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Editorial: SolFocus Jumps On the Compound Semi Solar Bandwagon
... Compound semi-based solar cells are finally making headway in the mainstream tech press, and it isn't just Emcore and Spectrolab making the solar headlines anymore. There are various new names appearing on the solar scene, with one particular newcomer, calling itself SolFocus, in the spotlight. This particular startup is...
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Sirenza Microdevices to Acquire Micro Linear Corporation
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 15, 2006...Sirenza Microdevices of Broomfield, Colorado USA, a supplier of RF components
for communications equipment manufacturers, reports signing a definitive agreement
to acquire Micro Linear Corporation of San Jose, California. According to Sirenza
the transaction calls for 0.365 Sirenza share to be issued for each share of
Micro Linear (subject to potential adjustment). As of stock market closing on
August 14th and based on the number of Micro Linear’s fully diluted shares
outstanding, Sirenza said the transaction is valued at about $45.6 million.
Micro Linear reportedly specializes in circuit solutions for wireless, and
according to Sirenza, Micro Linear’s products and service will add substantially
to what the company can offer its customers. "We believe the acquisition
of Micro Linear is another significant step toward achieving our strategic goals
of diversifying our end markets, expanding our product breadth and strengthening
our world-class RF core competencies," stated Robert Van Buskirk,
president and CEO of Sirenza Microdevices. "Micro Linear's highly integrated
IC capability strengthens our expertise in IC product solutions and brings us
world class, proven RF CMOS and bi-CMOS design expertise. Additionally, Micro
Linear's strong position in silicon-based transceiver IC products enables our
penetration into the high-volume digital cordless phone market, launches us
into the growing PHS terminal market and strengthens our current participation
in the expanding digital TV (DTV) and set-top box markets. We are excited about
completing the transaction and look forward to working closely with our broadened
customer base as we move into 2007 as a stronger, more diversified RF component
supplier."
The board of directors at both companies have approved the acquisition. The
acquisition, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006, is subject
to the approval of Micro Linear shareholders and other customary closing conditions.
Micro Linear will join Sirenza's SMDI business segment, and according to Sirenza,
this will add to Sirenza’s existing product portfolio and expand its expertise
in integrated RF IC products for consumer applications. Under the terms of the
proposed acquisition, Timothy Richardson, president and CEO of Micro Linear,
is expected to join Sirenza as chief strategy officer and will report to Robert
Van Buskirk, president and CEO. It is also anticipated that John Zucker, current
chairman of the Micro Linear Board of Directors, will join the Sirenza Board
as an independent director following the close of the transaction. Sirenza
Microdevices News Release SatCon Awarded $1 Million in Funding for Class K Device
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 15, 2006...SatCon Technology Corporation of Boston, Massachusetts USA, announced that
its wholly owned subsidiary, SatCon Electronics has been awarded $1,000,000
in contracts for Class K circuits from two major North American satellite subcontractors.
SatCon, which designs and manufactures power management, analog signal processing,
RF, and thin film components, says the contract is to develop and manufacture
custom signal-processing devices are used in inertial navigation. Class K refers
to a set of US Military design specifications which include requirements and
tolerances for circuits for use in outer space. The
Defense Supply Center Columbus (DSCC), manages Class K device manufacturing
for electronic parts through a number of specifications, standards, and test
methods. SatCon is one of only seven US companies to be certified to develop
and manufacture Class K devices.
"We are extremely pleased with our continued success and penetration
in the satellite market," said Jack Worthen, President, SatCon Electronics.
"This brings our year-to-date Class K bookings total to $1.7 million.
We expect Class K shipments to increase from roughly $100,000 in fiscal 2006
to over $2.0 million in fiscal 2007. By participating in this growing multi-million
dollar market, we expect a significant portion of our revenue and future growth
to be associated with space flight applications." Company
News Release VPEC and MBE Account for 15 Percent of Merchant Supply of SI GaAs, Strategy Analytics Says
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 14, 2006...Strategy Analytics latest study, "Markets for SI GaAs Epitaxial Substrates
2005-2010," shows that Kopin, Hitachi Cable and IQE were the top three
merchant suppliers of the epitaxial material in 2005 as merchant demand for semi-insulating
(SI) GaAs epitaxial substrates jumped 44 percent. The company reported that
two Asia-Pacific companies which made a combined increase in SI GaAs substrate
output of 145 percent, captured a significant portion of the SI GaAs merchant
supply pie, at about 15 percent. Asif Anwar, Director of the Strategy Analytics
GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies service stated, “We expect
to see continued growth across the whole industry and the Asia-Pacific suppliers
will want to be at the forefront of this growth in 2006."
