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Ultra-Lightweight Photovoltaic Cells on Flexible Substrtaes for Energy Conversion Applications

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Navy
Contract: N00164-06-C-6039
Agency Tracking Number: O053-MT3-4052
Amount: $99,997.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: OSD05-MT3
Solicitation Number: 2005.3
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2005
Award Year: 2006
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2006-09-13
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2007-09-13
Small Business Information
6 Skyline Drive
Hawthorne, NY 10532
United States
DUNS: 796359289
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: Yes
Principal Investigator
 Daniel Wright
 Principal Investigator
 (914) 345-2442
 dwright@anvik.com
Business Contact
 Kanti Jain
Title: President
Phone: (914) 345-2442
Email: kjain@anvik.com
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

Portable devices that can generate electricity from solar power are very attractive for many defense applications, in particular for mobile defence units. Light and durable solar cell panels would greatly simplify the logistics of military operations, such as by eliminating heavy and cumbersome electricity generators and personal battery packs. Advances in amorphous silicon (a-Si) deposition and patterning have led to the development of ultra-light thin-film photovoltaic cells that can be rolled up for efficient storage. The main drawback of currently available devices is the low intrinsic mobility of a-Si, which leads to lower energy conversion efficiency. These drawbacks have thus far prevented thin-film photovoltaic cells from displacing the heavier and more rigid conventional solar cell devices that are based on single-crystal Silicon (c-Si). Standard methods for crystallizing a-Si require high temperatures that are incompatible with thin-film materials, which are often polymeric in nature. One of the most promising techniques for crystallizing silicon on flexible substrates is excimer laser crystallization, which involves using short pulses of ultraviolet (UV) emission from an excimer laser to locally heat a small area of an a-Si substrate. By scanning the laser beam in an appropriate manner over the entire substrate, large areas of single-crystal silicon can be formed. We propose to use our capabilities in excimer laser crystallization as well as our expertise in high-throughput lithography and direct batch photoablation to develop efficient, large-area, lightweight, thin-film photovoltaic devices.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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