thick 3-stage CIGS absorber, achieved a conversion efficiency of 9.8%.Further, the approach of combining an innovative rear surface passivation layer with a fluoride-based alkali treatment resulted in the development and successful characterisation of a 1-stage, 8.6% efficient solar cell. Such result, mainly due to a short circuit current (Jsc) enhancement, supports the introduction of more straightforward production steps, which allows a more cost-effective and time-efficient production process. The produced device consisted of a 500nm-thick CIGS absorber, rear passivated with an ultra-thin (2nm) HfO2 layer combined with a 0.6M KF treatment. / Den nuvarande trenden när det gäller solcellsanordningar huvudsakligen motiveras av ekonomiska aspekter, såsom kostnaden för att använda sällsynta jordartsmetaller, och av kraven i ny teknik. Införandet av ultratunna absorptionsskikt resulterar i en minskning av använda material och bidrar därmed till en mer kostnadseffektiv och tidseffektiv produktionsprocess.Användningen av absorptionsskikt med tjocklekar under 500 nm ger emellertid upphov till flera bekymmer, beträffande ljushantering och absorptorkvalitet.Därför presenterar detta experimentella arbete en ny solcellarkitektur som syftar till att ta itu med frågorna om optiska och elektriska förluster förknippade med ultratunna absorberlager. För detta ändamål infördes ett Hafnium Oxide (H f O2) bakre sidopassiveringsskikt mellan kopparindiumgallium (di) selenid Cu(In, Ga)Se2, CIGSbaserat absorberande skikt och Molybdenum (Mo) kontakt. Sedan upprättade den föreslagna kaliumfluorid (KF) alkali-behandlingen framgångsrikt punktkontakter på det ALD-avsatta oxidskiktet, vilket resulterade i en passiveringseffekt med minimal strömblockering.Den etablerade cellarkitektur visade signifikanta förbättringar avseende både öppna kretsspänningen (Voc) och effektivitet i jämförelse med opassiverad referensanordningar. Den använda solcellsimulatorn (SCAPS) tillskriver de observerade förbättringarna till en minskad minoritetsbärares rekombinationshastighet på enhetens baksida. Dessutom de tillhandahålls fotoluminescens (PL) resultat rapporterar en högre toppintensitet och livslängd för passive enheter.Dessutom visar överläggningen av det givna externa kvantitetseffektivitetsspektrumet (EQE) med de utförda simuleringarna att passiveringsskiktet HfO2 förbättrar den optiska reflektionen från den bakre kontakten över ett våglängdsintervall från 500 till 1100 nm, vilket resulterar i i en kortslutningsström (Jsc) förbättring. En ökad kvantverkningsgrad observerats i nästan hela mätområdet, bekräftar att öka i Jsc är också på grund av elektroniska effekter.Här, en producerad solcellsanordning innefattande en 3 nm-tjock HfO2 bakre passiveringsskikt och ett 500 nm-tjock 3-stegs CIGS absorber, uppnått en omvandlingseffektivitet på 9.8%.Vidare resulterade tillvägagångssättet att kombinera ett innovativt bakre ytpassiveringsskikt med en fluoridbaserad alkalibehandling i utvecklingen och framgångsrik karaktärisering av en 1-stegs, 8.6% effektivitet solcell. Ett sådant resultat, främst på grund av en kortslutningsström (Jsc) förbättring, stöder införandet av mer enkla produktionssteg, vilket möjliggör en mer kostnadseffektiv och tidseffektiv produktionsprocess. Den framställda anordningen bestod av ett 500 nm-tjock CIGS absorber, bakre passiverad med en ultra-tunn (2 nm) HfO2-skikt kombineras med en 0.6M KF behandling.

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With the advance in nanotechnology, we are more interested in the "smaller worlds". One of the practical applications of this is to measure a very small displacement or the mass of a nano-mechanical object. To measure such properties, one needs a very sensitive detector. A quantum point contact (QPC) is one of the most sensitive detectors. In a QPC, electrons tunnel one by one through a tunnel junction (a "hole"). The tunnel junction in a QPC consists of a narrow constriction (nm-wide) between two conductors. To measure the properties of a nano-mechanical object (which acts as a harmonic oscillator), we couple it to a QPC. This coupling effects the electrons tunneling through the QPC junction. By measuring the transport properties of the tunneling electrons, we can infer the properties of the oscillator (i.e. the nano-mechanical object). However, this coupling introduces noise, which reduces the measurement precision. Thus, it is very important to understand this source of noise and to study how it effects the measurement process. We theoretically study the transport properties of electrons through a QPC junction, weakly coupled to a vibration mode of a nano-mechanical oscillator via both the position and the momentum of the oscillator. %We study both the position and momentum based coupling. The transport properties that we study consist of the average flow of current through the junction, given by the one-time correlation of the electron tunneling event, and the current noise given by the two-time correlation of the average current, i.e, the variance. The first comprehensive experimental study of the noise spectrum of a detector coupled to a QPC was performed by the group of Stettenheim et al. Their observed spectral features had two pronounced peaks which depict the noise produced due to the coupling of the QPC with the oscillator and in turn provide evidence of the induced feedback loop (back-action). Benatov and Blencowe theoretically studied these spectral features using the Born approximation and the Markovian approximation. In this case the Born approximation refers to second order perturbation of the interaction Hamiltonian. In this approximation, the electrons tunnel independently, i.e., one by one only, and co-tunneling is disregarded. The Markovian approximation does not take into account the past behavior of the system under time evolution. These two approximations also enable one to study the system analytically, and the noise is calculated using the MacDonald formula. Our main aim for this thesis is to find a suitable theoretical model that would replicate the experimental plots from the work of Stettenheim et al. Our work does not use the Markovian approximation. However, we do use the Born approximation. This is justified as long as the coupling between the oscillator and QPC is weak. We first obtain the non-Markovian unconditional master equation for the reduced density matrix of the system. Non-Markovian dynamics enables us to study, in principle, the full memory effects of the system. From the master equation, we then derive analytical results for the current and the current noise. Due to the non-Markovian nature of our system, the electron tunneling parameters are time-dependent. Therefore, we cannot study the system analytically. We thus numerically solve the current noise expression to obtain the noise spectrum. We then compare our noise spectrum with the experimental noise spectrum. We show that our spectral noise results agree better with the experimental evidence compared to the results obtained using the Markovian approximation. We thus conclude that one needs non-Markovian dynamics to understand the experimental noise spectrum of a QPC coupled to a nano-mechanical oscillator. / Physics

