DOE Funding for U.S. Manufacturing of High-Efficiency Solid-State Lighting

DOE Announces Funding for Research and Development to Support U.S. Manufacturing of High-Efficiency Solid-State Lighting

June 28, 2010

As part of the ongoing effort to reduce national energy consumption through high-efficiency building technologies, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the availability of up to $15 million in funding to advance research, development, and market adoption of Solid-State Lighting (SSL) technologies. The department will select two to eight projects that will help accelerate the adoption of high-quality Light Emitting Diode (LED) and Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) products, which have the potential to significantly reduce energy use and limit carbon emissions.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is also intended to further develop U.S. technological innovations, expertise, and the manufacturing base necessary to lead the world in SSL deployment. The funding will expand DOE's existing research and development efforts to improve SSL manufacturing in the U.S., which will enhance the quality and reduce the cost of SSL products. This will be the second round of funding awarded since 2009.

Accelerated by the department's past investments in SSL technologies, industry has achieved a number of important technological advancements. The awards under this funding opportunity will ensure that existing challenges to SSL manufacturing are addressed as well, so that SSL products can become cost-competitive with existing lighting technologies.

DOE is soliciting SSL manufacturing R&D projects that will achieve significant cost reductions through improvements in manufacturing equipment, processes, or monitoring techniques. This will allow DOE to accelerate the creation of a U.S.-led market for high-efficiency light sources that save more energy, reduce costs, and have less environmental impact than conventional light sources.

The FOA is open to applications in the following program areas:

• LED Luminaire/Module Manufacturing
• LED Driver Manufacturing
• LED Test and Inspection Equipment
• Tools for Epitaxial Growth of LEDs
• LED Wafer Processing Equipment
• LED Packaging
• LED Phosphor Manufacturing and Application
• OLED Deposition and Patterning Equipment
• Integrated Manufacturing and Quality Control of OLEDs
• OLED Materials Manufacturing
• Back-End OLED Panel Fabrication

To view the complete SSL U.S. Manufacturing (Round 2) funding opportunity, visit FedConnect, click on "Search Public Opportunities," and search on Reference Number DE-FOA-0000334. Funding is subject to congressional appropriations.

For more information on DOE's Solid-State Lighting Program, visit the Solid-State Lighting Web site.