CURRICULUM VITAE

Dr. Vipul Kheraj

Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Email: vipul.kheraj@utah.edu
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Phone: +1 (801) 230-3534
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
Assistant Professor Email: vipulkheraj@gmail.com
Department of Applied Physics, kva@ashd.svnit.ac.in
S. V. National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Phone: +91 9904334220
Surat - 395 007, Gujarat, India +91 2612201787

 ACADEMIC PROFILE

 Ph.D. in Applied Physics on “Development and Fabrication of High Power Laser

Diode” from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, India in
December-2008.
 M.Sc. in Physics from Department of Physics, Bhavnagar University, Bhavnagar, India
in May-2004.
 B.Sc. in Physics from Sir P. P. Institute of Science, Bhavnagar University, Bhavnagar,
India in April-2002.
 AWARDS/FELLOWSHIPS
 Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowship 2013-14
 DAE/BRNS Research Fellowship for the project “Development of Processes for the
Fabrication of High Power Laser Diodes” from July 2004 to December 2007.
 Late Dr. Rohit Bhatt Gold Medal and Dr. R. V. Mehta Award for securing highest
mark in M.Sc (Physics) exams held in June-2004 at Department of Physics, Bhavnagar
University, Bhavnagar.
 “Minaxi Lalit Science Award” for Physics in December 2001, organized by Gujarat
Science Academy, Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.


 WORK EXPERIENCE
 Currently Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Utah,
USA for one year from Sep 15, 2013 to Sep 14, 2014. My project aims at the study of
new cost-effective materials for development of solar cell.
 Working as an Assistant Professor in Department of Applied Physics, Sardar
Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Surat, India since March 2009,
where I am involved in teaching Physics at B.Tech and M.Sc. level as well as designing
new curriculum for five year integrated M.Sc. Physics course.
 Worked as a Senior Research Fellow in DAE-BRNS project entitled “Development of
Processes for Fabrication of High Power Laser Diodes” at Applied Physics Department,
Faculty of Technology & Engineering, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda,
Vadodara, India, from April 2006 to December 2007.
 Involved in development and optimization of growth and post-growth processing of
high power Quantum-Well (QW) edge-emitting laser diodes using MOVPE (MOCVD)
technique at RRCAT, Indore, India from August 2006 to June 2007.
 Life member of Indian Laser Association
 FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECT
 Principal Investigator for a sponsored research project entitled “Development of Anti-
Reflection Coatings for Fabrication of Superluminescent Light Emitting Diode”, Project
Duration: 2011-2014, Funded by: BRNS, Government of India.