Dans le régime de l'effet Hall quantique, les porteurs de charge se propagent le long de canaux unidimensionnels situés au bords d'un gaz d'électron bidimensionel (2D electron gas, 2DEG). Un contact ponctuel quantique (quantum point contact, QPC) - une constriction étroite confinant spatialement le gaz électronique - permet de contrôler la transmission de ces canaux de bords. Dans un 2DEG conventionnel, une tension négative appliquée sur les grilles électrostatiques du QPC engendre la déplétion locale du gaz électronique sous la grille, forçant les électrons à se propager au travers de la constriction. Cependant, dans le graphène, du fait de l'absence de bande interdite, une tension négative provoque la transition continue du dopage d'électrons à trous. Dans le régime de l'effet Hall quantique, électrons et trous se propagent le long de l'interface p-n dans la même direction, et la diffusion inélastique induit un transfert de charge et du mélange entre eux.Au cours de cette thèse, nous avons fabriqué des dispositifs à base de graphène encapsulé dans deux feuillets de hBN, et munis de grilles électrostatiques définissant un QPC. Nous avons étudié l'effet du QPC sur la propagation des canaux de bords entiers et fractionnaires de l'effet Hall quantique, et sur le mélange entre eux. Dans l'effet Hall quantique, nous avons démontré que les canaux entiers et fractionnaires peuvent être contrôlés et sélectivement transmis au travers de la constriction. Du fait de la haute mobilité de nos structures, et de la levée de dégénérescence complète des niveaux de Landau qui en résulte à fort champ magnétique, l'équilibrage à l'interface p-n est réduit aux sous-niveaux de même spin et au niveau de Landau N=0.Un QPC dans le régime de l'effet Hall quantique constitue également un système idéal pour l'étude de l'effet tunnel des porteurs de charge entre canaux de bords fractionnaires, unidimensionnels et fortement corrélés, se propageant dans des directions opposées, décrits par la théorie de Tomonaga-Luttinger. Nous avons étudié l'effet tunnel entre canaux de bords fractionnaires dans notre structure muni un QPC, en nous concentrant sur l'état fractionnaire 7/3 et la dépendance en température de ses propriétés tunnels. / In the quantum Hall regime, the charge carriers are conducted within one-dimensional channels propagating at the edge of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). A quantum point contact (QPC) – a narrow constriction confining spatially electron transport – can control the transmission of these quantum Hall edge channels. In conventional 2DEG systems, a negative voltage applied on the electrostatic split gates depletes locally the electrons underneath them forcing the electrons to pass through the constriction. In contrast, due to the absence of a band gap in graphene, a negative gate voltage induces a continuous shift of the doping from electrons to holes. In the quantum Hall regime, electron and hole edge channels propagate along the pn-interface in the same direction while inelastic scattering induces charge transfer and mixing between them.In this PhD thesis, we have fabricated ballistic graphene devices made by van der Waals stacking of hBN/Gr/hBN heterostructures, and equipped with split gates forming a quantum point contact (QPC) constriction. We have studied the effect of the QPC on the propagation of integer and fractional quantum Hall edge channels and the mixing among them. In the quantum Hall regime, we demonstrate that the integer and fractional quantum Hall edge channels can be controlled and selectively transmitted by the QPC. Due to the high mobility of our devices and the resultant full lifting of the degeneracies of the Landau levels in strong magnetic field, equilibration at the pn-interface is restricted to sublevels of identical spins of the N=0 Landau level.A QPC in the quantum Hall regime offers also an ideal system to study the tunnelling of charge carriers between counter-propagating fractional edge channels of highly correlated, one-dimensional fermions described by the theory of Tomonaga-Luttinger. We study the tunnelling between fractional quantum Hall edge channels in our QPC device in graphene and focus on the 7/3-fractional state to explore the temperature dependence of tunnelling characteristics.

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