JUNE 8-13, 2014 • DENVER, COLORADO
9
THIS YEAR THE WILLIAM R. CHERRY AWARD
WILL BE PRESENTED TO:
DR. RONALD A. SINTON
Ronald A. Sinton is founder and
president of Sinton Instruments,
based in Boulder, Colorado.
Ron received his PhD in Applied
Physics from Stanford University
in 1987, following a B.S. in
Engineering Physics from the
University of Colorado in 1981.
His studies at Stanford University
included the demonstration of
28%-efficient silicon concentrator
solar cells, the physics of high-
injection solar cells, detailed
device modeling, measurements
of Auger recombination, and
the test and measurement of concentrator solar cells. As a
Research Associate at Stanford, Ron developed simplified
versions of the sophisticated point-contact solar cell designs
that could maintain the high efficiency while minimizing
the process complexity. He continued this work during the
early years of SunPower Corporation, focusing on solar cell
designs and manufacturing processes potentially suitable for
commercialization.
Dr. Sinton founded Sinton Consulting in 1992. The
company soon focused on the development of novel test
and measurement instruments. This work resulted in many
fruitful, and very international, collaborations and research
papers. Innovations from Sinton Instruments that have
become standard within the R&D community and the silicon
manufacturing industry include the QSSPC lifetime technique,
Suns-Voc measurements, and novel methodologies for
measuring the efficiency of high-efficiency solar cells and
modules.
Dr. Sinton has maintained his special interest in the device
physics of silicon solar cells. Running a metrology company
has proven to be an effective way to be at the center of
both of the R&D and manufacturing communities, offering
opportunities to contribute at the most technical academic
level as well as providing instrumentation to support tens of
GWs of silicon solar cell and module production.
Ron received the R&D 500 award in 2005 for developing
instruments for measuring bulk lifetime in silicon ingots and
bricks. He is well published and has coauthored 4 book
chapters. He is an associate editor of the IEEE Journal of
Photovoltaics and has frequently presented tutorials on
silicon solar cells and device physics at the IEEE PVSC
conferences, first in 1988 and as recently as 2013. Ron is
a frequent contributor to conference program committees;
especially the IEEE PVSC, the NREL Silicon Workshop, and
the SiliconPV conference.
Congratulations, Dr. Sinton!
WILLIAM R. CHERRY AWARD
