Dr Anish Soman
Dr. Anish Soman is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Fellow hosted at the Electronic and Interface Materials Laboratory. His career in photovoltaics spans over a decade, encompassing extensive experience across both industry and academia.
Dr. Soman began his solar research journey at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) / National Center for Photovoltaic Research & Education (NCPRE), focusing on light management for thin-film solar cells using one-dimensional photonic crystals and glass texturization. During this time, he also developed a material library of tunable refractive index silicon nitrides and oxynitrides for use as passivation layers, anti-reflection coatings, and buffer layers in silicon solar cells. Additionally, he is a co-inventor of SMART© colored solar cells.
He earned his M.S. from the University of Delaware, where his research centered on the broader theme of photonics, including the fabrication of photonic devices. While completing his Master’s, he was a summer scholar at Princeton University and contributed to a NASA EPSCoR project, which resulted in his 2D material devices being sent to the International Space Station (ISS) for testing.
Dr. Soman completed his Ph.D. at the Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC) and his doctoral research focused on interface engineering in silicon heterojunction solar cells using hydrogen plasma treatment, as well as the development of lithography-free interdigitated back contact solar cells. Complementing his technical background, he completed executive education in Business Sustainability Strategy: Technology & Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Following his doctorate, Dr. Soman transitioned to industry, contributing to the Advanced Research team at First Solar as part of both the tandem performance and perovskite device physics groups. During this period, he was also a visiting researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Beyond his research, Dr. Soman is a dedicated advocate for sustainability and loves to mentor & teach. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, travelling, and photography.
Theme: Passivating carrier selective contacts in tandem PV
Selected Publications:
1. Soman, A.; Nsofor, U.; Das, U.; Gu, T.; Hegedus, S. "Correlation between in Situ Diagnostics of the Hydrogen Plasma and the Interface Passivation Quality of Hydrogen Plasma Post-Treated a-Si:H in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells". ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2019, 11 (17), 16181–16190.
2. Soman, A.; Das, U.; Hegedus, S. "Interface Engineering by Intermediate Hydrogen Plasma Treatment Using Dc-PECVD for Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells". ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 2023, 5(2), 803–811.
3. Soman†, A.; Burke†, R.A.; Li†, Q; Valentin, M.D.; Li, T.; Mao, D.; Dubey, M.; Gu, T. "Hydrogen Plasma Exposure of Monolayer MoS2 Field-Effect Transistors and Prevention of Desulfurization by Monolayer Graphene", ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2020, 12, 37305–37312.
4. Soman, A.; Das, U.; Ahmed, N.; Sinha, A.; Gupta, M.; Hegedus, S. "Process-induced losses by plasma leakage in lithography-free shadow masked interdigitated back contact silicon heterojunction architectures", Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing 2023, 166, 107762.
A detailed list of his publications can be found on Google Scholar and ORCID.
