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February 3, 2010...Solar company, Emcore Corporation has agreed to sell the majority stake in its fiber optics business. Emcore entered into a share purchase agreement with Tangshan Caofeidian Investment Corporation (TCIC), a Chinese investment company. The investment from TCIC will form a joint venture in which TCIC will purchase 60 percent of Emcore's Fiber Optics business (excluding its satellite communications and specialty photonics fiber optics product lines).
The new joint venture entity will be called Emcore Fiber Optics, Limited (EFO), and registered in Hong Kong. Under the terms of the agreement, TCIC will pay Emcore approximately $27.8 million in cash and provide an additional funding of $27 million to EFO after the closing. The Fiber Optics businesses included in this transaction are Emcore's telecom, enterprise, cable TV (CATV), fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP), and video transport product lines. Emcore will retain the satellite communications and specialty photonics fiber optics product lines as well as the satellite and terrestrial solar businesses.
Emcore Chairman, Mr. Reuben F. Richards, Jr. will resign his position as executive chairman of and will assume the role of CEO for EFO. Also, Emcore's President and CEO, Dr. Hong Q. Hou, will also serve as a Director of EFO, providing strategic and operational oversight to the joint venture. TCIC nominated Dr. Yi Li as chairman of the board for EFO and will name a CFO to EFO after the closing.
Emcore News Release
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Allied Building Products Corp. to be Solyndra's First North American Distributor
CompoundSemi News StaffFebruary 3, 2010...Solyndra, Inc., a maker of cylindrical CIGS solar systems for rooftops, has signed a new distribution agreement with Allied Building Products Corp., a national distributor of roofing, solar and other building products and materials, based in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
“We are proud to be Solyndra’s first distributor in North America,” said Bob Feury, CEO of Allied Building Products Corp. “Solyndra’s unique solar panel technology should be considered by all commercial building owners evaluating new low-slope roof installations or reroofing applications.”
“Allied Building Products has broad reach, extensive customer support and strong logistics capabilities in the roofing channel,” said Chris Gronet, Solyndra CEO and founder. “We are very pleased to have them as our first distributor in North America.”
Solyndra News Release AXT Gets 5-year Contract for Germanium Substrates with Azur Space
CompoundSemi News StaffFebruary 3, 2010...AXT, Inc., a manufacturer of compound semiconductor substrates, has been awarded a 5-year contract for germanium (Ge) substrates with Azur Space Solar Power GmbH, a provider of solar cells for space and terrestrial applications. According to AXT, the contract is the result of a collaboration that enabled Azur Space to obtain an industry-leading 40 percent conversion efficiency rate in average for Triple Junction concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) solar cells and the 30 percent conversion efficiency rate in average for triple junction GaAs space solar cells. Germanium is a single-element substrate used to produce devices for photovoltaic applications including space and terrestrial solar cells. AXT is a leading supplier of germanium substrates and the company points out that it has its own source of germanium raw material through its China joint venture.
"We are very pleased to announce our successful partnership with Azur Space," said Morris Young, chief executive officer of AXT, Inc. "Since 1964, Azur Space has been at the forefront of the development of solar technology and we are excited that our collaboration over the past months has resulted in one of the highest conversion efficiency rates in the industry, further advancing the potential of this important triple junction CPV technology. We are thrilled to be working with them and look forward to a long and prosperous relationship."
AXT News Release
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Umwelt-Sonne-Energie Completes 1.9 MWp Solyndra Panel Project
CompoundSemi News StaffFebruary 1, 2010...
Solyndra, a Fremont, California-based manufacturer of cylindrical photovoltaic systems, reports that Umwelt-Sonne-Energie GmbH (USE Projects) has completed a 1.9MWp installation over ten rooftop sites. The project, completed in only two months, is the largest collective Solyndra project to date with 10 rooftop sites in ten Belgium cities. The sites are owned by a large international food retailer. According to Solyndra, the power generated will be sold to local utilities under an agreement with the building owners.
Solyndra's unique cylindrical, thin film PV systems are reportedly designed to generate more electricity from typical low-slope commercial rooftops while providing significantly lower installation costs than conventional flat plate PV technologies. Unlike other technologies, the systems do not need costly directional adjustment platforms.
