Intelligence Brief

IQE ties up with QinetiQ

27 February 2009

IQE plc has shared that its Milton Keynes based wafer operation, Wafer Technology Ltd., will lead a collaborative effort to develop thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) cells.
 
The £2m project has been awarded by the Technology Strategy Board. Wafer Technology will lead a consortium of partners including Lancaster University and QinetiQ.
 
According to the company, the project aims to realise novel low bandgap TPV devices based on alloys including InAsSb and InGaSbN lattice matched to GaSb substrates. Such cells will exhibit significantly higher efficiencies than existing devices and will more effectively generate electricity from waste heat sources at temperatures below 1000ºC.
 
Wafer Technology's contribution will be to extend its GaSb substrate technology to 4" diameter.
 
Lancaster and QinetiQ will undertake epitaxial growth studies of these novel narrow gap alloys and QinetiQ will also fabricate the devices.
 
Prototype TPV systems will be validated by two further industrial partners to assess their performance in real industrial processes and environments.