JPSA to Collaborate with University of Delaware, and MIT for SunShot Initiative
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Manchester, New Hampshire, USA - J. P. Sercel Associates (JPSA) announces they are partnering with SunShot Initiative F-PACE awardee University of Delaware (UD), along with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The F-PACE award is sponsored by the Department of Energy's (DOE) SunShot Initiative program, with a goal of lowering the cost of crystalline silicon solar cells to $0.50/Wp module cost. UD received over $9.1 million from 5 separate awards under the SunShot initiative, making it the highest funding award for research and development to a university. This particular research project involving JPSA, MIT, and UD totals $3.8 million.
The team will use a new device design patented by UD that incorporates silicon structures deposited at low temperature with the goal of reducing the cost of crystalline solar cells by reducing both the amount of materials used as well as manufacturing costs. This project will utilize both JPSA's broad expertise in UV-VIS-NIR nanosecond and picosecond lasers to pattern and form the contacts on the back of the solar cell, and MIT's unique characterization and passivation tools for understanding and mitigating defects in silicon. Four U.S companies will provide thin silicon wafers for evaluation of the new solar cell design architecture.
Dr. Marco Mendes, Director of JPSA's Applications Lab, said, "This is an exciting moment for the applications team at JPSA as we work together with Dr. Steve Hegedus, scientist at UD's Institute of Energy Conversion (http://udel/iec/), and Prof. Tonio Buonassisi at MIT, to develop this new solar cell architecture that will help lower manufacturing costs and increase the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells."
About J. P. Sercel Associates
JPSA products and services include UV excimer, DPSS and ultra-fast laser micromachining systems, laser beam delivery systems, laser materials processing development, optical damage testing, and excimer laser refurbishment services. JPSA operates a high-performance contract manufacturing facility as well as a systems engineering and manufacturing business. For more information, visit www.jpsalaser.com, or contact the company at 220 Hackett Hill Road, Manchester, NH, 03102 USA; Tel. 603.518.3200, Fax 603.518.3298.
