Product architecture decisions impact how a firm can introduce new products to the market and are therefore strategically important. This article presents an approach to financially assess the product architecture decision about the incorporation of a product feature. If demand for the feature arises, this can be met quickly and at a low implementation cost if the feature has already been included or if the product design has been specially prepared for it. However, if the feature will not be sold, it may be better to not consider it for the current product design or even to optimize the design by specifically excluding it. Four product architecture decisions are conceptually developed and operationalized in an assessment method, using real option reasoning. This method has been developed jointly by university researchers and consultants of Philips Applied Technologies. In a pilot application, the method was practically usable, provided financial insights, and enabled crossfunctional cooperation.

In this work, we studied the feasibility of surface texturing of thin molybdenum layers on a borosilicate glass substrate with Ultra-Short Laser Pulses (USLP). Large areas of regular diffraction gratings were produced consisting of Laserinduced periodic surface structures (LIPSS).A short pulsed laser source (230 fs-10 ps) was applied using a focused Gaussian beam profile (15-30 μm). Laser parameters such as fluence, overlap (OL) and Overscans (OS), repetition frequency (100-200 kHz), wavelength (1030 nm, 515 nm and 343 nm) and polarization were varied to study the effect on periodicity, height and especially regularity of LIPSS obtained in layers of different thicknesses (150-400 nm). The aim was to produce these structures without cracking the metal layer and with as little ablation as possible.It was found that USLP are suitable to reach high power densities at the surface of the thin layers, avoiding mechanical stresses, cracking and delamination.A possible photovoltaic (PV) application could be found in texturing of thin film cells to enhance light trapping mechanisms.

No abstract