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Design007-July2019

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JULY 2019 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 47 thing simple that we can encourage each oth- er with will build up self-esteem and go a long ways towards improving communication. 4. Use the Right Name I just couldn't resist, but there is more to this than you might think. I've been in situ- ations where someone's name has been mis- pronounced or a nickname used that grates on that person. I've seen those people close up and not respond, and a seed of bitterness gets planted that has a lasting impact. Our names are important; they matter. Building a healthy work environment with all of our co-workers is every bit as important as our capabilities and skills in PCB design. I've been in work situations where I've been isolated either because of distance or work cul- ture. On the other hand, I've been in places that have pushed me to excel by building me up with trust and support. I can tell you hon- estly that I've gotten a lot more accomplished in the latter work environments than I ever have in the former. Because of this, I'm a big advocate of always looking for ways to sup- port and build each other up. The end results of these efforts promote better communication and clear the way for the open development of new ideas and concepts that are vital to our success. Remember, we are all in the business of sup- porting our customers. Whether that means ac- tual customers who purchase the products we design, our management who signs our pay- checks, or our co-workers who depend on us to supply them with what they need to do their jobs. We should all keep looking for bet- ter ways to build up and support those that we work with. And yes, it can start with something as simple as using someone's correct name. Until next time then, keep on supporting and designing. DESIGN007 Tim Haag is a PCB design consultant based in Portland, Oregon. To read past columns or contact Haag, click here. A Flexible Future Xiaojing Hao, associate professor and Scientia Fellow in the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), and her team are building thin, flexi- ble solar panels made of kesterite photovoltaics. Con- taining copper, zinc, tin, and sulfur, they are cheaper to make and more environmentally friendly than other thin-film varieties on the market, some of which con- tain toxic materials, such as cadmium, or rare ele- ments, such as indium and tellurium. There are significant industrial applications for flexible, thin photovoltaic cells. But a key challenge has been their limited capacity to generate energy with comparable efficiency and cost to that of con- ventional silicon solar panels. In 2017, Hao's team built a kesterite photovoltaic cell that attained 11% efficiency. This set a world re- cord—a fourth for the team—and was the first time that the 10% efficiency threshold was broken for this type of cell. This work was published in Nature Energy. "For each efficiency change, we need a step- change technology to make it happen," says Hao. She hopes to improve the efficiency of kesterite pho- tovoltaic cells to close to 20% in the next five years. To do this, her team needs to work out how to prevent the common defects in the lattice of the kesterite ma- terial. The reasons for these defects are not yet well understood. However, once corrected, the electrical quality of the material will improve. Exciting findings from 2018 point to some new di- rections to control the defects and improve the per- formance of kesterite cells. The plan is to apply for Australian Research Council funding to delve deeper and publish some of these results this year. (Source: UNSW)

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