Biography

I studied Physics between 1990 and 1996 at the Universities of Ulm (Germany) and Waikato (New Zealand). While specializing mostly on Theoretical Physics and Quantum Theory during my studies, I turned towards Experimental Physics for a graduate work on gas-phase epitaxy of silicon. After that, I pursued a PhD program at ETH Zürich (Switzerland), studying Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells. As PostDoc, I went to EMPA (Switzerland) to work on plasma processes for hard coatings of TiN and to the  Jülich Research Centre in Germany to study light scattering ZnO front contacts for solar cells. In 2005 I joined the  Institute of Microengineering (IMT) at the University of Neuchatel to lead a research group on thin film silicon solar cells within the PV-Lab. In 2009 the IMT was integrated into EPFL. My main research interests are optics, charge transport in semiconductors and renewable energy in general. My current work devoted to passivating contacts for crystalline silicon solar cells, using thin silicon films as contact layers.

In 2015 I was appointed Maitre d'Enseignement et Recherche (Senior Lecturer and Scientist) and member of the Faculty of STI.

I am currently member of the EPFL teacher council (CCE). My main objectives for the legislature are to represent the role of EPFL's intermediate staff and to raise the awareness for concerns of the satellite campuses.