"This is a great example of how Solyndra's PV systems can take advantage of underutilized commercial rooftop space to generate significant power. The project also offers a good model for how distributed power generation can work in an urban setting," said Chris Gronet, Solyndra CEO and founder. "USE Projects designed and delivered a PV system that we believe can enable the highest energy production per roof over the system lifetime while taking advantage of Solyndra's low overall installation costs."
Solyndra News Release TriQuint Announces Tripower Family of 'Green' Base Station Amplifier RF Transistors
CompoundSemi News StaffFebruary 1, 2010...TriQuint Semiconductor, has released the first products in its new 'green'
TriPower family of 3G/4G wireless base station RFICs. According to the company, TriPower reduces electricity needed to power network base station amplifiers while it allows operators to more easily increase network capacity and speed.
TriQuint says that such a network with 2000 base station ampliers to cover a medium sized city would cut CO2 emissions by about 340 tons each year. According to the US Forestry Service, each acre of trees absorbs about 2.6 tons of CO2 annually. Using TriPower in such a system would be the equivalent of adding more than 130 acres of trees to the ecosystem.
TriQuint Networks Vice President, Brian P. Balut stated, “The complex modulation requirements of 3G and 4G networks cannot be delivered efficiently by legacy semiconductor technologies." He added, "We believe that for reasons of reliability, cost and efficiency, TriPower’s GaAs HV-HBT technology is the best choice.”
Balut explained that TriPower RFICs can be easily linearized using conventional Digital Pre-Distortion (DPD) techniques.
Independent researchers at the University of California at San Diego have compared key base station amplifier semiconductor technologies including Silicon LDMOS, Gallium Nitride (GaN) and TriPower GaAs HV-HBT technology. UCSD lead researcher, Professor Donald Kimball, concluded in a November 2008 paper that TriPower devices offer a clear efficiency advantage. TriQuint News Release Emcore to Deliver Solar Panels to ATK Space Systems for Orion Spacecraft
CompoundSemi News StaffJanuary 27, 2010...ATK Space Systems of Goleta, California has awarded Emcore Corporation a contract to manufacture, test, and deliver solar panels for ATK's UltraFlex solar arrays. The UltraFlex solar arrays will power the Orion spacecraft, which Lockheed Martin is developing for NASA.
Emcore's contract runs through 2013 and is valued at $9 million to $11 million. The solar array system is used for only one mission. For this reason, Emcore is expected to continuously produce the solar panels for ATK's UltraFlex solar arrays through 2020 and beyond.
Emcore's latest ZTJ triple-junction solar cells will be designed into the solar panels delivered to ATK Space Systems. According to Emcore, the cells have a sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 30%, the highest performance space qualified multi-junction solar cells available. Production of the solar panels will take place at Emcore's manufacturing facilities located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle (CEV) program will replacing the current Space Shuttle and serve as its next generation human space transport system. It will be capable of transferring astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS), the Moon and other destinations within the solar system. NASA expects to order multiple Orion Constellation vehicles over the next decade.
Dave Messner, Vice President and General Manager of ATK's Solar Array and Deployables site in Goleta, California stated, "The ATK UltraFlex™ solar array design will be providing 14kW of power per shipset with superior performance characteristics and mission enabling features..."
Emcore News Release
Aixtron Expands to New R&D Facilities
CompoundSemi News StaffJanuary 27, 2010...Aixtron AG of Aachen, Germany announced an expansion to its new R&D campus at its premises in Herzogenrath-Kohlscheid in support of the company’s research and development strategy.
Aixtron says that the new facility will be able to host up to 350 engineers at the end of phase 1, significantly increasing the laboratory resources and prototype capabilities used to develop next generation complex material deposition manufacturing systems. The company plans to invest up to €40m over the next 2-3 years to fully develop these new modular facilities. The new facilities will reportedly utilize a renewable energy design.
Aixtron says it will continue to focus the main portion of its manufacturing of standard deposition equipment at its nearby production facilities in Herzogenrath, Kaiserstraße. Manufacturing of standard deposition equipment will also be supported by the engineering and assembly locations in Cambridge, UK, and Sunnyvale, US. Aixtron indicated that the facility will help to meet requirements of improved performance and will aid in reducing the cost of ownership of its systems for use in the LED general lighting market.
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