August 4, 2005 – GT Equipment Technologies Inc., Merrimack, NH, has been awarded three technical grants from the US Government – two under the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) and one under the Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) – for a total of nearly $1 million. The company, which produces semi-custom specialty equipment for the photovoltaic and semiconductor industries, plans to use the funds to focus on developing new solar cell production methods, one of which involves using metallurgical-grade silicon instead of more expensive solar-grade silicon to produce wafers for solar cells, as well as a joint research project with the U. of New Hampshire to develop a more efficient, cost-effective atmospheric plasma chemical-vapor deposition process for coatings used in solar cell production and semiconductor-related coatings.