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MARCH 2021 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 89 perature and chemical resistance, making it an ideal choice for stiffener attachment. e PSA tape features 3M high-performance, acrylic adhesive 200MP, an adhesive thickness of 2.0 mils (0.05 mm) and a poly-coated kra paper liner of 4.2-mil (0.11 mm) thickness. e 3M 9077 double-sided, pressure sensi- tive, adhesive tape is a high-temperature adhe- sive and release liner system that is easy to use. is is the recommended tape to be used for reflow soldering, as it survives short-term exposure to 500°F/260°C for lead-free solder reflow. e 9077 tape maintains high adhesive strength in high temperatures, and is excel- lent for heat intensive processing, as well as in high temperature attachments to heat sinks. It is ideal for flexible printed circuit attachments to clean metal surfaces with excellent hold- ing power and low outgassing. 3M9077 PST features a 2-mil 3M ultra-high-temperature acrylic adhesive 100HT, a 3.6 mil (.05 mm) clear, heat-resistant, non-woven liner adds sta- bility for die-cutting and converting. e long- term temperature rating is 300°F (150°C) and it is suitable for automotive under-hood appli- cations. Aluminum is also used as a stiffener with an insulator cover coat strip. is allows for hard mounting to a flat surface other than a PCB. In some applications, thermally conductive material, aluminum, or copper heat conduc- tive laminate can be used to manage heat while providing a hard mounting point for the flex circuit. FLEX007 John Talbot is president of Tramonto Circuits. To read past columns or contact Talbot, click here. To increase the performance of solar panels, a team of researchers based in Saudi Arabia, Italy, Germany and Canada has created a bifacial, or two-sided, tandem solar cell. The prototypes bring together the best of two separate technologies: sili- con and perovskites. Out in the field, light primarily comes directly from the sun. Conventional tandem solar cells already convert this light into electricity more efficiently compared to traditional silicon-only solar cells by absorbing addi- tional wavelengths of light. Now, researchers at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Sci- ence & Engineering–with colleagues at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the University of Bologna and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology–have realized that even more energy can be gathered using a two-sided tandem configuration. Light reflected and scattered from the ground– known as "albedo"–can also be collected to significantly increase the current of a tandem solar cell. "By exploiting the albedo, we can now generate currents higher than in conventional tandems, with- out increasing the manufacturing costs at all," said Michele De Bastiani of KAUST, co-lead author of this study. (Source: University of Toronto) Researchers Develop More Efficient Two-sided Solar Cells A bifacial perovskite/silicon solar cell prototype is field-tested at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. (photo courtesy of Michele De Bastiani)