The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $750,000 - Monday the 22nd of October 2012
  Department Of Air Force
  FA9453 DET 8 AFRL PKV8
  HIGH EFFICIENCY FLEXIBLE PHOTOVOLTAIC BLANKETS

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• $50,000 - Tuesday the 26th of August 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THE INNOVATION IN THIS SBIR PHASE II PROJECT IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A UNIQUE TRIPLE JUNCTION INVERTED METAMORPHIC TECHNOLOGY (IMM), WHICH WILL ENABLE THE MANUFACTURING OF VERY LIGHTWEIGHT, LOW-COST, INGAASP-BASED MULTIJUNCTION SOLAR CELLS. THE PROPOSED IMM TECHNOLOGY IS BASED ON ELO (EPITAXIAL LIFT-OFF) AND CONSISTS OF INDIUM (IN) AND PHOSPHOROUS (P) SOLAR CELL ACTIVE MATERIALS, WHICH ARE DESIGNED TO IMPROVE THE RADIATION RESISTANCE PROPERTIES OF THE TRIPLE JUNCTION SOLAR CELL WHILE MAINTAINING A HIGH EFFICIENCY. BECAUSE OF THE INTRINSIC RADIATION HARDNESS OF INP MATERIALS, THIS MATERIAL SYSTEM IS OF GREAT INTEREST FOR BUILDING SOLAR CELLS SUITABLE FOR DEPLOYMENT IN VERY DEMANDING RADIATION ENVIRONMENTS, SUCH AS MEDIUM EARTH ORBIT AND MISSIONS TO THE OUTER PLANETS. DUE TO HIGH LAUNCH COSTS, WEIGHT REDUCTION IS A KEY DRIVER FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SPACE SOLAR CELL TECHNOLOGIES. OUR RECENTLY DEVELOPED EPITAXIAL LIFT-OFF (ELO) PROCESS WILL ALSO BE APPLIED TO THIS NEW STRUCTURE, WHICH WILL ENABLE THE FABRICATION OF THE IMM STRUCTURE WITHOUT THE SUBSTRATE. CELLS WITH EXCELLENT END-OF-LIFE (EOL) PERFORMANCE REQUIRE LESS AREA TO MEET SPECIFIC MISSION POWER REQUIREMENTS. THE TARGET EFFICIENCY OF THE PROPOSED IMM CELL AT THE BEGINNING OF LIFE (BOL) IS GREATER THAN 30% AT AMO 1-SUN. THE EOL TARGET OF THE IMM CELL IS A DEGRADATION OF LESS THAN 10% IN EFFICIENCY.

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• $375,000 - Thursday the 9th of February 2012
  Department Of Army
  W6QK ACC-RSA
  MODIFICATION TO ADD FUNDING

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• $200,000 - Tuesday the 26th of August 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THE INNOVATION IN THIS SBIR PHASE II PROJECT IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A UNIQUE TRIPLE JUNCTION INVERTED METAMORPHIC TECHNOLOGY (IMM), WHICH WILL ENABLE THE MANUFACTURING OF VERY LIGHTWEIGHT, LOW-COST, INGAASP-BASED MULTIJUNCTION SOLAR CELLS. THE PROPOSED IMM TECHNOLOGY IS BASED ON ELO (EPITAXIAL LIFT-OFF) AND CONSISTS OF INDIUM (IN) AND PHOSPHOROUS (P) SOLAR CELL ACTIVE MATERIALS, WHICH ARE DESIGNED TO IMPROVE THE RADIATION RESISTANCE PROPERTIES OF THE TRIPLE JUNCTION SOLAR CELL WHILE MAINTAINING A HIGH EFFICIENCY. BECAUSE OF THE INTRINSIC RADIATION HARDNESS OF INP MATERIALS, THIS MATERIAL SYSTEM IS OF GREAT INTEREST FOR BUILDING SOLAR CELLS SUITABLE FOR DEPLOYMENT IN VERY DEMANDING RADIATION ENVIRONMENTS, SUCH AS MEDIUM EARTH ORBIT AND MISSIONS TO THE OUTER PLANETS. DUE TO HIGH LAUNCH COSTS, WEIGHT REDUCTION IS A KEY DRIVER FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SPACE SOLAR CELL TECHNOLOGIES. OUR RECENTLY DEVELOPED EPITAXIAL LIFT-OFF (ELO) PROCESS WILL ALSO BE APPLIED TO THIS NEW STRUCTURE, WHICH WILL ENABLE THE FABRICATION OF THE IMM STRUCTURE WITHOUT THE SUBSTRATE. CELLS WITH EXCELLENT END-OF-LIFE (EOL) PERFORMANCE REQUIRE LESS AREA TO MEET SPECIFIC MISSION POWER REQUIREMENTS. THE TARGET EFFICIENCY OF THE PROPOSED IMM CELL AT THE BEGINNING OF LIFE (BOL) IS GREATER THAN 30% AT AMO 1-SUN. THE EOL TARGET OF THE IMM CELL IS A DEGRADATION OF LESS THAN 10% IN EFFICIENCY.

