Energy Efficiency Facilities

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The Energy Efficiency theme at the Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research is an extremely diverse theme focused on a wide range of interrelated topics including:

  1. Design, fabrication and testing of next generation power electronic devices based on wide bandgap semiconductors;
  2. Improving the heating and cooling efficiency of residential to industrial-scale buildings;
  3. Optimizing advanced manufacturing processes to use less energy and improve process yield; and
  4. New solid state lighting opportunities. Facilities associated with this theme are similarly diverse and include advanced semiconductor synthesis systems, device analysis tools and large-scale industrial equipment.

The Energy Efficiency theme is equipped to guide and assist researchers in all areas of the above listed topics including training on semiconductor synthesis and testing techniques and system level process assessment.

Instrumentation

Notable resources available within the Energy Efficiency group consist of:

  1. Power Electronics

    1. Customized SMI MOCVD reactor for the deposition of III-V semiconductors including GaN, InN, AlN and associated ternary alloys. System also includes sources for n- and p-type doping as well as a rotating stage for deposition on 6” wafers.
    2. Keithley SCS 4200-PCT-4 plus CV system, Keithley 2651A/2657A high current/high voltage SMUs, on-wafer prober, 8010 test fixture. Semiconductor testing/analysis at up to 1kV, 50A and 10MHZ. System can also perform pulsed IV and transient measurements.
    3. Custom thermoevaporator with two power sources, both supplying 200A of current to boats.
    4. Custom MOCVD system for small-scale III-V deposition on wafers up to 2”. Equipped with Ga, In and Al precursors and Mg and Si for doping.
    5. Two plasma CVD reactors for diamond deposition. Through these reactors, morphologies ranging from nanocrystalline to monocrystalline can be achieved. Doping abilities of synthesized diamond include nitrogen, phosphorus and boron with others currently being investigated.
    6. Access to UofL’s Micro/Nano Technology center, a call 100/1000, $30M, 10,000ft2 cleanroom facility to compliment above facilities. The MNTC includes a 1,000ft2 packaging and characterization lab with a 300 ft2 design/layout/simulation lab for MEMS and IC devices. 

  2. Smart Manufacturing Innovation

    1. Custom, industrial-scale rotary cement kiln serving as a platform for improving efficiency, yield and safety of cement industry.
    2. Multiple high-resolution Fluke thermal imaging cameras with wide focal range for process analysis.
    3. COMSOL simulation software.

  3. Catalysts

We have the necessary packed bed reactors and in-line GC/MS facilities to evaluate catalyst performance for a variety of chemical processing applications. Also, researchers have access to a variety of thermal and structural characterization within our materials characterization facility for understanding materials structure and properties.