Joe Beach
CSM Physics Department, Meyer Hall, Room 447
1523 Illinois Street, Golden CO 80401-1887
Phone: 303-384-2176
Fax: 303-273-3919
E-mail: jbeach@mines.edu

Joe Beach CSM Physics logo

Introduction

I am an associate research professor in the Physics Department at the Colorado School of Mines. I have a personal interest in sustainable energy, and my research interests tend to reflect that. In addition to my research experience in sustainable energy, I have also been involved in an early stage thin film photovoltaic manufacturing company and I am a part owner of Starfire Energy, a solar electric system design and installation business.

Research Interests

I have a strong personal interest in sustainable energy and energy efficiency, and these interests tend to guide my research. In particular, I enjoy researching photovoltaic technologies and energy storage technologies. I am currently working on improved processes for making cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells and characterizing indium gallium nitride (InGaN) thin films made by a novel deposition process.

The vapor transport deposition system's source tube while it is heating. Faculty at CSM have been researching CdTe solar cells for over a decade. We currently deposit the CdTe absorber layer of the cells using a "vapor transport deposition" machine. This machine heats solid CdTe chunks in a quartz glass tube while flowing a carrier gas over them. The carrier gas moves the vaporized CdTe to a substrate, where it deposits as a thin polycrystalline film. A photo of the CdTe source tube being heated is shown at the right. The upper heater vaporizes the CdTe, and the lower heater keeps the tube downstream of the source hotter than the "dew point" of the CdTe vapor/carrier gas mixture so that the CdTe vapor does not deposit in the source tube. A method similar to this is presently used by First Solar to deposit CdS and CdTe films in their commercial CdTe-based solar electric panels. The method should also be suitable for depositing ZnTe films, which some research indicates is a good back contact for CdTe cells. I intend to research the vapor transport deposition of ZnTe, along with plasma enhanced vapor transport deposition.

Although a lot of my activity for the past few years has been focused on CdTe solar cells, most of the solar electric panels made in the world use polycrystalline or monocrystalline silicon solar cells. A major cost driver for these type of solar panels is the cost of the purified silicon "feedstock" material that is used to make the silicon wafers that are processed into solar cells. Research to develop a lower cost process for producing high purity silicon could help significantly reduce the cost of silicon solar panels. This is an area of increasing interest for me.

"Hands-On" Solar Experience

A 1.6 kW solar electric array mounted on a home's roof In early 2007, my wife started Starfire Energy, which designs and installs solar electric systems for homes and businesses. I joined her in the business in late 2007, and I have found it to be very educational. It is one thing to grow and characterize cells on 3.7 cm x 3.7 cm substrates in the lab, but it is another thing altogether to take 1 m x 1 m polycrystalline silicon modules and make them into a high quality, durable system in the field. The work has given me a lot of insight into the research and products that are needed to assist the solar electric industry. The photo at the right shows the solar electric array that my wife and I installed on our home. It is a 1.6 kW array, and over the course of a year it generates about 85% of the electricity we use. We hope to increase that to 100% by increasing our energy efficiency around the house.