I
 RESEARCH INTERESTS
 Thin-Film Solar Cells: Currently I am working on the materials for Thin-Film Solar
Photovoltaics. I am interested to study the synthesis and properties of new low-cost,
earth-abundant and non-toxic photovoltaic materials for its role as absorber in thin-
film PV.
 Semiconductor Optoelectronic Devices, Nano-structured Materials.
 IMPORTANT TRAINING/SCHOOL/WORKSHOP
 Attended and Presented Oral Talk at Workshop on Photovoltaic Materials and
Manufacturing Issues-II, organized by Material Research Society and National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at Denver, Colorado, USA, during October
4-7, 2011.
 Attended and Presented Paper at International Conference on Materials for
Advanced Technology (ICMAT), organized by Material Research Society,
Singapore, at Singapore during June 26 - July 01, 2011.
 Attended International Summer School on Photovoltaics and New Concepts of
Quantum Solar Energy Conversion (QUANTSOL), organized by Helmholtz-
Zentrum Berlin from 18th to 25th Sep 2010 in Hirschegg, Kleinwalsertal, Austria.
 Carried out Summer School Project on “Experimental Studies on Electron Cyclotron
Resonance Breakdown” during Summer School Programme-2003 at Institute for
Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India under the guidance of Prof. Dhiraj Bora.
 Attended and presented lab activity report on “Research Activities on
Optoelectronic Materials and Devices at Department of Applied Physics” at
Optoschool-08, organized by Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR)
during July 27-August 02, 2008 at Mumbai, India.
 Apart from these, I have participated and presented my research work at various
Iinternational workshops/conferences at Germany (KIT), Singapore (NUS), Poland
(Gdansk University of Technology), etc.
 LIST OF A FEW SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
 Chapter in a Book:
 Optimization of Facet-Coating for High-Power Laser Diodes
V.A. Kheraj and C. J. Panchal
Chapter in Edited Book: “Laser and Bose-Einstein Condensation Physics”, Ed.: Man
Mohan, Anil Kumar, A.B. Bhattacharje; Narosa Publishing House (2010) pp. 101-121
 Journals:
 Extraction of solar cell parameters from a single current-voltage characteristic
using teaching learning based optimization algorithm
S. J. Patel, A. K. Panchal and Vipul Kheraj
Applied Energy 119 (2014) pp. 384–393
 Structural and Optical Properties of Silicon Thin-films Deposited by Hot-Wire
Chemical Vapor Deposition: The Effects of Silane Concentrations
A.K. Panchal, V. Beladiya, Vipul Kheraj
Thin Solid Films 542 (2013) pp. 139–143
 Synthesis and characterisation of Copper Zinc Tin Sulphide (CZTS) compound
for absorber material in solar-cells
Vipul Kheraj, K.K.Patel, S.J.Patel, D.V.Shah
Journal of Crystal Growth 362 (2013) pp. 174–177
 Effects of Annealing on Structural Properties of Copper Zinc Tin Sulphide
(CZTS) Material
K.K. Patel, D.V. Shah, Vipul Kheraj
Journal of Nano- and Electronic Physics 5 (2013) pp. 020311 - 020313
II
  Solar Cell Parameters Extraction from a Current-Voltage Characteristic Using
Genetic Algorithm
S.J. Patel, A.K. Panchal, Vipul Kheraj
Journal of Nano- and Electronic Physics 5 (2013) pp. 020081 - 020083
 Substrate Temperature Effect on Structural Properties of Bi2Te3 Thin Films
B.S. Jariwala, D.V. Shah, Vipul Kheraj
Journal of Nano- and Electronic Physics 3 (2011) pp. 101-105
 Growth, structural and optical properties of copper indium diselenide thin films
deposited by thermal evaporation method
N.M. Shah, C.J. Panchal, V.A. Kheraj, J.R. Ray, M.S. Desai
Solar Energy 83 (5) (2009) pp. 753-760
 Electrophysical properties of Cu/Cr and Fe/Cr film systems within elastic and
plastic deformation range
S. Protsenko, D. Velykodnyi, V. Kheraj, M. Desai, C. Panchal, I. Protsenko
Journal of Materials Science 44 (18) (2009) pp. 4905-4910
 Simulation of Reflectivity Spectrum for Non-Absorbing Multilayer Optical Thin-
Films
V. A. Kheraj, C. J. Panchal, M. S. Desai and V. Potbhare
Pramana: Journal of Physics 72 (6) (2009) pp. 1011-1022
 Structural, electrical and optical properties of copper indium diselenide thin films
prepared by thermal evaporation
N.M. Shah, J.R. Ray, K.J. Patel, V.A. Kheraj, M.S. Desai, C.J. Panchal and B. Rehani
Thin Solid Films 517 (13) (2009) pp. 3639-3644
 Structural, optical and electrical properties of flash evaporated CIS thin films
N. M. Shah, C. J. Panchal, V. A. Kheraj, J. R. Ray and M. S. Desai
Journal of Material Science 44 (2009) pp. 316-322.
 Growth, structural, electrical and optical properties of the thermally evaporated
tungsten trioxide (WO3) thin films
K. J. Patel, C. J. Panchal, V. A. Kheraj, M. S. Desai
Materials Chemistry & Physics 114 (2009) pp. 475-478.
 Barrier inhomogeneities in Au/CdSe thin film Schottky diodes
C. J. Panchal, M. S. Desai, V.A. Kheraj, K. J. Patel and N. Padha
Semicond. Sci. Technol. 23 (2008) pp. 015003.
 Optimization of facet coating for highly strained InGaAs quantum well lasers
operating at 1200 nm
V.A. Kheraj, C.J. Panchal, P.K. Patel, B.M. Arora, T.K. Sharma
Optics & Laser Technology 39 (7) (2007) pp. 1395-1399
 Conference Proceedings:
 Determination of refractive index and thickness of thin-film from reflectivity
spectrum using genetic algorithm
Sanjaykumar J. Patel, Vipul Kheraj
AIP Conf. Proc. 1536 (2013) pp. 509-510
 Structural and optical properties of copper zinc tin sulphide (CZTS) material
synthesized using binary sulphide precursors
K. K. Patel, D. V. Shah, Vipul Kheraj
AIP Conf. Proc. 1512 (2012) pp. 1284-1285
 Estimation of the Reliability and Junction Temperature of the InGaP 650 nm
Quantum Well Laser Diode
G.G. Bhatt, C.J. Panchal, M.S. Desai, V.A. Kheraj T.K. Sharma
Proceedings of XV International Workshop on the Physics of Semiconductor
Devices (IWPSD-2009), New Delhi, December 15-19, 2009
III
  In-situ reflectivity measurement for anti-reflection coating on laser diode facet
Chetan Panchal, Vipul Kheraj, Pravin Patel, Krunal Pandya and Tarun Kumar Sharma
Proc. SPIE Vol. 6286, 62860H, Advances in Thin-Film Coatings for Optical
Applications III; Michael J. Ellison; Ed. (2006)
 Development of high power quantum well lasers at RRCAT
T. K. Sharma, Tapas Ganguli, V. K. Dixit, S. D. Singh, S. Pal, S. Porwal, Ravi Kumar,
Alexander Khakha, R. Jangir, Vipul Kheraj, P. Rawat, and A. K. Nath
Proc. of 6th DAE-BRNS National Laser Symposium, Dec 5-8, 2006, RRCAT, Indore.
 Effect of facet reflectivities on high-power highly strained InGaAs quantum-well
diode lasers operating at 1.2m
C. J. Panchal, V. A. Kheraj, K. M. Patel, P. K. Patel, B. M. Arora, T. K. Sharma
Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6028, p. 35-41, ICO20: Lasers and Laser Technologies; Y. C. Chen,
Dianyuan Fan, Chunqing Gao, Shouhuan Zhou; Eds. (2005).
 EXPERT LECTURES DELIVERED

