Week 4

This week wasn’t filled with much. I really didn’t do a lot of work if anything. For the first few days I was trying to figure out how to solve for the optical reflection coefficient (R). That took a little bit of time searching different websites. I found multiple equations that were all derivatives of the each other. I kept getting wrong answers. It wasn’t until Thursday that we figured out that Microsoft Excel uses radians and not degrees and I had entered the angles in degrees and not in radians. I felt pretty blonde at that point but don’t we all at one point or another in our lives. Now back to earlier in the week, on Tuesday I was told that I was done working on the solar cell project because I had accomplished with what I needed to do by finding out the External Quantum Efficiency. Well it wasn’t until I got R correct that I was completely done. My advisor has been given money from NASA to work on a project. That is the new project that I am a part of. The new project is trying to optimize the index of refraction of a thin film of iron on top of silicon. I am going to change the thickness of the thin film by etching the pieces with phosphoric acid. The longer I leave the sample in the acid the thinner it will be. I have learned how to etch and use all the safety precautions. For the first time I have to wear a lab coat, protective eye wear, and protective gloves because I am dealing with an acid. To measure the thickness of the film I use an ellipsometer. I am excited for this project because I will have work to do that I can do by myself. I do not have to wait for my advisor to tell me everything to do. It will be a great experience and I am excited to be able to update everyone every week. That was this week at work.
As far as life in DC goes. I didn’t do much this week except go and see some memorials. I thought I had been to everything in DC as far as museums, monuments, and memorials. But, I hadn’t ever seen the FDR memorial. I think that is my favorite one now. Well he is my favorite president. It was fun to see and hang out with some of the other interns. I hope to do more next week to have a better update.