Stephen Entwistle, Vice President of the Strategic Technologies Practice at
Strategy Analytics, pointed out some significant changes in the market share
so far in 2006. “In particular, IQE's acquisition of the Emcore’s’
GaAs epi business will challenge market leaders, Kopin and Hitachi Cable…
Also, VPEC and MBE Technology are well positioned to take advantage of ramps
at GaAs device foundries in their region which could see them gain market share
in 2006." Strategy
Analytics News Release SUI Ships SWIR LDV Linescan Cameras
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 14, 2006...SUI, formerly Sensors Unlimited Inc., has begun shipping shortwave infrared
(SWIR) linear digital video (LDV) linescan cameras in original equipment manufacturer
quantities. According to the company, the near infrared cameras are all based
on the company’s indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) detector technology,
they operate at room temperature, have no moving parts, work with standard glass
optics, and are easy to integrate for use in applications such as machine vision.
They come with pixel counts of 256, 512, or 1024. The high dynamic range, low
noise, high-line-rate platform LDV shortwave infrared cameras can be selected
with a 25 or 50 micron pitch and can be ordered with the SUI standard NIR linear
arrays (from 800 nm to 1700 nm) and the extended wavelength arrays (from 1100
nm to 2200 nm). The company contends that LDV Linescan Cameras are easy to operate,
require no maintenance and feature an intuitive interface to optics and electronics.
SUI
News Release Taiwan Oasis Invests in Solar and LED Product ManufacturingAugust 14, 2006...Taiwan Oasis Technology, an LED maker, has received orders for LED-based full-color
bulletin boards from China-based Zheniang Ghijin Tour Media, which is outsourcing
187 LED bulletin board projects in China, according to an article
in Digitimes. In addition to making LEDs, the company plans to begin manufacturing
of solar modules. The company is in the process of finalizing its 20
percent investment in solar cell maker, Lucky Power. The article indicated that first shipments of the bulletin boards are to begin
in early September. By then the company hopes to have a production rate of 20
large-scale LED bulletin boards per month. The company says that about 70 percent
of its revenues come from LED sales for bulletin boards, smd LEDs, and digital
displays. Taiwan Oasis, which also has a 20 percent stake in LED chipmaker Uni
Light, expects to use some of its LEDs in new solar products. Osram to Focus More On OLEDs for General Lighting
LIGHTimes StaffAugust 11, 2006...Osram Opto Semiconductors, based in Regensburg, Germany, says it will concentrate
more effort on research and development of oganic LEDs (OLEDs) for general illumination.
The company also announced that it will expand its existing OLED display business.
The primary focus of the OLED research and development will be on white light,
as it is the one used most frequently for room lighting. Most experts aggree
that OLEDs still lag a year or two behind LEDs in terms of light output efficiency,
but experts tend to disagree about how much money and resources should go into
OLEDs. The company pointed out that research indicates a possible luminous efficiency
of 25 lm/W with the right choice of current. While less than impressive when
compared to achievements in LED efficiency, it is still on par with halogens.
The company contends that even with brightness levels matched to general lighting
applications, the white OLEDs can operate at 18 lm/W, which the company says
is higher than some conventional bulbs. Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... Cree Reports Record Annual Revenues Despite Tough Fourth Quarter
LIGHTimes StaffAugust 11, 2006...Cree of Durham, North Carolina, posted a record annual revenue of $423 million
for fiscal 2006, despite a fourth quarter earnings drop about 37 percent compared
to the Q4 of 2005. The company reported a profit of $13.2 million. That’s
down from $21 million from the same quarter in 2005. July warnings of lower
than expected earnings sent stocks share prices plunging to as low as $16.95.
The stock has gradually recovered from the bad news in July. Cree cited production
challenges of LEDs as the primary cause of the lower sales.
