EMCORE, a prominent provider of compound semiconductor-based components and subsystems for the fiber optics and solar power markets, received the Association of University Research Parks’ (AURP) Innovation Award at AURP’s International Conference Awards Luncheon on September 26, 2013. The award was presented to EMCORE’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Hong Q. Hou, for the company’s innovative work in the development and commercialization of high-efficiency multi-junction solar cells for space and terrestrial solar power applications.
The AURP presents Awards of Excellence each year in multiple categories, including the Innovation Award presented to EMCORE and the Outstanding Research/Science Park Award presented to Sandia Science & Technology Park in 2008.
In early 1998, EMCORE began its efforts to design and manufacture radiation-hardened, high-efficiency multi-junction solar cells for satellite and space power applications at the Sandia Science & Technology Park. Dr. Hong Hou, who transferred to EMCORE from Sandia National Laboratories, led the research and development team in the licensing of background intellectual properties associated with multi-junction solar cells from Sandia, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. EMCORE then went on to establish its Photovoltaics division in Albuquerque, New Mexico centered on its 160,000 square foot state-of-the-art semiconductor wafer fabrication facility. This facility is one of the largest multi-junction solar cell manufacturing plants in the world.
EMCORE’s high-efficiency multi-junction solar cells have led the way in the transformation of the space solar power industry over the past 15 years. EMCORE’s entry into the industry has advanced solar cell efficiency from 17%, the standard for silicon-based technology prior to 1998, to 37% conversion efficiency for its latest generation Inverted Metamorphic Multi-Junction (IMM) solar cells that are currently being introduced to volume production. With the success of the commercialization of high-efficiency multi-junction solar cells for space power applications, EMCORE relocated its corporate headquarters from New Jersey to the SS&TP in Albuquerque in 2006.
“We are very pleased and honored to receive the AURP’s Innovation Award for our work in multi-junction solar cell technology development and commercialization,” said Dr. Hong Hou, President and Chief Executive Officer for EMCORE. “I would also like to thank the Sandia National Laboratories and the SS&TP for their superb resources and support of our efforts from the very beginning. And, I would especially like to thank our employees in the photovoltaics division for their dedication and innovative work all these years, paving the way for EMCORE’s success in the industry.”
“EMCORE is more than deserving of the AURP’s Innovation Award,” said Jackie Kerby Moore, Executive Director of the SS&TP. “They are creating products used in the global marketplace, and they are doing most of that right here in the Sandia Science &Technology Park.”
For further information, please visit www.emcore.com
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