Primestar Solar是一家获得SBIR第一阶段资助的公司，该项目名为:高质量，低成本，多晶CdS/CdTe光伏电池。他们将开发新的工艺，从化合物半导体cd和CdTe中生产成本更低、质量更高的薄膜。这些电池将被用于更廉价地生产利用阳光发电的高性能光伏模块。基于cdte的薄膜光伏目前需要沉积后CdCl2处理和退火才能达到合理的性能。这种退火可以增加某些薄膜的晶粒尺寸，并增加所有CdTe薄膜的少数载流子寿命。在光伏电池中，少数载流子寿命通常与器件效率相关。然而，CdCl2退火不能优化以使少数载流子寿命最大化，因为这样做的尝试会导致薄膜分层。薄膜分层是由于退火过程中薄膜与玻璃基板界面处的应变引起的。本提案旨在开发一种薄膜沉积工艺，同时避免这一问题，并生产出质量更好的薄膜。该工艺将促进大晶粒生长、缺陷钝化和晶界钝化，同时消除了沉积后CdCl2处理和退火的需要。 This will result in higher efficiency solar cells and a streamlined production process. Commercially, solar photovoltaic modules are a silent, pollution free means to generate electricity from sunlight. Once the capital investment is made to install a photovoltaic electricity system, its operating cost is essentially zero because its "fuel", sunlight, is free. Photovoltaic electricity provides a means for homes to generate as much energy as they use over the course of a year. The production of photovoltaic modules has been increasing 20-30% annually for the past decade due to increases in efficiency and reductions in cost. However, for photovoltaics to achieve significant market penetration into mainstream electricity generation, this growth rate must be continued. This requires further increases in module efficiency and reductions in module cost. This research proposal addresses both of these issues. Successful development of this technology will ensure the marketplace success of CdTe photovoltaic modules, and pave the way for widespread stable-priced, sustainable, pollution-free electricity generation.

Anteos是一家获得SBIR第二阶段资助的公司，该项目名为:基于半导体材料的无浮雕红外衍射光学。他们的奖项是根据2009年美国复苏与再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的，他们的项目将开发新一代无浮雕的衍射光学薄板组件，在红外光谱区域工作。衍射光学采用体相全息结构，通过专有的光修饰工艺在红外波长透明的半导体材料中光学记录，在低强度光照射下产生材料折射率的巨大变化。本项目第一阶段通过演示ZnSe红外材料的光改性和制造第一个模型组件，证明了所提概念的可行性。该技术可立即应用于衍射光学、体相全息光栅、波长达1.9 m的相位延迟板和波长达8 m的增透层的制备。在第二期项目中，该技术将被优化并应用于较长波长的红外衍射光学样机的制造，包括重要波长10.6 m的CO2激光器和3-5 m和8-12 m的大气透明窗。开发的光改性工艺具有很强的适应性，为各种市场的广泛产品的制造创造了丰富的技术平台。该技术的成功实施将产生新一代高效无曲面红外衍射光学器件和亚波长器件，包括衍射光栅、分束器、束形器、人工双折射半导体材料、相位延迟板和波板。基于半导体材料的红外衍射光学无浮雕元件能够承受高光强并执行复杂的光管理功能。另一个重要的应用是在红外半导体光学上制造高稳定的抗反射(AR)层。 The market for infrared diffractive optics includes defense and airspace industry, laser industry, spectral devices, sensors and detectors, night vision optics, industrial process control, material processing, cutting and welding, environmental monitoring, medical diagnostics and surgery. Anteos is a company that received a SBIR Phase II grant for a project entitled: High-Efficiency Nanocomposite Photovoltaics and Solar Cells. Their project is focused on development of an innovative technology for fabrication of high-efficiency thin film nanocomposite photovoltaic materials and solar cells taking advantage of the recently discovered effect of carrier multiplication in semiconductor nanocrystals. The proposed concept employs smart design of the solar cells providing fast and effective spatial separation of electrons and holes photo-generated in the nanocrystals. The proposed reach nanotechnology platform solves the challenging problem of electrical communications with nanoscale objects, such as nanocrystals, nanorods, nanowires, nanotubes, etc. It can be employed for development of many other nanocomposite optoelectronic devices having numerous commercial and military applications. If successful the development of new generation of high-efficiency photovoltaic materials and solar cells based on the demonstrated technology will have broad impact on the entire solar energy industry resulting in considerable energy savings and environmental protection. The technology has great commercialization potential and niche market. The proposed all-inorganic, high-efficiency, thin film, flexible nanostructured photovoltaic materials and solar cells, which can operate in extreme environment conditions and offer significant mass and volume savings, are ideally suitable for numerous applications, including power generating residential rooftops, power supplies for utility grid, emergency signals and telephones, water pumps, activate switches, battery chargers, residential and commercial lighting, etc.

isisosces是一家获得STTR第一阶段资助的公司，该项目名为:高效有机光伏的全光谱共轭聚合物。他们的奖项是根据2009年美国复苏与再投资法案资助的，他们的项目将证明用新设计的共轭和潜在可变带隙聚合物形成全光谱高效聚合物太阳能电池的可行性，这些聚合物可以通过红外光收集可见光。这种新型材料将通过将Silole和供体-受体-供体部分结合到骨干中来制造，预计将增加光收集和载流子迁移率，因此短路电流输出可能比目前的技术水平提高三倍。本工作的关键创新还将优化能级以降低电压损失，并进一步优化器件结构和薄膜形态，有望提高填充系数。第一阶段的主要目标是确定锻造全光谱和高载流子迁移率的共轭聚合物的可行性，以实现高效的太阳能转换。这项工作的一个辅助目标是了解光物理过程和设备物理，这将导致在第二阶段的最佳设备制造。这项技术对环境、社会和经济的影响非常广泛。由于全谱采收，随之而来的能源成本突然下降，有望为当今以石油为基础的动荡的全球经济带来稳定和迫切需要的缓解。虽然光伏(PV)生产已经是全球增长最快的能源来源，这个STTR项目的计划努力有望在2010年将光伏生产的预计成本降低3倍。预计生产成本为每瓦0.70美元，这项研究将展示一项与化石燃料发电成本相比具有竞争力的技术。 This technology will provide clean and cost competitive energy for home and industrial power, vehicle propulsion, consumer electronics, remote sensing, security, and an endless list of existing applications that currently rely on energy from fossil fuel.

