Award Data

Silicon wafers are the single largest cost component within solar photovoltaic modules. To maintain the cost reduction targets outlined in industrial roadmaps, wafer costs need to be significantly reduced. Reducing the cost of wafers requires reducing the kerf-loss and wafer thickness while increasing throughput in tools for processing silicon ingots into wafers. The proposed technology augments t ...

Metal mesh filters are used to control the transmission of infrared through terahertz radiation in a variety of systems including sensors, cameras, and high-performance telescopes. Currently, high-performance metal mesh infrared filters are fabricated using photolithography but this is a costly and time consuming process and it is limited to filter diameters of 300 mm or less (the largest size tha ...

The discovery of large shale gas reserves in recent years has resulted in the reduction of natural gas price and a need to develop new applications for the available resource. Upgrading shale gas to liquid fuels which are more easily transportable and have greater economic value can result in significant benefits to the US. Coupled with this challenging problem the DOE has a goal of further develo ...

Ensuring adequate agricultural productivity in the face of an increasing human population is a major concern with implications for both production of bioenergy products (Jones and Hinsinger, 2008) and global food security. Increasing agricultural productivity requires a stronger understanding of soil biogeochemical processes that impact plant nutrient availability. We propose development of an inn ...

Ecological and biogeochemical processes occurring along coastal interfaces are poorly understood on a mechanistic level and critically underrepresented in current models, impeding our ability to make informed resource management decisions. Stable isotope ratio measurements, e.g., 13C/12C, can provide detail about pathways and sources by adding specificity and attribution information that concentra ...

We are suggesting a unique hybrid wellbore health estimation solution, based on combining finite element analysis with machine learning. The access to underground energy resources is mainly provided by wellbores. It is estimated that more than 90% of the US total energy supply depends on some form of wellbore and the number of wells drilled will continue to increase. Ensuring long term integrity i ...