The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of an in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique used to study the thermal stability of various transition metal oxide-based contacts used as carrier-selective contacts in silicon solar cells. In the present work, MoOx/Al and WOx/Al were investigated as hole-selective rear contacts using a combination of in situ TEM and transmission line measurements (TLM).

In this study, a molybdenum oxide (MoO x ) and aluminum (Al) contact structure for crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells is investigated using a combination of transmission line measurements (TLM) and in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Cross-sectional high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) micrographs reveal a ≈2 nm silicon oxide (SiO x ) interlayer at c-Si/MoO x interface in the as-deposited state, indicating that formation of SiO x occurs during deposition of MoO x . Moreover, oxygen diffusion takes place from MoO x toward Al resulting in the formation of a ≈2–3 nm aluminum oxide (AlO x ) interlayer at the MoO x /Al interface. Overall, it is observed that MoO x /Al contact is relatively stable upon annealing up to 200 °C and still retains ohmic transport with sufficiently low contact resistivity.

In this study, the thermal stability of a contact structure featuring hole-selective tungsten oxide (WO_x) and aluminum deposited onto p-type crystalline silicon (c-Si/WO_x/Al) was investigated using a combination of transmission line measurements (TLM) and in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies. The TEM images provide insight into why the charge carrier transport and recombination characteristics change as a function of temperature, particularly as the samples are annealed at temperatures above 500 °C. In the as-deposited state, a ≈ 2 nm silicon oxide (SiO_x) interlayer forms at the c-Si/WO_x interface and a ≈ 2-3 nm aluminum oxide (AlO_x) interlayer at the WO_x/Al interface. When annealing above 500 °C, Al diffusion begins, and above 600 °C complete intermixing of the SiO_x, WO_x, AlO_x and Al layers occurs. This results in a large drop in the contact resistivity, but is the likely reason surface recombination increases at these high temperatures, since a c-Si/Al contact is basically being formed. This work provides some fundamental insight that can help in the development of WO_x films as hole-selective rear contacts for p-type solar cells. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that in situ TEM can provide valuable information about thermal stability of transition metal oxides functioning as carrier-selective contacts in silicon solar cells.

The focus of this work is on the nano-scale characterization of transition metal oxides employed as carrier selective contacts in crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells using crosssectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Both electronselective (titanium dioxide, TiO 2 ) and hole-selective (molybdenum oxide, MoO x ; tungsten oxide, WO x textbf) contacts were investigated. High-resolution TEM (HRTEM) images were obtained with a FEI Tecnai F30 TEM.

Zymoseptoria tritici is the most economically significant fungal pathogen of wheat in Europe. However, despite the importance of this pathogen, the molecular interactions between pathogen and host during infection are not well understood. Herein, we describe the use of two libraries of cloned Z. tritici effectors that were screened to identify effector candidates with putative pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP)-triggered immunity (PTI)-suppressing activity. The effectors from each library were transiently expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana, and expressing leaves were treated with bacterial or fungal PAMPs to assess the effectors ability to suppress reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. From these screens, numerous effectors were identified with PTI-suppressing activity. In addition, some effectors were able to suppress cell death responses induced by other Z. tritici secreted proteins. We used structural prediction tools to predict the putative structures of all of the Z. tritici effectors and used these predictions to examine whether there was enrichment of specific structural signatures among the PTI-suppressing effectors. From among the libraries, multiple members of the killer protein-like 4 (KP4) and killer protein-like 6 (KP6) effector families were identified as PTI suppressors. This observation is intriguing, as these protein families were previously associated with antimicrobial activity rather than virulence or host manipulation. This data provides mechanistic insight into immune suppression by Z. tritici during infection and suggests that, similar to biotrophic pathogens, this fungus relies on a battery of secreted effectors to suppress host immunity during early phases of colonization.