NIST GCR 03-844 Low-Cost Manufacturing Process Technology for Amorphous Silicon Detector Panels

NIST GCR 03-844
Low-Cost Manufacturing Process Technology for Amorphous Silicon Detector Panels: Applications in Digital Mammography and Radiograph

About the Advanced Technology Program

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) is a partnership between government and private industry to conduct high-risk research to develop enabling technologies that promise significant commercial payoffs and widespread benefits for the economy. The ATP provides a mechanism for industry to extend its technological reach and push the envelope beyond what it otherwise would attempt.

Promising future technologies are the domain of ATP:

Enabling technologies that are essential to the development of future new and substantially improved projects, processes, and services across diverse application areas;
Technologies for which there are challenging technical issues standing in the way of success;
Technologies whose development often involves complex “systems” problems requiring a collaborative effort by multiple organizations;
Technologies that will go undeveloped and/or proceed too slowly to be competitive in global markets without ATP.

The ATP funds technical research, but it does not fund product development–that is the domain of the company partners. The ATP is industry driven, and that keeps it grounded in real-world needs. For-profit companies conceive, propose, co-fund, and execute all of the projects cost-shared by ATP.

Smaller firms working on single-company projects pay a minimum of all the indirect costs associated with the project. Large, “Fortune 500” companies participating as a single company pay at least 60 percent of total project costs. Joint ventures pay at least half of total project costs. Single-company projects can last up to three years; joint ventures can last as long as five years. Companies of all sizes participate in ATP-funded projects. To date, more than half of ATP awards have gone to individual small businesses or to joint ventures led by a small business.

Each project has specific goals, funding allocations, and completion dates established at the outset. Projects are monitored and can be terminated for cause before completion. All projects are selected in rigorous, competitions, which use peer review to identify those that score highest against technical and economic criteria.

Contact ATP for more information:

On the Internet: http://www.atp.nist.gov
By e-mail: atp@nist.gov
By phone: 1-800-ATP-FUND (1-800-287-3863)
By writing:
Advanced Technology Program
National Institute of Standards and Technology
100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 4701
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-4701

About the Author

Dr. Thomas Pelsoci is the managing director of Delta Research Co., specializing in the economic assessment of new technologies and manufacturing processes, including prospective economic impact studies during the early stage 'proof of concept' and demonstration phases. Along these lines, he recently completed an economic case study of an ATP-funded Close Cycle Air Refrigeration Technology. His industrial experience includes positions as R&D engineer at TRW and management consultant in the high technology practice of Bearing Point (KPMG Peat Marwick). Subsequently, Dr. Pelsoci held senior banking positions at First National Bank of Chicago and at Sanwa Bank, specializing in financing information systems and technology projects. He received a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota.

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Date created: May 24, 2002
Last updated: August 2, 2005