“Although the fourth quarter was more challenging than we expected,
we remain optimistic that we can expand our business by leveraging strengths
in LED chip and (silicon carbide) materials technology to broaden our product
line with higher-value, component-level products for the emerging markets in
LED lighting and power,” said Cree Chief Executive Officer Chuck
Swoboda in a statement. Cree opened a new silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium
nitride (GaN) production facility in Research Triangle Park on Tuesday. The
additional GaN and SiC production capacity is expected to help alleviate the
LED production capacity problem. (Ref: Company
Financial Results) SMI Awarded Phase II SBIR Grant for FPGA DevelopmentAugust 10, 2006...Structured Materials Industries (SMI) reports receiving a phase II SBIR grant
from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, to make field-programmable gate arrays
using its own MOCVD technology. SMI will use a new ferroelectric material that
is compatible with silicon interfaces. The thin film reportedly replaces a silicon
dioxide dielectric in a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor process. The company
says the phase II project will attempt to optimize the properties, quality,
and geometry of the ferroelectric field effect transistor (FET) to be mass produced
in a fabrication facility. SMI points out that unlike current reprogrammable
FPGA technology, SMI’s new technology is designed to withstand total dose
and single event upsets without failing. Company
News Release Starfire Wins Export Achievement AwardAugust 10, 2006...The U.S. Department of Commerce assistant secretary will present the department’s
Export Acheivement Award to Starfire Systems Inc. of Malta, New York, according
to a story
in The Business Review. The award is given to companies which derive the most
from the commerce department’s export assistance program to make their
first export sale or to open new markets. Starfire, which makes silicon carbide
ceramic forming polymers, used the assistance from the commerce department to
expand to Slovenia and increase sales in Germany, Italy, France, and Japan. SatCon Receives Multi-Million Dollar Order
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 10, 2006...SatCon Technology Corporation, a maker of power electronic and control products
headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts USA, reports receiving a multi-million
dollar order for DC power electronics through Fluor Canada Ltd. The order for
more than 30 MW of Inverpower DC power electronics will reportedly be used in
the copper refining process. Terms and conditions of the order are not expected
to be finalized until sometime in the fourth quarter. According to the company,
the fulfillment of the order is scheduled over the next year. Inverpower DC
(direct current) power delivery systems use power transistor (Insulated Gate
Bipolar Transistor or "IGBT") technology. The order adds to the company’s
sales of IGBT based DC power distribution equipment totaling over 450 MW. "SatCon,
through its wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary, was the first company in the world
to supply high power DC power electronics using IGBT power transistor technology.
DC power distribution based on power transistor technology is recognized for
its high efficiency and power quality, and is also a key feature in our alternative
energy inverter products," said Clemens van Zeyl, President of SatCon
Stationary Power Systems. SatCon
News Release
In other company news, SatCon reported a net loss $3.5 million for the third
fiscal quarter of 2006 compared to a net loss of $2.3 million for the same quarter
of 2005. The company indicated however that so far for fiscal 2006, SatCon has
invested about $1.6 million in new market and product initiatives, which the
company expects to drive revenue growth in the coming quarters. (Ref: Quarterly
Financial Results) 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
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The
McDonald Report
Commentary & Perspective...
August 16, 2006...Compound semi-based solar cells are finally making headway in the mainstream
tech press, and it isn't just Emcore and Spectrolab making the solar headlines
anymore. There are various new names appearing on the solar scene, with one
particular newcomer, calling itself SolFocus, in the spotlight.
This particular startup is teamed with a very well established name in advanced
semiconductor R&D, Xerox subsidiary, PARC. The acronym PARC stands for where
it resides: Palo Alto Research Center in California's Silicon Valley
in the USA.
For many years, the only names in the compound semi-based high efficiency,
multijunction solar cell game (versus silicon-based systems) were Emcore, Tecstar,
and Boeing's Spectrolab. In March of 2002, Emcore bought the remains of Tecstar
for $20 million, which meant only two providers remained, Spectrolab and Emcore.
That $20 million mainly went to buying up Tecstar's satellite contracts when
Tecstar's competing technology to Emcore's solar proved not to be up to what
the rigors of space demanded. Both Spectrolab's and Emcore's GaAs on Ge multijunction
cells have long been sought after for space applications. The space market has had
its ups and downs over the years, but multijunction solar cells have proven their value in terms of
their impressively higher efficiency (than silicon) many times over. Only recently has the compound
semi market for solar cells begun to open up for terrestrial applications.
Now, various "new" names have begun to grace our pages as companies
jump on board the compound semi solar bandwagon. For a litany of our coverage,
just take
a scan at what comes up on "article search" when you tick "high
efficiency solar cells". Granted, we've included Spire in that litany,
even though they're primarily involved in making the equipment that makes silicon based cells. The inclusion of Spire is
due to that company's pioneering of compound semi materials technology and MOCVD. Personally I'd like to see someone like Spire provide CS cells or the equipment to make them because of their CS knowledge and experience in affordable terrestrial applications. I'm pretty sure
all the others qualify as CS-based manufacturers. For sure this new company to our roster, SolFocus, does
but it took a little detective work to be sure. For several reasons I hope to call our SSL industry readers' attention to this. First, I really want to
encourage alternative energy sources to get up and running as fast as possible,
thus weaning the world off its over-dependency on oil as rapidly as possible. I also want to encourage
creative companies to combine LED technology with solar as rapidly as possible. Most importantly, adding solar power to LEDs creates clean, efficient, and ultimately more cost
effective energy alternatives. It's a simple formula that will work wonders
to help preserve and maintain our fragile earth.