Jem Enterprises是一家获得SBIR第一阶段资助的公司，该项目名为:锡(II)硫化物光伏。他们的项目旨在开发基于硫化锡(SnS)的光伏器件。SnS的性能，包括带隙、载流子密度和迁移率、化学和热稳定性以及冶金性能，在最先进的过程控制和器件设计下，有可能实现相对较高的转换效率。在本项目中，近距离空间升华(CSS)技术是一种被证明具有低成本和高可制造性的薄膜制备方法，将用于合成SnS。该项目的广泛/商业影响将是生产基于低成本和环保材料的光伏设备的潜力。毫无疑问，太阳能发电作为一种替代能源和可再生能源近年来引起了广泛的关注。然而，目前大多数太阳能电池技术都存在以下一个或多个问题:(1)原材料供应不足;(二)使用有毒物质的;(3)整体成本高。该项目将通过开发使用SnS的光伏器件来解决这些问题，SnS是一种可以大规模供应且回收成本低的半导体材料。

M V Systems是一家获得SBIR第二阶段资助的公司，其项目名为:使用等离子体增强化学气相沉积(PECVD)技术制备低带隙纳米晶SiGeC薄膜。他们的奖项是根据2009年美国复苏与再投资法案资助的项目，该项目是开发薄膜串联太阳能电池，由纳米晶体硅和硅碳(nc-Si和nc-Si:C)吸收材料组成，转换效率为20%。一期项目成功研制了一种关键元件，即带隙为~ 1.5 eV、具有良好光电性能的本征nc-Si:C。这种关键材料将最初用于第二阶段以单结结构制造电池，效率目标为~10%。此前，开发的“器件质量”nc-Si材料，Eg ~1.1eV，用于生产效率~8%的太阳能电池。将两个器件集成在一个串联结配置中，预计将产生约18%的效率。通过在p/i或i/n界面上使用缓冲层，以及通过增加晶粒尺寸来提高开路电压Voc，可以进一步提高串联结器件效率~20%。更高效率的薄膜串联太阳能电池对于实现广泛采用光伏发电系统所必需的低成本至关重要。M V Systems是一家获得SBIR第一阶段资助的公司，其项目名为:使用等离子体增强化学气相沉积(PECVD)技术制备低带隙纳米晶SiGeC薄膜。他们的项目将开发光学带隙(Eg)在1.6-1.8 eV范围内的纳米晶SiGeC薄膜，并增强吸收特性，从而实现低成本、高效率(>20%)的光伏器件。 Previous attempts at improving the photovoltaic efficiency have not been consistent and successful. The proposed approach uses plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique to deposit these films, which allows greater control of the process by being able to manipulate the plasma and electron temperatures to control the ion density in the plasma, with an independent control of the process parameters. This flexibility does not exist in the currently used techniques. With the proposed technique, stable and consistent films of SiGeC can be deposited on the desired substrate at moderate temperatures. If successfully developed, this technique could provide higher efficiency solar cells for the alternative energy market. The goal of highly stable films, high deposition efficiency and process scalability for large-scale manufacturing can only be achieved if the basic process can be proven. The broader impacts of this research will be in the low-cost photovoltaic (PV) devices for power generation market. If successfully completed, this research could lead to a strong partnership between solar cell manufacturers and equipment manufacturers, leading to a potentially lucrative photovoltaics market. Currently, electricity generated with available PV devices is 3-4 times more expensive as the conventional electricity. The selected materials (Si, Ge and C) for the thin film are abundantly available, which can significantly reduce the raw materials costs. A large body of basic knowledge of the requirements of solar electricity for the competitive market already exists, which makes the development of the process with a realistic performance target easy to achieve. The main challenge for achieving this goal lies in being able to control the deposition process to assure a stable and robust process, as the previous work has not been able to achieve consistent results. The initial target of producing a triple-junction thin-film solar cell is a worthy first product demonstration, which will prove the efficacy of the proposed technique, and attract third-party funding with little difficulty.

Tisol是一家获得SBIR第一阶段资助的公司，该项目名为:用于生产高效染料敏化太阳能电池的可扩展介孔薄膜制造。他们的项目旨在应用一种专门的方法来开发一种快速、大规模和廉价的薄膜沉积技术。目标是实现低成本的大规模生产，并保持高效染料敏化太阳能电池的优化纳米结构和薄膜性能。该项目的更广泛的社会/商业影响将有可能降低染料敏化太阳能电池所用材料的生产成本。与其他太阳能电池技术相比，染料敏化太阳能电池技术具有以下潜力:(1)由于构成电池的元素丰富，成本低;(2)轻量化从而降低了安装成本，增强了灵活性。然而，光伏产业的最新进展设定了< 1美元/瓦的成本标准。如果染料敏化太阳能电池要达到目前市场上的技术水平，就必须降低薄膜沉积的成本。本项目旨在开发一种高通量、大规模的薄膜沉积工艺，使通过染料敏化技术的太阳能发电更具成本效益，从而更容易获得。