Arvind Shah

Portrait of Arvind V. Shah (2018)

Arvind Victor Shah (born 1940 in India ) is a Swiss electrical engineer, lecturer and scientist. Shah founded the Center for Electronics Design and Technology (CEDT) at the Indian Institute of Science , Bangalore in 1974 . There he was jointly responsible director for the first four years of its existence. He was then appointed full professor of electronics at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland . In order to better support his work in the field of photovoltaics , he founded the photovoltaic laboratory in 1985 as part of the Institute of Microtechnology (IMT) in Neuchâtel . In addition, Shah became a part-time professor for electronic materials at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Together with his team at IMT, he developed a new type of thin-film solar cell , called a micromorph tandem solar cell .

Life

His father was Indian, his mother Ticino from southern Switzerland. His family left India in 1945 and moved to Zurich in 1948 . He attended schools in Zurich and studied electrical engineering at the ETH Zurich . There he graduated in 1964 as a graduate engineer and received his doctorate in 1969 at the Institute for Applied Physics under Ernst Baumann .

Arvind Shah is married to Brigitte Shah and has three daughters.

career

Shah remained until 1975 as chief assistant, lecturer and coordinator of projects for cooperation with local industrial companies at the Institute for Technical Physics at ETH.

During this time he also worked on a project to promote the training of engineers in India. He sought the necessary support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the responsible authority in India (Electronics Commission of the Government of India). Both organizations agreed to build a new electronics center in Bangalore as part of the Indian Institute of Science. Shah therefore moved to Bangalore to manage the newly established Center for Electronics Design and Technology (CEDT) together with his Indian colleague B. S. Sonde .

He was then appointed professor at the University of Neuchâtel in French-speaking Switzerland in 1979. He specialized in material technology and thin film technology for applications in optoelectronics . His team developed a process for coating using Very High Frequency Plasma Deposition (VHF plasma). With the help of this process, his team was able to produce microcrystalline silicon layers for solar cells. In 1994, by combining it with an amorphous silicon layer , the group developed a new type of tandem solar cell under the name Micromorph Solar Cell . The advantage of this new type of solar cell is the high efficiency of the opto-electrical conversion over a broad spectrum of infrared and visible light. In order to industrialize this invention, Shah looked for suitable licensees. The Swiss company Oerlikon Balzers, which specializes in coating technology, took over the manufacture of the corresponding manufacturing equipment from 2003 . These activities were later taken over by the Japanese company Tokyo Electron (TEL) and became part of the TEL Solar Division .

Awards

Shah was awarded the 2007 Becquerel Prize for life's work in the field of solar cells. This European Commission prize is awarded annually to a personality who has made a name for himself in photovoltaics over a long period of time.

Retirement

Shah retired from the university in 2005. He then worked as a consultant for companies and organizations in various countries. He was also active in the Swiss Green Party . He was critical of the introduced Swiss rules for the promotion of alternative energies.

Publications

Arvind V. Shah is the author or co-author of over 370 scientific publications (mostly in English; referenced over 9000 times).

Some of his publications were intended for the general public to explain the role of electrical energy and to make recommendations for Swiss energy policy.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} biography. (No longer available online.) University of Neuchâtel , archived from the original on December 9, 2018 ; Retrieved December 6, 2018 (French). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ ^{a b} Sonia Zoran: Quand l'amour de l'Inde mène à la recherche de pointe. In: Le Nouveau Quotidien . February 20, 1992, p. 23, accessed December 6, 2018.
3. ↑ Development of Piccard's solar airplane in Neuchâtel. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . March 22, 2005, p. 19.
4. ↑ Arvind Shah. Enseignement & Phd. EPFL , accessed December 6, 2018.
5. ^ Arvind Shah et al .: Microcrystalline silicon and micromorph tandem solar cells. In: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells. Volume 78, 2003, pp. 469-491.
6. ↑ Arvind Shah: Theoretical and practical studies on dielectric applications of ferroelectrics. Juris Verlag, Zurich 1969 (Dissertation No. 4059).
7. ↑ Arvind Shah: Some Thoughts on Practical Training for Electrical Engineers. In: Festschrift for the 60th birthday of Prof. Dr. hc E. Baumann. Hasler Works Foundation. Working Group for Electrical Communications Technology (AGEN), Zurich 1969, No. 10, pp. 141–146
8. ↑ ^{a b} Arvind Shah. Consultant for Photovoltaic Solar Projects.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. LinkedIn Turkey, accessed December 8, 2018.  
9. ↑ Christian Speicher: Thin-film solar cells with improved efficiency. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. April 10, 2002, p. 69.
10. ^ Anton Vos: Les cellules souples éclairent l'avenir de l'énergie solaire. In: Le Temps . February 8, 2000, accessed December 6, 2018.
11. ^ Tel Announces Acquisition of Oerlikon Solar. Tokyo Electron (TEL), March 3, 2012 (media release), accessed December 6, 2018.
12. ↑ Innovation & Technology. Prix ​​à un chercheur en énergie solaire. In: Le Temps. September 4, 2007, accessed December 6, 2018.
13. ↑ Pierre Veya: La bulle et le sacrifice. In: Le Temps. February 5, 2012 (Editorial), accessed December 6, 2018.
14. ^ ^{A b} Arvind Shah: Réussir la transition énergétique en Suisse. In: Le Temps. June 16, 2014, accessed December 6, 2018.
15. ↑ Arvind Shah. Research items. In: ResearchGate . Retrieved December 6, 2018.
16. ↑ Jan Remund, Arvind Shah, Nicolas Wyrsch: Future contribution of photovoltaics to the energy transition. In: Bulletin Electrosuisse / VSE. No. 5, 2015, pp. 20-23, accessed December 6, 2018.