ÿþ<html> <head> <script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-20353922-2']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); </script> </head> <body> <div style="width:800;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;"> <font face="verdana" size=2> <img src="Vidya_Banner_v1.jpg"> <p align="right"><b><i>e-mail me: first name + last initial at eecs dot berkeley dot edu</i></b></p> <h3><i>about</i></h3> <p> I'm a first year graduate student in the Electrical Engineering department at UC Berkeley working with the <a href="http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Faculty/Homepages/yablonovitch.html">Yablonovitch</a> group. Previously, I was an undergrad at MIT, where I researched with the <a href="http://pv.mit.edu/">Buonassisi</a> group. My current research focuses on improving solar cell efficiency with metal optics. </p> <p> <h3><i>past projects</i></h3> </p> <ul> <p> <li>Silicon Micro/Nanowires: We developed a technique based on manipulating metal impurities in bulk silicon through solubility and diffusion to seed controlled patterns of metal catalysts for Si wire growth. <br> <br> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smll.201002250">Paper</a>: Seeding of Silicon Wire Growth by Out-Diffused Metal Precipitates. <br>V. Ganapati, D.P. Fenning, M.I. Bertoni, C.E. Kendrick, A.E. Fecych, J.M. Redwing, T. Buonassisi. <i>Small</i>, 2011. </p> </li> <li> <p> Infrared Birefringence Imaging: Upon applying stress, photoelastic materials (such as silicon), become birefringent. We used infrared birefringence imaging to evaluate the mechanical strength of multicrystalline silicon wafers. This work was done in collaboration with the <a href="http://www.en.iwm.fraunhofer.de/">Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials</a> in Halle, Germany, where I spent a summer through the support of <a href="http://web.mit.edu/misti/mit-germany/">MISTI-Germany</a>. <br> <br> <a href="http://jap.aip.org/resource/1/japiau/v108/i6/p063528_s1">Paper</a>: Infrared birefringence imaging of residual stress and bulk defects in multicrystalline silicon. <br>V. Ganapati, S. Schoenfelder, S. Castellanos, S. Oener, R. Koepge, A. Sampson, M.A. Marcus, B. Lai, H. Morhenn, G. Hahn, J. Bagdahn, T. Buonassisi. <i>Journal of Applied Physics</i>, 2010. </li> </ul> <h3><i>links</i></h3> <ul> <li>Department of Energy Office of Science <a href="http://scgf.orau.gov/"> Graduate Fellowship</a></li> <li><a href="http://lmi.caltech.edu/">Light-Material Interactions in Energy Conversion</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.e3s-center.org/">Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science</a></li> </ul> </p> </font> </DIV> </body> </html>