This award is presented at each IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference. The recipient is selected by the William R Cherry Committee composed of past PVSC conference chairpersons and past recipients of the award.  Those nominated for the award do not participate in the process.                                                                             

To be eligible for the award, the nominee must currently be active in the science and technology of PV conversion.  He/she must have been active in the field for an extended period, with expectation of continued activity.  Short term activities in the field, and/or single outstanding contributions are not adequate to make a person eligible for the award.

This year the award will be presented to: 

Dr. Richard R. King

Richard R. King was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1960.  Dr. King is currently Principal Scientist responsible for Photovoltaic Cell R&D at Spectrolab, Inc.  His research on photovoltaics over the last 25 years has explored high-efficiency solar cells in a number of semiconductor materials systems, from silicon, to the GaInP, GaInAs, and germanium subcells in III-V multijunction cells.  Dr. King's solar cell research led the emergence of III-V multijunction concentrator cells as the photovoltaic technology with the highest and most rapidly rising efficiency, helping to enable the recent growth of the concentrator photovoltaics industry, which now primarily uses this type of solar cell. 

In his Ph.D. research at Stanford University, Dr. King worked to develop high-efficiency one-sun back-contact silicon solar cells, and his characterization studies of minority-carrier recombination at the doped Si/SiO₂ interface are still in use today for high-efficiency silicon solar cell design.  At Spectrolab, his research has contributed to understanding of metamorphic III-V materials lattice-mismatched to the growth substrate;  group-III sublattice ordering in GaInP;  minority-carrier recombination at III-V heterointerfaces;  wide-band-gap tunnel junctions;  high-efficiency GaInP/GaInAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells;  dilute nitride materials such as ~1-eV GaInNAs solar cells;  and multijunction solar cells formed by wafer bonding dissimilar materials such as III-V semiconductors and silicon.  Dr. King's work has emphasized the juncture between materials science and solar cell recombination physics, throwing light on theoretical performance limits, energy generation, and experimental demonstration of future high-efficiency solar cell designs, such as 4-, 5-, and 6-junction solar cells. 

At Spectrolab, Dr. King is principal investigator of Spectrolab’s Air Force Research Laboratory Next-Generation Solar Cell (AFRL Next-Gen) program, which led to the demonstration of the first space solar cells with over 30% AM0 efficiency, and developed the technology needed for the last 3 generations of space solar cells.  He was principal investigator in charge of high-efficiency terrestrial concentrator cell development in Spectrolab's High Performance Photovoltaics (HiPerf PV) program from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and over the years has built a team of top-notch solar cell researchers at Spectrolab. 

Dr. King led Spectrolab's development of III-V multijunction cell structures resulting in new heights in solar cell efficiencies, recognized with R&D 100 awards in 2001 and 2007, and a Scientific American 50 award in 2002.  In 2006, this work led to a record 40.7%-efficient metamorphic 3-junction terrestrial concentrator cell, the first solar cell of any type to reach over 40% efficiency.  Dr. King and his research team have since produced a 41.6%-efficient 3-junction GaInP/GaInAs/Ge cell, another step in a long series of record solar cell efficiencies.  As part of his strong interest in furthering public and scientific awareness of photovoltaics, Dr. King has helped organize a number of international conferences, serving as Program Chair for the 4th International Conference on Solar Concentrators (ICSC-4) in 2007, and the 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC-35) in 2010.  Dr. King was inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame in 2004, and has 12 patents and over 100 publications on photovoltaics and semiconductor device physics. 

To make a nomination, please submit:

1.     The name of your nominee, and his/her current affiliation.
2.     A summary (less than 100 words) of the nominee's contributions to the advancement of the PV field.
3.     A citation (less than 40 words) listing the nominee's specific contributions to make them deserving of the award.
4.     A list of the nominee's activities in the field.
5.     Nominator's name, address, phone number and e-mail address.

Please send any nominations for the next William R. Cherry award (37th IEEE PVSC) to:

Dr. Masafumi Yamaguchi
Toyota Technological Institute
2-12-1 Hisakata Tempaku
Nagoya 468-8511
JAPAN
Tel: +81-52-809-1875
Fax: +81-52-809-1879
E-mail: [email protected]

The deadline for Cherry Award nominations to be considered for the 37th IEEE PVSC is December 15, 2010.

WILLIAM R. CHERRY COMMITTEE