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• $150,000 - Friday the 25th of May 2012
  Department Of Air Force
  FA9453 DET 8 AFRL PKV8
  ULTRA-HIGH-EFFICIENCY, MULTI-JUNCTION SOLAR CELLS FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS

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• $125,000 - Friday the 10th of February 2012
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A HIGH-EFFICIENCY, TRIPLE-JUNCTION, EPITAXIAL LIFT-OFF (ELO) SOLAR CELL BY INCORPORATING QUANTUM DOTS (QDS) WITHIN THE CURRENT-LIMITING SUBCELL. WE INTEND TO LEVERAGE EXISTING QD EPITAXY PROCESSES DEVELOPED BY THE ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND COMBINE THIS WITH MICROLINK'S EXPERTISE IN MULTI-JUNCTION CELL GROWTH AND ELO TECHNOLOGY. WE WILL EMPLOY QDS TO ENHANCE THE MIDDLE CELL ABSORPTION IN A INGAP/GAAS/INGAAS METAMORPHIC IMM CELL. DETAILED BALANCE CALCULATIONS INDICATE THAT THE TRIPLE JUNCTION EFFICIENCY CAN BE INCREASED TO ~42% BY REDUCING THE BANDGAP OF THE MIDDLE CELL TO ~1.2 EV. THE COMBINATION OF THE QD TECHNOLOGY WITH MULTI-JUNCTION ELO TECHNOLOGY WILL BE EXPLOITED IN TWO WAYS: I) ELO GAAS CELLS WITH QD CAN BE GROWN INTO FULL TRIPLE-JUNCTION CELLS AND II) BACK-SURFACE REFLECTORS ON THE ELO CELLS WILL BE USED TO IMPROVE ABSORPTION BY ROUTING IR LIGHT FOR A SECOND PASS THROUGH THE QD SUBCELL. THE RELEVANCE OF THIS WORK TO NASA IS THAT IT WILL RESULT IN LIGHTWEIGHT, HIGH-EFFICIENCY, TRIPLE-JUNCTION SOLAR CELLS THAT WILL HAVE A SPECIFIC POWER>500 W/KG. IN ADDITION, THE USE OF QDS HAS BEEN SHOWN TO IMPROVE RADIATION TOLERANCE OF THE PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE.

