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In Memory of Rajat Deb: Inspiring Man of Ideas and Remarkable Silicon Valley Archetype

By Anjuli Deb -- With deep sadness and profound appreciation, we share the passing of LCG's founder, Dr. Rajat K. Deb. He was our president and one of the first entrepreneurs in the computer revolution. He was also our friend, our teacher and mentor, and for a few of us, our father and grandfather.

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DOE Announces New "American Nuclear Supply Chain Loans" to Accelerate Deployment of Large-scale Reactors

LCG, June 23, 2026--The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) announced today that it issued a conditional loan commitment to finance the purchase of long-lead time items needed to rebuild America’s commercial nuclear supply chain. In addition, Westinghouse Electric Company announced today its intention to partner with the EDF on the new loans.

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Industry News

Cheaper, Plastic Solar Cells to Come

LCG, April 1, 2002-- Semiconducting plastics may make solar cells easier and much cheaper to make.

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a nano-scale combination of conducting rods and liquefied semiconducting plastic. The neophyte cell produces a tiny bit of electricity and will take a decade or so of development before being applied commercially. However, the use of specially designed and carefully manipulated molecules have opened up the range of possibilities for solar cells, which up to now have been most successfully made from silicon.

The Berkeley team, headed by Paul Alivisatos, receives federal funding from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, less than $300,000 for three years.

According to the Sacramento Bee, Alivisatos says that the group's photovoltaic process could be used in small applications within 2 to 5 years.

Silicon and other crystalline semiconductors are costly to produce because of their high melting temperatures and the need for extremely "clean" production conditions. Recently discovered plastic semiconductors are much cheaper to produce.
While today solar energy involves the roundabout process of heating water into steam to power electricity-producing turbines, solar cells sidestep the turbine and convert the sun's rays directly into electricity.

U.S. and Japanese researchers, including University of California, Santa Barbara professor Alan Heeger, shared the Nobel prize in 2000 for plastic conductivity.

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