The reason SolFocus caught my attention is because of their association with
PARC. Admittedly, the Feb.
16th announcement that PARC had taken startup, SolFocus, under its wing
at PARC's own facilities in Palo Alto, didn't even make a blip on our radar screen
at the time. That's because the compound semi angle wasn't mentioned. The headlines
simply talked of "affordable energy" and were primarily focused on
boasting of PARC's new initiative for "clean technology". And I might
not have keyed in on it now except that IOP's Compound Semiconductor
magazine sensibly picked it up as a news
item. Buried down deep in SolFocus' July
25 company news release are the magic words... "high efficiency triple-junction
PV cells." FYI... silicon simply can't produce "high efficiency
triple-junction" photovoltaic cells. By covering Emcore, Tecstar and Spectrolab
over the years, I've come to learn that the words "high efficiency"
and "triple-junction" are strictly the domain of compound semi-based
photovoltaics (or "concentrator cells" or whatever else you want to
tag on to the end). Deep down in the SolFocus literature, there's a little GaAs on Ge mention. The mision now is to get PARC's and SolFocus' PR people
and the mainstream tech press to give the compounds the respect they deserve
as the heroes of next-gen solar. That way we might reach our goals of taking over terrestrial
applications from the world of silicon faster.
According to their July
25 news, SolFocus has just closed $25 million in equity financing, led by
New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The round also included seed investors NGEN
Partners and Yellowstone Capital. The funds are tagged to accelerate a large-scale
reliability test series and the production ramp of CPV modules at domestic and
offshore factories. Additionally the funds will help secure the long term supply of photovolaic cells.
I'm not yet sure if they'll make, buy, or license the basic cell technology
themselves. It could be they'll be a customer of someone like Emcore. We'll
see. Our guess is that they probably are not going to get into epi/cell manufacturing at this stage by the looks of their job postings. There's also a supportive and interesting quote from SolFocus board member Scott
Sandell of NEA saying, “Rapid growth in the $10 billion global market
for solar power is constrained by the availability and cost of silicon. SolFocus’
unique CPV technology eliminates the silicon bottleneck and significantly reduces
the cost of solar power. The product design combines leading-edge performance
of high-efficiency cells with low-cost optics in a fully enclosed, highly reliable
package. It is an innovative yet practical design that’s ready for large-scale
field testing and subsequent deployment.”
But... nowhere in the whole dang release does it say that the end product is
made of compound semi materials! That's always a big disappointment to us compound
semi fans. Compound semiconductors aren't even mentioned in the company description.
Maybe the fault lies in the fact that the news comes out of Silicon Valley
and that PARC, where SolFocus lives, has been a great pioneering entity for...
silicon. We definitely have to remedy that. Partly because of the clout of PARC
and SolFocus' investors, the startup is garnering excellent mainstream tech
press (ref: SolFocus news page).
I think I know how to make sure that they mention the compounds quickly, even though I don't yet know anyone
at the company. At the end of their news releases the contact name is "Bob
MacDonald". I'll simply call "cousin Bob" and set the record
straight. (The spelling of my name was originally MacDonald, so he
must be a cousin).
We've been fighting the silicon vs. compounds set the record straight
battle for years. Take the fight straight to the streets, I always say... and
these particular streets, where PARC lives, cross the very heart of Silicon
Valley. It's time for everyone to know that silicon is losing the battle for
solar cell dominance with each "high efficiency triple junction" compound
semiconductor cell that goes up in space or lands on a promising terrestrial
application. Thanks to compound semi solar leaders like Emcore and Spectrolab,
we've proved conclusively that this technology can outgun silicon. I bet there
are even people out there who think blue spectrum LEDs for solid state lighting
and the HBT power amps that are powering just about everything these days are
made of silicon. Our world has worked too hard to propagate such rubbish. Any
help you can provide to set the compound semi record straight will, of course,
be most appreciated... especially by the thousands of compound semi materials
research scientists and technologists worldwide... who did the real work.
Viva la compounds!
If you have questions about the
solid state lighting and compound semiconductor industries or have news
or views to share, I'm Jo Ann McDonald, Editor of LIGHTimes and CompoundSemi News.
Feel free to contact me directly, anytime. 
My direct tel at the ranch is
+1-325-463-5345
From time to time Jo Ann may comment on companies in which she holds a
modest investment - be sure to read
her disclosure at some point in time... |
