Fwd: [ee-doctorate] Oral Exam Announcement: Jae Hyung Lee

Dear lab members,

I would like to invite you all to my defense talk on Sep 24th 9 am on Monday. Thank you very much!

Best,
Jae

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From: Student Services <studentservices@ee.stanford.edu>
Date: Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 11:09 AM
Subject: [ee-doctorate] Oral Exam Announcement: Jae Hyung Lee
To: ee-students@lists.stanford.edu

PhD Dissertation Defense

Microfabricated Thermionic Energy Converters for Solar Electricity Generation

Jae Hyung Lee

Department of Electrical Engineering

Advisor: Prof. Roger T. Howe

Monday September 24th 2012

09:15 am

(Refreshments at 09:00 am)

Location: Paul G. Allen Building Annex (CIS-X) Auditorium

Abstract: 

Solar is the most attractive renewable energy source because it has the potential to meet global energy demands and is present everywhere. However, existing solar cells can be inefficient due to heat generated while converting solar light to electricity. Our novel approach to solid-state solar power, thermionic energy converters (TECs), are unique heat engines that convert heat directly to electricity at very high temperatures. This energy conversion process is based on thermionic emission—the evaporation of electrons from conductors at high temperatures. In its simplest form, the converter consists of two electrodes in the parallel-capacitor geometry and uses the thermionically-emitted current to drive a useful load. In addition, by using a p-type semiconductor material in the emitter electrode, the extra conduction band carrier population created by photoexcitation can enable a new type of electron emission process called photon-enhanced thermionic emission (PETE) process. Microfabricated TECs (μ-TECs) could be used as efficient topping cycles in future concentrated solar thermal power plants as well as for residential co-generation using natural gas. 

This talk will cover four key areas of my research on μ-TECs. I will discuss our prototypes of the mechanically and thermally robust μ-TECs, including the optimal emitter-collector gap calculation, structural design, and device fabrication, as well as our recent approach for the stand-alone (encapsulated) μ-TECs. I will also introduce the work function lowering technique through barium & barium oxide coating on the SiC emitter, and the first observation of photon-enhanced thermionic emission from a thin-film microfabricated emitter. Finally, I will talk about our recent fabrication development of smart-cut layer transfer using Spin-on-Glass (SoG).

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