Fairfield Crystal lands $1.4M research grant
Fairfield Crystal Technology, based in New Milford, recently received a $1.4 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy”™s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy ”“ known by the acronym ARPA-E ”“ to help improve the nation”™s electric infrastructure.
Fourteen projects nationally were selected for the ARPA-E”™s SWITCHES program.
SWITCHES projects are creating new “wide-bandgap semiconductor materials, device architectures and fabrication processes to enable increased energy density and switching frequencies, enhanced temperature control and reduced power losses in a range of power electronics applications for electric motor drives and power switching devices for the electrical grid.”
ARPA-E was authorized in 2007 and first funded in 2009. It invests in high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are, perhaps, too early or too risky for private-sector investment. The Fairfield Crystal Technologies funding is part of a total $27 million ARPA-E high-tech cash infusion.
“The low-cost power electronic projects ARPA-E announced today could result in some of the critical components needed to update our aging infrastructure and reduce power losses from the grid,” ARPA-E Deputy Director Cheryl Martin said.
Fairfield Crystal Technology”™s research focuses on solid-state lighting, microlithography, lasers, spectroscopy, semiconductors, defense and detection systems, medical imaging, nuclear medicine and bio-agent detection.
Fairfield Crystal Technology has developed proprietary crystal growth techniques and other proprietary “source purification technology.” Its advances are used to grow “high-purity single crystals that can be fabricated into high-performance, semiconductor substrates or optical components suitable for commercial, industrial and military applications.”
The company makes crystals amid astronomic temperatures of 2,550- and 4,890-degrees Fahrenheit. Some are made in under pressure; others are made in vacuums ”“ all by using proprietary designs. Other company specialties include furnace and crucible design, purification processes and the making and slicing of crystals.