The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is pleased to announce four selections in response to the Solid-State Lighting (SSL) Core Technology Research Call (Round 6) DE-PS26-09NT013775. These selections are expected to fill key technology gaps, provide enabling knowledge or data, and represent a significant advancement in the SSL technology base. The total value of selections for the Core Technology Research Call is $6.4 million. Three of the selections will be funded via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ($4.6 million) and one will be funded via appropriated funds ($1.8 million).
All four new selections are covered under the Exceptional Circumstances Determination issued by DOE in June 2004. The selections are listed below (subject to negotiation).
Core Technology Research Call Selections
Recipient: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Title: Lattice mismatched GaInP alloys for color mixing white light LEDs
Funding Source: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Summary: The project seeks to demonstrate the viability of high bandgap GaInP alloys for synthesis of inexpensive, efficient Al-free LED devices on conventional GaAs substrates, which emit in the deep green 560 ~ 570 nm region of the green gap, or inside the red gap (615 ~ 625 nm), and for which the LEDs are fabricated using simpler OMVPE growth and processing techniques conventionally used for GaAs based III-V alloys. The utilization of more efficient emitters, particularly in the deep green area of the spectrum, will contribute to meeting DOE efficiency targets identified for RGB based color mixing LEDs, and significantly lower the cost of such devices.
Recipient: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Title: Development of Stable Materials for High-Efficiency Blue OLEDs through Rational Design.
Funding Source: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Summary: This project seeks to utilize new materials in a mixed-host system to demonstrate improved lifetime and efficiency. Using new stable materials and improved OLED device architectures will enable higher device stability and improved efficiencies in blue OLEDs at currents useful for SSL products, and lead to demonstration of highly efficient white OLEDs with longer lifetimes.
Recipient: Sandia National Laboratories
Title: Semi-polar GaN Materials Technology for High IQE Green LEDs
Funding Source: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Summary: This project seeks to improve the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) in green nitride-based LED structures by using semi-polar GaN planar orientations for InGaN multiple quantum well (MQW) growth. These semi-polar orientations have the advantage of significantly reducing the piezoelectric fields that distort the quantum well band structure and decrease electron-hole overlap. At the end of this program SNL expects MQW active regions at 540 nm with an IQE of 50%, which with an 80% light extraction efficiency should produce LEDs with an external quantum efficiency of 40%, or twice the estimated current state-of-the-art.
Recipient: US ARMY Research Laboratory
Title: Exploiting Negative Polarization Charge at n-InGaN/p-GaN Heterointerfaces to Achieve High Power Green LEDs without Efficiency Droop
Funding Source: Solid-State Lighting Appropriated Funds
Summary: This project seeks to exploit the negative polarization charge at the n-InGaN/p-GaN heterointerface to achieve high power, high efficiency green LEDs without efficiency droop. The target goals are 540 nm LEDs with peak IQE of 40% at current densities sufficient to enable general illumination applications.