DOE Offers $4 Million for Solid-State Lighting Research

August 29, 2005

Closeup photo of a white-light-emitting diode, a cylindrical translucent device with electronic components at the bottom and two wires protruding from the bottom. The top of the device is emitting white light.

Solid-state lighting sources such as this white-light LED could eventually replace light bulbs.
Credit: CREE Lighting

DOE announced on August 29th a solicitation totaling roughly $4 million for applied research into solid-state lighting technologies, which include light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic LEDs (OLEDs), and light-emitting polymers. The solicitation seeks to advance the development of solid-state lighting technologies that can compete in the general illumination market and deliver significant energy savings. Breakthroughs in LED and OLED technologies are already leading to better quality, more energy-efficient white-light sources that could ultimately replace many incandescent and fluorescent lamps. See the DOE press release.

DOE currently has two solicitations for solid-state lighting: one is open to most research organizations and the second is open only to DOE national laboratories. For each solicitation, DOE expects to provide $3.75 million to two to five awardees over the next three years. Both solicitations focus on four areas of interest: high-efficiency semiconductor materials for LEDs, novel LED designs, high-efficiency OLED materials, and novel methods to encapsulate and package OLEDs. Both solicitations close on October 18th. See the "Solid-State Lighting Core Technologies" solicitation, the "Research Call to DOE National Laboratories" (PDF 483 KB), and the Solid-State Lighting page of DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory Web site. Download Adobe Reader.