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• $125,000 - Wednesday the 20th of February 2013
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  WITH RECENT ADVANCES IN MICROLINK'S INVERTED METAMORPHIC (IMM) MULTIJUNCTION EPITAXIAL LIFT OFF (ELO) SOLAR CELLS, NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOLAR CELL PACKAGING ARE POSSIBLE THAT LEVERAGE THE INHERENT PHYSICAL FLEXIBILITY OF THESE HIGH EFFICIENCY SOLAR CELLS. NOVEL PHOTOVOLTAIC (PV) BLANKETS CAN BE CONSTRUCTED WITH THESE FLEXIBLE AND MODULAR SOLAR CELLS. ARRAYS OF THESE ELO SOLAR CELLS ARE FIRST INTERCONNECTED AND THEN LAMINATED TO A FLEXIBLE TEDLAR BACKSHEET. THIN COVERGLASS PROTECTING THE CELL FROM SPACE ENVIRONMENTS IS THEN APPLIED ONTO THE TOP OF EACH CELL AND SECURED WITH SPACE-GRADE ENCAPSULANTS. HIGH VOLUME PICK AND PLACE TOOLING FROM THE SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER INDUSTRY CAN BE APPLIED TO THIS ASSEMBLY PROCESS TO REALIZE SUBSTANTIAL COST REDUCTION IN THE ASSEMBLY OF THESE SOLAR CELL MODULES. THE RESULTING MODULAR HIGH EFFICIENCY PHOTOVOLTAIC BLANKETS CAN READILY BE USED AS A DROP-IN REPLACEMENT FOR CURRENT SOLAR CELLS MOUNTED ON SOLAR PANELS. SINCE THE PHOTOVOLTAIC BLANKET IS COMPOSED OF SEVERAL SOLAR CELLS PRE-ASSEMBLED INTO AN ARRAY FORMAT, THE ASSEMBLY PROCESS IS STREAMLINED WHERE ARRAYS OF MULTIPLE CELLS ARE NOW PLACED DOWN DURING PANEL ASSEMBLY. SINCE MICROLINK'S IMM ELO SOLAR CELLS ARE FLEXIBLE, THE RESULTING SOLAR ARRAY MODULE IS ALSO FLEXIBLE AND CAN BE READILY APPLIED AND CONFORMED TO FLAT AND CURVED SURFACES ON A SPACECRAFT. WITH THIS FLEXIBLE MODULE APPROACH, LARGE SOLAR ARRAY CONCEPTS HAVING HIGH SPECIFIC POWERS AND IMPROVED STOWAGE CAPABILITIES CAN BE ACHIEVED. ATK'S ULTRAFLEX SOLAR ARRAY SYSTEM IS A POTENTIAL PLATFORM WHERE THESE FLEXIBLE MODULES COULD BE APPLIED.

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• $125,000 - Tuesday the 20th of November 2012
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  VERY LARGE SOLAR ARRAYS TO POWER FUTURE SOLAR ELECTRIC PROPULSION SYSTEMS WILL REQUIRE A NEW GENERATION OF SOLAR CELLS THAT ARE NOT ONLY HIGH EFFICIENCY, BUT ALSO LIGHT WEIGHT AND SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER COST THAN EXISTING MULTIJUNCTION SOLAR CELLS BASED ON GE SUBSTRATES. THE LARGE VOLUME OF SOLAR CELLS REQUIRED FOR INDIVIDUAL MISSIONS (HUNDREDS OF KILOWATTS TO MEGAWATTS) ALSO PRESENTS SIGNIFICANT MANUFACTURING CHALLENGES. MICROLINK DEVICES' MULTIJUNCTION SOLAR CELLS BASED ON EPITAXIAL LIFT OFF (ELO) PROVIDE THE UNIQUE COMBINATION OF HIGH EFFICIENCY, HIGH SPECIFIC POWER, AND LOW COST BY ENABLING REUSE OF THE GAAS SUBSTRATE AFTER LIFT OFF. THE USE OF GAAS SUBSTRATES LEVERAGES A PLATFORM WELL-ESTABLISHED BY THE GAAS IC INDUSTRY AT 6-INCH DIAMETER, WHICH IS ALSO A SIGNIFICANT ENABLER FOR COST REDUCTION AND VOLUME PRODUCTION. LARGER SUBSTRATES NOT ONLY REDUCE EPITAXIAL GROWTH AND FABRICATION COSTS, BUT IMPROVE WAFER UTILIZATION WHEN FABRICATING LARGE-AREA SOLAR CELLS. MICROLINK DEVICES' ELO SOLAR CELLS ARE ALSO HIGHLY FLEXIBLE, WHICH ENABLES NEW APPROACHES FOR PANEL FABRICATION AND DEPLOYMENT.

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• $100,000 - Tuesday the 3rd of June 2014
  Department Of Navy
  NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY
  PR# 68-1180-12, APPLIED RESEARCH INVESTIGATING THERMOPHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGIES TO ENABLE PORTABLE POWER SOURCES.

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• $100,000 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  Department Of Navy
  NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY
  PR: 68-1212-12; THE EFFORT IS TO PROVIDE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT INVESTIGATING LOWER-COST, HIGHER-EFFICIENCY SOLAR CELLS FOR FLEXIBLE PV BLANKETS BASED ON THEIR ELO SOLAR CELL DESIGN. THIS EFFORT REQUIRES OPTIMIZATION OF THEIR SINGLE JUNCTION SOLAR CELL AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A RUGGEDIZED VERSION OF THE FLEXIBLE PANEL THAT CAN BE INTEGRATED INTO A MARINE S BACKPACK.

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