30th November 2006

Fraunhofer Scores Big Award for Laser Diodes, Alternative Energy Sources and Carbon Based Coatings


American subsidiary of Germany's largest R&D organization, Fraunhofer USA, recently won four major awards amounting to $2.9 m from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation for laser diodes, alternative energy sources and carbon-based coatings.

The Fraunhofer Center for Laser Technology (CLT) has won three of four awards, the biggest for developing a novel diode laser at low cost and then transferring the technology to the Michigan based laser manufacturer Visotek. They will also create new applications for the laser in automotive manufacturing and in the homeland security market.

They will also develop laser processing technologies tailored to the packaging and assembly of alternative energy sources and storage devices, such as high capacity batteries and fuel cells. These will be used for hybrid electric vehicles as well as other advanced power storage systems.

New types of laser joining of dissimilar materials will be identified in their third project. Of particular importance is the design flexibility that can be achieved in miniaturized optoelectronic and MEMS and bio-MEMS devices used exclusively in the telecom and medical implant/device industries.

Carbon-based materials and coatings was the winning project for Fraunhofer's Center for Coatings and Laser Applications (CCL). The benefits of carbon-based coatings are its electrical, thermal, optical and mechanical properties. Industrial applications range from the automotive industry to biocompatible implants, fuel cells, cell phones, and MEMS, sensor technologies, optical and electronic applications.

Fraunhofer USA, Inc. is a non-profit research and development corporation and is a subsidiary of Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Europe's largest organization for applied research. Fraunhofer USA operates through technology Centers that are partnered with major research universities in the United States and also with parent research institutes in Germany.

Web: http://www.fraunhofer.org