International Rectifier Rejects Vishay’s Buyout Offer
CompoundSemi News StaffSeptember 2, 2008...International Rectifier Corporation (IR) of El Segundo, California USA, a maker of power management solutions, announced that its board of directors has unanimously declined the offer of Vishay to acquire the company. According to IR, the board of directors decided that the the non-binding and unsolicited proposal from Vishay Intertechnology, Inc., a maker of discrete semiconductors and components, to acquire all of the outstanding shares of International Rectifier for $21.22 per share in cash was not in the best interests of IR and its shareholders. In a letter from the IR board to Vishay officially declining the offer, IR characterized the offer as “inadequate” and “opportunistic”.
Richard J. Dahl, chairman of the board of International Rectifier said, “Vishay’s proposal significantly undervalues the Company and its future prospects when compared to the shareholder value realizable under our recently adopted strategic plan.” He added, “In our judgment, IR shareholders will be better served by allowing management to move forward with its strategic plan. We believe that IR’s valuation is still under the cloud of legacy issues. The Board and our management team look forward to executing the exciting opportunities available to our Company and to delivering this value to our shareholders.”
International Rectifier News Release AVA Solar Completes $104 million Financing Round
CompoundSemi News StaffSeptember 2, 2008...AVA Solar, a company based in Fort Collins, Colorado USA, that produces cadmium telluride thin-film photovoltaic modules, has raised $104 million in its second equity round of financing. The funding round was led by DCM and included new investors Technology Partners, GLG Partners and Bohemian Companies, LLC as well as prior investors, including Invus, LP. The company says that it will use the funds to complete its first production facility in Longmont, Colorado. According to the company, the facility will have a production capacity of 200 MW per year.
AVA Solar was founded in 2007 with technology that came from 15 years of research at Colorado State University’s Material Engineering Laboratory.
"I am very pleased to have closed this financing with such a prestigious group of investors," said Pascal Noronha, CEO of AVA Solar. "This funding will allow us to move quickly to establish our first manufacturing facility to produce cost-effective PV modules." AVA Solar News Release
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September 2, 2008...Amplification Technologies Inc. of New York, announced the development of what it says is the top performing high gain solid state photomultiplier that operates in the near infrared (NIR) wavelengths of 1000 to 1700 nanometers (nm). Device samples are expected to be available from ATI in TO8 or Chip on Sub-mount (COS) packages in the 4th quarter of 2008. The development work was primarily funded by Phase II of a NASA SBIR grant. ATI says that the fields of spectroscopy, night vision, industrial and scientific instrumentation, astronomy, quantum cryptography, and other military, defense, and aerospace applications have an acute need today for ultra-sensitive, compact, rugged, and inexpensive optical sensors in the near infrared wavelength range of spectrum.
ATI reportedly based the design and the prototype on its Discrete Amplification Photon Detector (DAPD) technology.
“Implementing DAPD in the InGaAs/InP material system is a major step forward for low level photon detection and amplification, and opens the door to new and improved applications and opportunities across many diverse fields,” said Jack N. Mayer, Executive Chairman of ATI.
“NASA needs high efficiency and high bandwidth single photon counting devices in the 1000-1600 nm wavelength region, and the new device from Amplification Technologies is the easiest to operate photon counting detector with good performance that we have seen in that wavelength range," said Mr. William Farr, Manager of the Optical Communication Technology program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Company News Release Nanosolar Completes $300 Million Equity Financing Round
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 28, 2008...Nanosolar has brought its total amount of funding to date to just below half a billion U.S. dollars as part of its $300 million in equity financing. The company says that the new capital will allow them to ramp production at its 430MW San Jose factory and its 620MW Berlin factory. Earlier, the company received a 50 percent capex subsidy from the German Government for its factory in Berlin. Under the terms of the transaction, the boards of directors of AES Corporation (one of the world’s largest power companies), the Carlyle Group, EDF (the world’s largest electric utility), and Energy Capital Partners signed off on investments into Nanosolar through Riverstone Holdings, EDF Renewables, and simultaneously formed AES Solar. A fraction of the oversubscribed Nanosolar equity round also included financial investors such as Lone Pine Capital, the Skoll Foundation, and Pierre Omidyar’s fund as well as returning investors including GLG Partners, Beck Energy, and Conergy founding investor Grazia Equity. The transaction closed in March 2008.
The company boasts of some 180 issued, pending, or licensed patents. The company says that through its thin film technology it has been able to overcome the challenges of early thin film products. Their CIGS solar cells have: a conductive substrate that is used directly as an electrode, a low- cost top electrode, individual cell matching and sorting, roll to roll processing, and high-power high-current panels with low balance of system costs. Company News Release Northrop Grumman Recognizes TriQuint with Awards
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 28, 2008...TriQuint of Hilsboro, Oregon USA, reports that it was the only Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems (NGES) supplier in 2008 that was recognized with two supplier awards.
NGES held a supplier conference in which 32 different companies were recognized and 61 total were nominated. TriQuint was the only one to receive two awards. TriQuint, an RF front-end product manufacturer and foundry services provider received the award from NGES for the development of its bulk acoustic wave (BAW) S-Band tuned coupled resonator filter (TCRF) modules. TriQuint reportedly also received a Strategic Supplier Award for its dedication to the success of NGES programs.
