Senergen Devices is building solar cells utilizing a process that aims to alter the economics of producing electricity from solar energy without sacrificing the proven reliability of silicon.

developed a technology that aims to allow for more efficient use of crystalline silicon in solar cells - a that could allow solar cells to generate electricity at costs competitive with conventional energy sources.

Optony is a commercial scale solar research, technology and consulting firm based in Silicon Valley, California. We are actively collaborating with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to pioneer next-generation high-efficiency, low-cost solar PV technologies. We are dedicated to leveraging our world-class expertise to provide independent consulting , research and technology to accelerate solar adoption by government, education and commercial organizations. We work from a position of global knowledge and experience using our advanced processes and techniques. As an independent, objective business and solar technology advisor, we help our clients achieve higher levels of energy output, profitability and sustainability.

Telio Solar Technologies, Inc. is a company focusing on development & manufacturing of CIGS Thin Film Solar Cells. The company's goal is to produce the most cost effective manufacturing technology for CIGS solar modules in large scale and achieve one of the highest CIGS cell efficiency and yield in the industry. The company believe the company can accelerate the advancement of CIGS technology and its successful commercialization. CIGS is prospected to be the solar cell technology with the advantages of high energy conversion efficiency, production throughputs and cost-effective production and Telio Solar intends to fully optimize these advantages to bring mass production to the market.

Ambp Technology Corporation is a company that received a SBIR Phase I grant for a project entitled: Photovoltaic Laser Annealing System. Their project proposes to achieve recently reported gains in CIGS solar cell efficiency from in-situ laser deposition, by using an ex-situ laser annealing approach that is compatible with an existing pilot manufacturing system. The proposed ex-situ approach will not need to heat the substrate above the 425C value used to manufacture CIGS solar cells on flexible polyimide substrates. Solar cell technology is an energy alternative that can reduce America's dependence on fossil-fuel-generated electric power. A truly cost effective technology is to build cells using methods whose thermal budgets are low enough to enable the use of inexpensive polymer substrates, which enables large-area roll-to-roll processing and automated cell-to-cell connection techniques. AMBP Tech Corporation will develop and demonstrate a tool to improve solar cell performance that is immediately applicable in the solar-cell manufacturing marketplace.

Ultrasonic Technologies is a company that received a SBIR Phase I grant for a project entitled: Resonance Ultrasonic Vibrations for Defect Characterization in Solar Silicon Wafers. Their Phase I research project addresses fundamentals of the innovative experimental methodology for quick and accurate assessment of mechanical defects in solar-grade full-size (up to 210 mm) silicon (Si) wafers. The objective is to justify a commercial prototype of the Resonance Ultrasonic Vibrations (RUV) system which ultimately will be used as a real-time in-line process control tool for identification and rejection from a solar cell production line of mechanically unstable, i.e. fragile wafers due to periphery cracks and high level of residual stress. The broader impact of the program will be in the commercialization of the RUV system to address critical needs of the photovoltaic (PV) industry. The world-wide PV market exhibits a steady yearly up to 40% growth rate in recent years. There is potential for applying this approach to other technologies, such as stress monitoring in Silicon-on isolator wafers and SiGe epitaxial layers in high-speed electronics and adhesion quality assessment in thin polycrystalline Si films on glass for flat panel displays.