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January 2, 2012...Toshiba Imaging has delivered the new, miniature, high definition, IK-HR1S camera to Grande Vitesse Systems (GVS) of San Francisco, California for integration into a ruggedized, digital video recording system for NASA. Grande Vitesse Systems specializes in supplying high-broadcast-quality video systems. With a configuration developed for NASA, the GVS9000 2XU, combines single video channels, Fibre Channel, and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity with a 3CCD Toshiba high definition camera with DVI output. The video camera can capture uncompressed HD footage at 1080p/60frames per second (fps) and provide simultaneous playback in both compressed and uncompressed formats.
The new GVS9000 2XU‘s uncompressed video content is recorded directly to a local drive, also designed by Grande Vitesse Systems. The GVS9000 2XU VTR devices with built-in storage allow NASA to access the content (even single frames or select scenes) via Gbit, and Fibre, at over 4.0 Gbit/sec, which accommodates 1080p/60, and 2k and 4k uncompressed recording without loss of image quality.
According to Jano Avanessian, V. P. of marketing and sales at Grande Vitesse Systems, “The system we developed for NASA required that the digital video recorder be independently controlled via RS422 (Sony 9-pin port) connector for three concurrent, uncompressed recordings." He indicated that the IK-HR1S HD camera supports HD-SDI along with Grand Vitesse's direct DVI-D interface. Avanessian said, "We are able to bypass any form of conversion while offering both HD-SDI and 1080p 60 options side-by-side in a single camera unit."
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New Technique Makes Etching of GaAs Faster and Less Expensive
CompoundSemi News StaffJanuary 2, 2012...A team of University of Illinois researchers. developed a method to chemically etch high aspect ratio patterned arrays in gallium arsenide, which is used in numerous optoelectronic components. Electrical and computer engineering professor, Xiuling Li, led the researchers in the development which they describe in the journal Nano Letters.
Li and her group turned to metal assisted chemical etching ( MacEtch), a wet-etching approach, which Li says is faster and less expensive than many dry etch methods but can produce high aspect ratio structures that could previously only be produced with dry etch. The group previously developed MacEtch for use with silicon. Li's group optimized the chemical solution and reaction conditions for the III-V semiconductor gallium arsenide (GaAs).
First, the researchers used professor John Roger's "soft lithoagraphy" method to pattern a thin film on the GaAs surface without expensive optical equipment. Then, the semiconductor with the metal pattern is immersed in the MacEtch chemical solution. The metal catalyzes the reaction so that only the areas touching metal are etched away, and high-aspect-ratio structures are formed as the metal sinks into the wafer. When the etching is done, the metal can be cleaned from the surface without damaging it.
Li said, “The realization of high-aspect-ratio III-V nanostructure arrays by wet etching can potentially transform the fabrication of semiconductor lasers where surface grating is currently fabricated by dry etching, which is expensive and causes surface damage.” First Solar Changes Focus to Producing Utility Scale Solar Projects Instead of Solar Modules
CompoundSemi News StaffDecember 19, 2011...In a conference call and presentation Friday, First Solar described the tough, unbalanced solar market. For this reason, Fist solar says it is switching to producing utility-scale cadmium telluride solar projects. First Solar asserts that the solar industry currently has virtually no entry barriers, because expansion capital is too readily available. First Solar says that at the same time, manufacturers produce solar module beyond current demand levels, thus reducing margins and returns on capital.
According to First Solar, the industry is prone to over capacity even after the current imbalance abates. The company indicated that open, transparent, and subsidized markets cannot be sustained in an over-supplied industry. Also, open, transparent, and subsidized markets are unlikely to be created in significant volumes in the future. First Solar also notes that Countries with high energy needs cannot afford large subsidies.
The company claims that its low-cost technology and captive project pipeline will help it remain profitable despite the market. However, the company says that in order to thrive it must deploy roughly 65GW over the next ten years to grow at CAGR of 20 percent. In short this is untenable. The largest projects to date are less than a GW.
First solar said in its presentation that this left the company with two choices: "1. Continue to play the "Whack-a-mole game in the subsidized markets or 2. Find a new game. " First Solar chose the later, shifting to developing and manufacturing for utility scale solar generation projects. BinOptics Awarded $13.3 Million in New Funding
CompoundSemi News StaffDecember 19, 2011...BinOptics Corporation based in Ithica, New York USA, announced it has closed $13.3 million in new funding. BinOptics, which manufactures lasers and monolithically integrated optoelectronic components for optical networks, will use the funding to continue expanding its product lines and to accelerate new product development.
Five new investors participated in this round: Advantage Capital Partners, Enhanced Capital Partners, Gefinor Ventures, Onondaga Venture Capital Fund, and Rand Capital. Existing investors ArrowPath Venture Partners, Cayuga Venture Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and FA Technology Ventures also participated.