“We’re extremely proud to be recognized by NGES for our work providing them the best products and service possible,” remarked Dr. Gailon Brehm, Military Products Marketing Director. “Our BAW program leads the industry, and we’re pleased to receive their commendation. As a newly named ‘Strategic Supplier,’ TriQuint will continue serving this important customer with the latest RF power and acoustic filter devices.” TriQuint News Release Japan’s Solar Cell Makers Looking to Increase Capacity
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 27, 2008...Japan’s solar companies are betting on explosive growth in the global solar market. Mitsubishi plans to triple capacity by the end of 2011 to about 600,000 kilowatts per year of amorphous silicon solar cells, according to a Nikkei Net article. Sharp will be making more thin-film solar cells, the article indicated. Showa Shell Sekiyu KK, among a handful of companies that produce copper indium selenium (CIS) solar cells, reportedly plans to build a new factory by 2011 that will be able to produce 1 million kilowatts of the CIS solar cells. Mimix Announces 17 To 34 GHz QFN Packaged Up-Converter
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 28, 2008...Mimix Broadband, Inc. of Houston, Texas USA has introduced a 17 to 34 GHz GaAs pHEMT SMT packaged up-converter that it says integrates a linear, balanced resistive pHEMT mixer, LO buffer amplifier and LO doubler within a fully molded 4x4mm QFN package. The packaged up-converter is RoHS-compliant, and has an input third order intercept point (IIP3) of +23 dBm, a conversion loss of 10 dB and an LO drive level of +2 dBm.
It includes on-chip electro static discharge (ESD) protection structures and DC by-pass capacitors to ease the implementation and volume assembly of this device. The company says that the XU1010-QH is well suited for point-to-point radio, LMDS, SatCom and VSAT applications. Company News Release Veeco Introduces "FastFlex" Platform for Production of Flexible Thin Film CIGS Solar Cells
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 25, 2008...Veeco Instruments Inc., of Plainview, New York USA, announced the introduction of its FastFlex line of web coating systems ideally suited for manufacturing copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cells. Veeco boasts that its FastFlex web deposition platform offers high throughput and excellent performance for flexible thin film solar cell production. The company says that its the platform’s high quantity of deposition zones in a compact footprint contribute to a lower cost of ownership. Veeco says its FastFlex platform also provides excellent thickness uniformity, and the ability to process web widths up to 350mm with an architecture that supports widths of 1m or more for metal as well as polyimide substrates. According to Veeco, its FastFlex platform consists of three systems: one for the transparent conductive oxide (TCO) utilizing reactive sputtering, one for metal deposition with sputtering (the Molybdenum layer), and one for the CIGS layer, integrating Veeco's proven PV-Series Thermal Deposition Sources.
Piero Sferlazzo, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Veeco Solar Equipment, commented, "Veeco now provides comprehensive, fully integrated manufacturing solutions for the Moly, CIGS and TCO layers--enabling customers to achieve full-scale commercialization of flexible solar cells. Our CIGS systems can be tailored to our customers' requirements and help drive down their cost per watt." Company News Release Solar Thin Films Signs Cross License Agreement with Amelio Solar Inc.
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 25, 2008...Solar Thin Films, Inc. (STF), a maker of amorphous silicon photovoltaic modules, has entered into a cross licensing agreement with copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cell maker, Amelio Solar Inc., (ASI). Under the terms of the agreement, STF of Dix Hills, New York USA, will market and sell CIGS solar cells based upon technology developed at ASI. STF has also entered into a stock purchase agreement running concurrently with the strategic alliance. STF has signed a stock purchase agreement to arrange for the sale of an aggregate of 18.0 million shares of common stock owned by the Kiss family. STF says that the strategic alliance, cross license and stock purchase agreements are expected to close simultaneously on or about November 30, 2008 coincident with a capital markets transaction currently contemplated by the company.
Peter Lewis, chief executive officer of Solar Thin Films stated, "Today our expertise lies in the process know-how required to produce a complete line of manufacturing equipment for the production of thin-film amorphous silicon modules. And we believe that amorphous silicon offers cost advantages over other commercially viable thin film materials available in the market. At the same time, we want to prepare for the emergence of other cost-effective thin film technologies, including CIGS and micro crystalline, by forming partnerships with companies like Amelio Solar and through our own research and development activities. Therefore, our plan is to position Solar Thin to utilize other thin film materials as the industry evolves." Solar Thin Films Inc. News Release Sony Claims Highest-power Red Laser Diode
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 25, 2008...Sony Corporation of Tokyo, Japan has reportedly demonstrated what it claims is the most powerful red laser diode, according to an article in TechOn Nikkei. Sony says the diode, which operates at 635nm, achieved an optical output of 7.2 watts. The device consists of an array of 25 emitters along a 10-mm long semiconductor chip. According to the article, the device uses a copper heatsink and an increased purity AlInP cladding layer. The company noted that part of the improvement came from the increased uniformity of the active layer.
Sony indicated that it reduced the current density at the initial phase of laser oscillation with control of the concentration of magnesium (Mg) doping used to obtain p-type conduction. Sony also indicated in the article that it used a new bonding technique to attach the laser array and the heatsink. Sony says this improved the heat dissipation efficiency from the device.
Sony noted other specifications of the demonstrated device including an operation current of14A and an operating voltage of 2.2V. Sony says that the laser diode had an energy conversion efficiency of 23%. Additionally the company indicated in the article that the vertical and horizontal divergence angles are 42° and 10°. Sony says that the demonstration took place with an ambient air temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. Our news features are reported
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