At a grand opening celebration held Tuesday, Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno joined with United Silicon Carbide, Inc. (USCI) and other state and local officials to celebrate the company’s expanded New Jersey presence. USCI, one of the first developers of Silicon Carbide (SiC) power devices, recently moved to the new location in Monmouth Junction, roughly doubling the size of its manufacturing operations.
USCI is a rapidly growing developer and manufacturer of innovative SiC based power transistors and devices. The company is attracting interest from power supply and clean energy manufacturers due to the higher efficiency and performance obtained from these products. The company, a Rutgers University spin-out, has grown from a staff of five to ten over the last year and its new, 6,000-square-foot facility will allow USCI to continue its rapid expansion.
“The growth of New Jersey’s clean energy and manufacturing sectors is critical to the state’s economy and USCI’s innovative technology and talented staff will only help to drive the company’s continued growth,” said Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno. “As the Christie Administration continues its work making New Jersey a home for growth, USCI is exactly the kind of business success that the Governor envisions for the state.”
USCI was recently awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support the development of circuits and subsystems that will enable more sophisticated natural gas and oil exploration. Other awards in 2010 include Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) and Phase II SBIR awards from the Missile Defense Agency to develop more efficient and radiation hardened power supplies for radar and space applications. As part of these programs, USCI is developing a unique SiC super-junction lateral JFET (SL-JFET) for resonant high-frequency power converters. In addition, USCI has been selected by the US Army to develop gate driver solutions for a variety of SiC power transistors.
“As we continue to achieve success in the clean energy market, we are proud to have developed and grown our operations right here in New Jersey,” said USCI President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Dries. “Our new facility provides us with the space we need to manufacture SiC devices much more efficiently, increase our throughput in production, and create more jobs in the state.”
Today’s announcement adds USCI to a growing list of companies that have chosen to remain and grow in New Jersey, including Coca Cola Enterprises in South Brunswick, Pinnacle Foods Group in Cherry Hill and Honeywell in Morris Township. Reflecting the Christie Administration’s commitment to attracting and supporting business and job creation in the State, New Jersey’s recently formed Business Action Center, a component of the New Jersey Partnership for Action, provides a one-stop shop for business, combining all economic development activities under one roof, including business retention and attraction services. The Center has launched a business call center, where customer service representatives are available to answer inquiries and businesses will get a return phone call from an account manager within 24 hours. New Jersey businesses are encouraged to contact the Business Action Center at (866) 534-7789.