The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science and Basic Energy Sciences has awarded two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II Release 1 grants related to solid-state lighting. Phase II SBIR grants are awarded to successful Phase I Release 1 recipients. The FY16 Phase II Release 1 awards—each worth about US $1 million and 24 months in duration—will explore the technical merit or feasibility of an innovative concept or technology.

The two Phase II Release 1 awards related to SSL are briefly described below:

SBIR Recipient: PhosphorTech Corporation (Kennesaw, GA)
Title: Plasmonic-enhanced High Light Extraction Phosphor Sheets for Solid State Lighting
Summary: This project aims to maximize the luminous efficacy of a phosphor down-converting LED system using a combination of high-quantum-yield red phosphors, surface plasmon resonance, and enhanced light-extraction efficiency, which is expected to yield more than a 42% improvement in efficacy while reducing the amount of phosphor material by 50%, which will lower costs. These improvements will enable a wider range of new energy-efficient applications in LED packaging serving the general-illumination industry.

SBIR Recipient: Lumisyn, LLC (Rochester, NY)
Title: Nanocrystal-based Phosphors with Enhanced Lifetime Stability
Summary: This project aims to synthesize compositionally novel nanocrystals that will maintain high efficiency simultaneously at high temperatures and optical flux, enabling the production of high-efficiency, long-lifetime, on-chip, narrow-wavelength (<50 nm) phosphors for phosphor-converted (pc) LEDs manufactured by a wide range of companies worldwide. Colloidal nanocrystal down-converting phosphors are not currently used in commercial pcLED products because they are thought to be inherently of low efficiency and poor stability when placed on chip.