Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC), a university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, has established a $5 million industry-university partnership devoted to bringing clean, reliable and efficient energy systems and technologies to the marketplace.
Founding industry members include ABB, Applied Materials, Bosch, First Solar, IBM, Nexans and Tokyo Electron.
The Energy Research Initiative (ERI) will team companies from semiconductors and other energy-related sectors with university research centers to address the world's need for smart alternative energy sources and prepare students with the technical skills required for the burgeoning industry, according to SRC.
Initial research will address the need for new modeling and simulation tools to support the development of improved photovoltaic devices and the development of systems and technologies to enable a smart grid electricity infrastructure with integrated renewable energy resources.
A Photovoltaic Research Center will be established at Purdue University to address the performance, cost, reliability and manufacturing challenges of photovoltaics technologies. The center will leverage Purdue's modeling/simulation expertise and national Network for Computational Nanotechnology framework to provide enabling analytical models and simulation tools for photovoltaic manufacturers, much as Purdue has done for the semiconductor industry.
SOURCE: Semiconductor Research Corp.
