The US Department of Energy (DOE) has selected 11 projects to receive funding under its Solid State Lighting program. The awards - 7 to universities or commercial companies, and 4 to national laboratories - are for Core Technologies research in enabling or fundamental technology areas for general illumination applications.
More than half of the total of $20 million was awarded to projects to develop technologies relating to organic LEDs, including a $4 million project on vapor-jet printing of phosphorescent OLEDs, which will be carried out by Universal Display Corporation (UDC will pay 40% of the project costs).
The project with the highest value ($4.2 million, 40% to be paid by the applicant) will be performed by Cabot Superior MicroPowders, who will develop spray-based synthetic processes for advanced phosphors that will be used to convert blue LED emission into white light. The team expects to double the current external quantum efficiency of such light sources to around 60%. Devices capable of emitting over 80 lm/W may result from this approach.
Boston University has received the go-ahead for a $1.2 million (20% applicant share) project to develop GaN quasi-substrates using hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). Similar amounts have been awarded to the University of California at San Diego, and the University of Florida. The former will develop nitride heterostructures that emit white light without the need for a phosphor, while the latter plans to work on ZnO-based devices.
Sandia National Laboratories has been awarded 2 projects with a combined value of $1.55 million (20% applicant share) to develop microcavity photonic crystal LEDs, and to improve InGaN epitaxy for green LEDs via precise temperature measurement through infrared pyrometry.
