Solar Cell Imaging: A Gateway for Visualization and Learning in STEM Disciplines

该项目正在开发、验证和传播一系列基于太阳能电池成像技术“工具箱”的教育模块，目的是向本科生传授核心和高级STEM学科的概念和方法。这些主题包括光学；红外物理、图像捕获、处理和分析；热成像；热传递；半导体器件和技术；金相学和材料科学；统计学和信号处理。通过使用一系列成像技术来研究类似类型样品中的不同物理效应，学生们正在认识到看似无关的现象是如何联系在一起的，以及如何使用不同的测量技术来证实、补充或补充其他技术的局限性。正在收集和分析关于学生学习结果的数据，以评估这些模块的有效性。该项目将光学和热学成像提升到本科教育中更突出的位置，并通过提供半导体能量转换中的光学、电气、机械和热效应的可视化，促进学生学习核心STEM课程。它利用和利用低成本但强大的成像技术的出现来教授科学和工程中的核心概念。这一创新项目正在为学生们在质量控制、过程自动化、生物医学领域(如诊断成像、材料科学、电子制造、国土安全、生物识别、基础设施检查、遥感、气体检测和能源效率)不断扩大和日益重要的应用做好准备。

The project is developing, validating, and disseminating a series of educational modules based on a "tool box" of solar cell imaging techniques with the aim of teaching undergraduates the concepts and methods of core and advanced STEM subjects. These topics include optics; infrared physics, image capture, processing, and analysis; thermography; heat transfer; semiconductor devices and technology; metallography and materials science; statistics and signal processing. By using a battery of imaging techniques to study diverse physical effects in similar-type samples, students are gaining an appreciation of how seemingly unrelated phenomena are connected, and how different measurement techniques can be used to corroborate, complement, or supplement the limitations of other techniques. Data on student learning outcomes are being collected and analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of the modules. The project is elevating imaging, both optical and thermal, to a more prominent place in undergraduate education, and is facilitating students' learning core STEM subjects by providing visualization of optical, electrical, mechanical, and thermal effects in semiconductor energy conversion. This works exploits and leverages the advent of low-cost but powerful imaging technology to teach core concepts in science and engineering. This innovative project is preparing students for the ever-expanding, and increasingly important, applications of imaging in quality control, process automation, biomedical fields such as diagnostics imaging, materials science, electronics manufacturing, homeland security, biorecognition, infrastructure inspection, remote sensing, gas detection, and energy efficiency.