Emcore Introduces Soliant 1000 Commercial Rooftop CPV System
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 18, 2012...Emcore Corporation of Albuquerque, New Mexico USA has released the Soliant 1000 Commercial Rooftop Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) System for pre-production orders. The multi-junction solar cell CPV system was introduced and demonstrated in Europe for the first time at Intersolar Europe, June 13-15 in the Munich Trade Fair Centre.
Emcore claims that the Soliant 1000 offers one of the highest energy production densities of available solar systems, making it a very cost-effective for commercial rooftops in regions with high Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI). Emcore says that the Soliant 1000 generates more than 500 watts peak per panel (18 watts peak per square foot), requiring approximately 28% less rooftop area than polycrystalline and approximately 38% less rooftop area than thin-film solar panels to generate 1000 megawatt hours (MWh) per year of energy output. According to Emcore, the Soliant 1000 has the lowest Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), which is the final cost to produce a kilowatt-hour of solar power.
The system combines Emcore solar cell technology with a patent-pending TipTilt Tracking™ system that tracks the sun's movement to maximize critical peak-hour energy output when utility energy is most expensive. Emcore says that the Soliant 1000 panels are low profile, lightweight, non-penetrating and come fully-assembled and ready to drop-in place. The system is designed to operate for 25 years. Production and deliveries of the systems are scheduled to commence later this year.
 |
TriQuint Introduces First 802.11ac RF Module For Next Generation Smartphones and Tablets
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 18, 2012...TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. of Hillsboro, Oregon USA, is introducing what it says is the first 802.11ac Wi-Fi RF module for next-generation mobile devices. According to Wikipedia, IEEE 802.11ac is a wireless computer networking standard that is under development and in draft status. It allows a multi-station throughput of at least 1 gigabit per second up to a maximum of 500 megabits per second for a single link on WLAN in the 5 GHz band. Redpine Signals, came out with 802.11ac technology for smartphone application processors in December. However, TriQuint appears to be the first to produce a WiFi RF module for smartphones based on the standard.
Besides faster download speeds, TriQuint says its TriConnect™ TQP6M9017 WLAN module enables connectivity from nearly 60% further away than its predecessor, due to output power technology advances. TriQuint notes that data rates up to 1.3 gigabits per second for the standard allow transfer rates three to four times faster than current 802.11n Wi-Fi. TriQuint’s TriConnect TQP6M9017 is a WLAN module for 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth applications. It integrates two power amplifiers for the 2.4 and 5 GHz frequency bands with a switch, filtering, baluns, and other components in a 4x4mm package.
"A major manufacturer has selected our new high-performance TriConnect™ component for its next-generation smartphone, and it’s also included on a reference design by a leading chipset supplier,” said Shane Smith, TriQuint VP of global marketing for mobile devices. June 18, 2012...Cree, Inc. based in Durham, North Carolina USA, introduced the new 40-volt, 0.25-um, GaN-on-SiC HEMT process die product family to provide improved power and bandwidth through the Ku Band. The product family enables the replacement of travel-wave tubes. Market applications include marine radar, medical imaging, industrial and satellite communication.
The new GaN HEMT die products (CGHV1J006D, CGHV1J025D and CGHV1J070D) are rated at 6 W, 25 W and 70 W of output power at 40 V of drain voltage with an operating frequency range through Ku Band. The 0.25-um GaN-on-SiC HEMT process has been qualified to operate up to a drain voltage of 40 volts. According to Cree, the mean-time-to-failure exceeds more than one million hours at channel temperatures up to 225 degrees C. Cree notes that this latest die family release is supported by its proprietary, scalable large-signal device models that are compatible with Agilent’s Advanced Design System and AWR’s Microwave Office simulator platforms, enabling RF design engineers to accurately simulate advanced RF amplifier circuits.
“Cree’s 0.25-um GaN HEMT die product family offers significant improvements in gain, efficiency and power density compared to GaAs transistors over the same frequency range,” said Tom Dekker, director RF sales and marketing, Cree. “The higher gain allows for more effective power combining schemes and enables solid-state power amplifiers to be produced with hundreds to multi-kilowatts at C-Band, X-Band and Ku Band.” IQE Gets Automated Wafer Inspection Tool from Nanotronics
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 18, 2012...Nanotronics Imaging has supplied IQE of Cardiff, UK, with a new automated wafer inspection tool. According to Nanotronics Imaging, the nSPEC™ tool allows automated loading and scanning of III-V semiconductor wafer products including GaN, GaAs, and InP based materials. The tool reportedly enables repeatable and quantifiable object recognition to identify, categorize and record wafer features in real-time.
IQE says that the the acquisition of the tool for use in its cleanroom facilities in Cardiff, UK, follows a six month evaluation in which the reliability and repeatability of the tool was compared with existing inspection techniques. This is the second nSPEC™ tool to be installed at IQE, the first unit having been commissioned and in use at the Group’s manufacturing facility in Somerset, New Jersey.
Eliot Parkinson, general manager of IQE’s III-V manufacturing facility in Cardiff commented, “The new automated inspection system offers a compelling alternative to manual microscope inspection, with greater repeatability and significantly reduced chance of human error.”
