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October 20, 2005
Dr. Billy J. Stanbery, President and CEO, HelioVolt Corporation, 8/24/05
Dr. Billy J. Stanbery founded HelioVolt Corporation in order to develop and market new technology for applying thin-film photovoltaic coatings to conventional construction materials. He invented the company's FAAST (TM) process, a low-cost, flexible manufacturing process for CIGS synthesis.
Dr. Billy J. Stanbery's early work in photovoltaics began in 1978, as a Senior Microelectronics Engineer with the Electronics Support Division of the Boeing Aerospace Company. His initial responsibility was the development of fabrication processes for very high power silicon concentrator solar cells for a Boeing IR&D program in 1978. Based on that work, he negotiated a contract with Sandia National Laboratories for further development of the technology in 1980, and was responsible during the contract period for the design and operation of an advanced computer controlled concentrator solar cell test facility.
Subsequent to the work on concentrator cells, Dr. Stanbery served as a consultant at Boeing on an Air Force SMATH V subcontract for the development of metallization systems and device configurations for fabricating silicon solar cells capable of withstanding high temperature heat treatment. Since 1982, he has participated in Boeing's development of large-area CuInSe2 solar cells and related photovoltaic devices, has published over two dozen papers, and holds seven U.S. patents in photovoltaic technology.
In 1988, Dr. Stanbery was named Senior Principal Engineer at Boeing, managing the company's terrestrial photovoltaic program, including three contracts with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). His team set what was at the time the record for CIGS thin-film efficiency (14.6% AM1.5G). In 1990, a team lead by Dr. Stanbery demonstrated a tandem GaAs/CuInSe cell (measured at 25.8% AM1.5G), which still holds the world-record for thin-film solar cell efficiency.
Posted by David Lemberg at October 20, 2005 01:19 PM Return to SCIENCE AND SOCIETY home page