Eight grants totaling more than $13 million have been awarded to develop solid-state lighting, with the goal of making it competitive with other lighting sources by 2025.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory, on behalf of the US Department of Energy (DoE), said that $7.8 million of the grant money will be used to further develop technology. Recipients will provide 20 percent of their costs. The remaining $5.5 million in funding will go toward the development or improvement of commercially viable materials, devices and systems. Recipients of this grant will provide an average of 29 percent of their costs.

Those selected for the third round of funding are: Yale University in New Haven, Conn., for high-efficiency, nanotextured LEDs; Inlustra Technologies LLC of Santa Barbara, Calif., for high-efficiency nonpolar GaN-based LEDs; Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, for heterostructure designs for GaN-based LEDs; and Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., for improved InGaN epitaxial quality by optimizing growth chemistry.

Additional awards

Also, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., for high-stability organic molecular dopants for maximum power efficiency organic LEDs; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in, Berkeley, Calif., for the investigation of long-term organic LED device stability via transmission electron microscopy imaging of cross-sectioned organic LED devices; Cree Inc. in Durham, N.C., for LED chips and packaging for 110-lm/W solid-state laser components; and General Electric Co. of Fairfield, Conn., for high-quantum-efficiency organic LED (OLED) lighting systems.

The DoE also has awarded five Small Business Innovation Research grants to advance solid-state lighting (SSL) technology. The program seeks to increase the participation of small businesses in federal research and development.

The recipients are Add-Vision Inc. of Scotts Valley, Calif., to develop technologies for ultralow-cost printing of specialty SSL forms; Alameda Applied Sciences Corp. of San Leandro, Calif., to develop improved moisture barriers for increased lifetimes; and Nanomaterials and Nanofabrication Laboratories of Fayetteville, Ark., to improve the energy efficiency of high-brightness white LEDs. Universal Display Corp. of Ewing, N.J., received two grants to develop stable, efficient and large-area OLEDs and to increase the conversion efficiency of electrical energy into light.

The DoE also announced that the fourth round of funding for solid-state lighting research has begun. For more information on the program, visit the DoE solid-state lighting Web site at: www.netl.doe.gov/ssl.