Matthew Putman, CEO of Nanotronics Imaging, said, “Rapid inspection that gives repeatable and useful results needs to be thought of as a modern technology like the personal computer used to be, and the smart phone is now." Freescale Introduces Its First GaN RF Product for Cellular Infrastructure Applications
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 11, 2012...Freescale Semiconductor of Austin, Texas USA, revealed its first RF power amplifier product based on gallium nitride (GaN) technology. The company's RF power GaN products will initially target the cellular infrastructure market. Other potential future applications including avionics, radar, ISM and software-defined radio. While the company has numerous GaAs-based power products, and some high frequency silicon germanium (SiGe) technology for very high frequency of 100 GHz and beyond, the AFG25HW355S is the company's first GaN-based RF power amplifier.
The AFG25HW355S is a 350W, high-performance-in-package (HiP), 2:1 asymmetric device is for the 2.3 GHz-2.7 GHz range. It has 56 dBm peak power, 50 percent efficiency, 16 dB gain and NI-780 packaging.
"Freescale's GaN RF power solutions underscore our technology-agnostic approach to the RF power market," said Ritu Favre, vice president and general manager of Freescale's RF Division. "Working with GaN in development since the mid-2000s, we have established an ideal blend of cost-efficiency, performance and reliability, and the time is now right to add GaN-based products to our broad array of RF power amplifier solutions."
Freescale says that AFG25HW355S will be available soon to select customers in sample quantities, with full qualification and volume shipping planned by Q2 2013.
First Solar and Intermolecular Announce Collaboration and Licensing Agreement
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 11, 2012...First Solar, Inc. and Intermolecular, Inc. announced a collaboration and licensing agreement aimed at accelerating the efficiency roadmap for First Solar's cadmium-telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic (PV) technology. First Solar, a thin film PV solar module manufacturer and supplier of PV thin film PV utility-scale solar power plants.
Under a newly signed collaborative development program, First Solar will leverage Intermolecular's High Productivity Combinatorial (HPC) platform in in developing its CdTe-based, thin film PV manufacturing technology. According to Intermolecular, the program addresses new opportunities in certain critical materials and processes that may significantly influence the conversion efficiency of CdTe technology. Technical work is to be performed jointly at Intermolecular's San Jose, California, facility and in First Solar's research and development labs.
Raffi Garabedian, First Solar CTO commented, "Further improving our world-record CdTe conversion efficiencies remains a strong lever to reduce the cost of solar energy. We evaluated Intermolecular's HPC platform and technical team in a trial collaboration, and this experience confirmed the suitability of the platform for our purposes."
First Solar set a new world record for CdTe PV solar module efficiency in January 2012, achieving 14.4 percent total area efficiency. In July 2011, the company set a world record for CdTe PV cell efficiency at 17.3 percent. Both records were confirmed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL).
Intermolecular claims that its HPC platform allows R&D experimentation to be performed at speeds up to 100 times faster than traditional methods. A*Star Institute of Microelectronics to Collaborate with Rolls-Royce on Power Electronics Development
CompoundSemi News StaffJune 11, 2012...A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics (IME) announces a collaboration with Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, for the research and development of advanced power electronics devices. The Institute of Microelectronics (IME) is a research institute of the Science and Engineering Research Council of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Sinapore.
The research collaboration plans to use gallium nitrite (GaN) power technology in the development of high-power-density converters that can reliably measure various physical parameters at temperatures of up to 300°C and at environmental pressure of up to 30kpsi.
This collaboration will be delivered through IME’s Rugged Electronics program, which was set up to support Singapore’s drive to become a technology hub for the aerospace, oil and gas sectors. The focus of IME’s Rugged Electronics program is to develop a wide range of solutions from sensing, packaging, telemetry, non-volatile memory to integrated circuits
“This collaboration leverages IME’s established competence and enables us to extend our research to innovate in new industries,” commented Professor Dim-Lee Kwong, Executive Director of IME. “More importantly, this strategic partnership offers an excellent opportunity for Singapore to build knowledge in this industry and move further up the value chain.” Veeco Introduces New Suite of GaN MOCVD Systems for LED Manufacturing
LIGHTimes News StaffJune 7, 2012...Veeco Instruments Inc. of Plainview, New York USA, reports having introduced a new suit of TurboDisc® metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) systems for the production of high brightness LEDs.
The suite includes the TurboDisc MaxBright® M™, TurboDisc MaxBright MHP™ and TurboDisc K465i HP™.

The MaxBright M is a modular and more compact version of Veeco’s multi-reactor system. The company says that the MaxBright M provides easier serviceability and up to 15% improved footprint efficiency compared to MaxBright. Veeco says it also features improved layout configuration flexibility to accommodate various fab spacing requirements. Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... Our news features are reported
by the CompoundSemi News staff writers.
For submissions or content suggestions, you can contact us using
editor -at - compoundsemi.com
For more information and to reserve promotion space contact
Info7 -at - compoundsemi.com
or call +1 (512) 257-9888
|