"This funding enhances our ability to meet strong demand for our current 2.5 Gbps and 10 Gbps Distributed Feedback (DFB) laser products," said BinOptics Chairman and CEO Alex Behfar. "
Rand Capital's President, Allen "Pete" Grum stated, "BinOptics has great potential to create new jobs here in upstate New York, another welcome outcome of this funding." The business currently employs over 50 people, with plans to hire additional engineers and technicians in 2012. Avancis Increases CIS Solar Production Capacity by a Factor of Six.
CompoundSemi News StaffDecember 19, 2011...Avancis, a manufacturer of CIS (also abreviated as CIGS) solar modules based in Torgau, Germany, began production at its second plant at the company headquarters. The new production facility for CIS solar modules brings the company's CIS solar module capacity from 20 megawatt peak (MWp) per year to at total of 120 MWp. Avancis has added more than 200 new jobs nearly doubling the current number of employees from 250 to almost 500. Construction was completed within just 18 months. In an area of 25,000 m?, the company will now annually produce over 800,000 high-performance CIS solar modules, or enough to power a town of 15,000.
"We are proud to be able today to begin operations at our second factory at the Torgau location on schedule and therefore ultimately be able to join the commercial mass production of CIS solar modules," said Avancis CEO Hartmut Fischer.
As a part of the expansion Avancis is bringing together its existing and new product lines under the PowerMax® umbrella brand. As of 1 January 2012 the brand will be renamed PowerMax® STRONG, but the module design and functions of this product line will remain unchanged. The new product line that will be produced in the new factory will be released onto the market under the PowerMax® SMART brand in spring 2012.
"We are expecting our new product line including all necessary quality certificates to be commercially available by the end of the 1st quarter of next year," Hartmut Fischer said. Warren Buffet-Controlled Company to Acquire 550-Megawatt (AC) Topaz Solar Farm from First Solar
CompoundSemi News StaffDecember 12, 2011...MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, which is controlled Warren Buffet's company, Berkshire Hathoway, has agreed to acquire the 550-megawatt Topaz Solar Farm project from First Solar, Inc for about $2 billion. The Cadmium Telluride- based photovoltaic power plant being built in San Luis Obispo County, California, will be able to power approximately 160,000 average California homes. First Solar boasts that Topaz project is one of the two largest PV projects in the world. First Solar is building both.
Warren Buffet is again taking the long-term view. MidAmerica Energy Holdings is expected to receive profits for offering electricity for at least the next 25 years. Pacific Gas and Electric Company will purchase the electricity from Topaz under a 25-year power purchase agreement.
First Solar has agreed to construct, operate and maintain the Topaz project for MidAmerican. Construction for the project began in November 2011 and is expected to be complete by early 2015. The project is expected to create about 400 construction jobs and 15 ongoing operations and maintenance jobs and ultimately contribute $417 million into the local economy.
Greg Abel, chairman, president and CEO of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company commented, "As energy needs continue to increase, the Topaz project will allow MidAmerican to produce renewable energy for thousands of Californians. This project also demonstrates that solar energy is a commercially viable technology without the support of governmental loan guarantees... "
The closing of MidAmerican's acquisition of Topaz is contingent on certain required actions with respect to the project's permits and electrical interconnection arrangements. Nippon Steel Produces First Six-inch Diameter Single Crystal SiC Waffer in Lab
CompoundSemi News StaffDecember 12, 2011...Nippon Steel Corporation reports having successfully developed six-inch diameter silicon carbide (SiC) single-crystal wafers in a project partially funded through NEDO. SiC wafers help reduce power loses in many high power electronics applications.
The company says that the 6-inch waffer is expected to increase the efficiency of SiC device production and to decrease the cost of device manufacture compared to 3- or 4-inch wafers. The company has to further refine the method to eventually manufacture the wafers. Nippon Steel says that the wafers will further extend applications to automobiles (EV/HEV, etc.), rapid-transit railways, and other broader areas.
SiC single crystal is usually manufactured through the sublimation- recrystallization method in which the equipment is heated to over 2500 degrees C. The growth of SiC single crystal is achieved by having vapor sublimated from SiC material in powder form recrystallize on top of seed crystals. Nippon Steel points out, that as the crystal diameters increased, the crystals tended to become more suceptable to cracking from crystal defects and thermal stress.
The company says that it used numerical simulation technology to develop the mechanism and process operating conditions suitable for producing the 6-inch wafer. Then the company successfully restrained crystal defects and crystal cracks in the growth to produce Japan’s first 6-inch aperture wafer. Our news features are reported
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