 "Emerging Materials for Thin-Film Solar PV; In Pursuit of Cost-Effective Clean

Energy" delivered at University Metropolitana, San Juan, Puerto Rico on March 14,
2014 as a part of OLF travel award by CIES and Fulbright Visiting Scholar program
 “A Comparative Study on Synthesis of Quaternary Cu2ZnSnS4 from Elemental
and Binary-Sulphide Precursors” delivered as an Invited speaker in Second
International Symposium on Semiconductor Materials and Devices (ISSMD-2),
organized by University of Jammu at Jammu during 31 Jan-02 Feb 2013.
 “Virtual Instrumentation Approach for Semiconductor Materials Research”
delivered in a One Day course on Semiconductor Materials, Characterizations and
Applications at University of Jammu, Jammu on 30th January 2013.
 “Semiconductor Quantum Structures” delivered in Einstein Lecture Series on
Quantum Mechanics at Department of Applied Physics, SVNIT, Surat on Sep 08, 2011.
 “Laser Diode: Fabrication & Characterization” delivered in Staff Development
Programme on Recent Trends in Material Science and Technology at Department of
Applied Physics, SVNIT, Surat on December 08, 2009.
 “Virtual Instrumentation using LabVIEW” delivered in Staff Development
Programme on Non-Distructive Testing at Department of Applied Physics, SVNIT,
Surat on October 07, 2009.

IV