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April 30, 2007...Emcore reported that its Photovoltaics Division was awarded a $2 million contract
from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) to design, manufacture, test, and deliver solar panels for
the Mars Cruise Stage Spacecraft. The spacecraft is reportedly designed to take
the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover to Mars. If all goes according to plan,
the spacecraft will communicate with the entry vehicle, which will deliver the
rover to the surface of Mars. The launch of the spacecraft is planned for the
fall of 2009.
Emcore will utilize its latest 28.5 percent efficient solar cells to provide
1kW end of life (EOF) power to the spacecraft. The spacecraft will operate at
1.6 times the distance from the son that the earth is from the son (1.6 Astronomical
Units). Emcore points out that unlike their terrestrial counterparts, the solar
cells used in the spacecraft will be radiation hardened. "Emcore Photovoltaics
Division continues to grow at a rapid pace, and has recently secured more than
a dozen new production programs for fully integrated space solar panels. Our
recently completed expansion provides Emcore with the capacity to meet the most
challenging requirements of our space and terrestrial customers. Emcore remains
committed to manufacturing the highest quality, best performing solar power
products in the industry. Satellite manufacturers and solar array integrators
continue to rely on Emcore as their only independent source that meets all of
their satellite power needs," added Reuben F. Richards, Jr., President
and CEO of Emcore. Emcore
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Skyworks Delivers Solid Quarter
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 30, 2007...Skyworks Solutions Inc., of Woburn, Massachusetts USA, has reported second
fiscal quarter financial results that are in-line with expectations. The revenue
for the quarter, $180.2 million, was up 5 percent from the same period a year
ago. The net income for the quarter of $17.6 million, more than tripled compared
to a year ago when it was only $4.6 million. The company posted $13 million
in GAAP operating income, a 420 percent improvement over the period a year ago
when it was $2.5 million. "Skyworks' second fiscal quarter results
demonstrate the strength of our new business model and reflect our efforts since
exiting the baseband product area two quarters ago. We have since focused exclusively
on our core analog and RF businesses and have improved profitability more than
three-fold year over year," said David J. Aldrich, Skyworks' president
and chief executive officer. "Our earnings leverage will become even
more evident as we ramp several key, high profile programs over the next several
months."
During the quarter the company expanded its linear product portfolio with 15
new products, it received production orders for a front-end solution to support
a new multimedia and music platform, the company’s Helios RF subsystems
were integrated into several popular cell phone models, and the company introduced
its new Helios WEDGE Transceiver. Company
Q2 Fiscal 2007 Financial Results Ascent Solar Chairman to Take More Active Role in Production Ramp
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 30, 2007...Ascent Solar of Denver, Colorado USA, a thin-film CIGS technology company,
reported that its chairman, Dr. Mohan Misra, will also serve as the company’s
chief strategy officer. Additionally, Mr. Ashutosh Misra, a member of the board
of directors, will transition from his current consulting role to a full-time
role as senior vice president for operations and corporate affairs. As part
of his new role as chief strategy officer, Dr. Mohan Misra, will help guide
the company as it prepares for its initial commercial production. Dr. Misra
did pioneering work in thin-film photovoltaics at Lockheed Martin in the mid
1980s. He is also credited with founding ITN Energy Systems and Global Solar
Energy Inc. He also developed roll-to-roll manufacturing equipment and processes
that are in use today.
Ascent Solar is currently building a pilot production plant which plans to
have an annual capacity of 1.5 megawatt (MW). The pilot plant is reportedly
on schedule to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2007. Initial operations
for the plant are planned for early 2008. Company president & CEO, Mr. Matthew
Foster indicated that Dr. Misra will help the company quickly ramp up its pilot
scale production to support and validate a planned expansion to 25MW by the
end of 2009 and ultimately to 100MW scale production levels and above. Mr. Foster
stated, “I believe that our team is one of the most experienced in
the world and provides us the knowledge base necessary to meet some very challenging
manufacturing milestones.” Company
News Release Reconditioned Semiconductor Equipment Supplier ClassOne Gets New Facility
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 26, 2007...ClassOne Equipment, of Decatur, Georgia USA, a supplier of reconditioned semiconductor
equipment reported that the company opened a new 40,000 square foot sales, marketing,
and technical support facility. According to the company, the new facility will
provide a place to store and showcase equipment while also provide a place to
expand the company’s sales, administrative, servicing, and support facilities.
The new facility is located 15 miles from Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta. The
company says that the new location effectively quadruples the space of the previous
facility. The new location also houses a 10,000 square foot lab space for refurbishing,
showcasing, and demonstrating equipment to customers. The company allows customers
to “test drive” equipment in the lab, but also includes a three
month warranty, and a 30-day right of return on each piece of equipment. Company
News Release Asahi Glass Develops Insulator for High Frequency Devices
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 26, 2007...Asahi Glass of India has developed a new paint-type insulating material that
can be used as an interlayer dielectric for high-frequency devices including those made with
gallium nitride (GaN) and gallium arsenide (GaAs). According to the company
the material can be easily painted on by the spin coating method and it remains
stable at up to 350 degrees Celsius. The material, a fluoropolymer, reportedly
has much greater thermal stability that previous fluoropolymers.
Asahi was able to develop the material with lower permativity than that of
the polyimide-based insulating materials. Asahi explains that because of the
material’s low permativity it can greatly reduce wiring capacitance, raise
the operation frequency of devices, and slash power consumption. These capabilities
make it ideal for use in communication and cellular phone IC’s. Company
News Release IXYS Awarded California Innovation Award
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 26, 2007...IXYS, a pioneering company in power electronics development based in Santa
Clara, California USA was among 15 top companies honored with a California Innovation
Award. Over 300 companies spanning a gamut of high tech fields, were initially
nominated for the California Innovation Award. Then California Innovation Corridor
partners reportedly narrowed the field to a list of about 75 Innovation All-Star
Candidates. Then from the list of about 75 candidates 15 companies were chosen
to be winners of the awards for innovation. The awards cap off the California
Tech 100 event—the “first-of-its-kind” statewide conference
that has brought together a unique ensemble of angel investors, venture capitalists,
CEOs, educators, and workforce talent professionals focused on celebrating California’s
success as an innovation hotbed. California Innovation Corridor partners, managed
by the California Space Authority (CSA), a statewide nonprofit organization,
and administered through the Labor Workforce Development Agency (LWDA), chose
the final recipients.
Autobytel, Inc. in Irvine, DJO Inc. in Vista, FormFactor, Inc. in Livermore,
Symantec in Cupertino, QAD in Carpinteria, Kintera, Inc. and QUALCOMM in San
Diego, NETGEAR in Santa Clara, and Callidus Software and Covad Communications
Group, Inc. in San Jose. The City of Sunnyvale had four local companies winning
the award: Kyphon, Juniper Networks, Network Appliance, Inc., and Trimble. California
Space Authority News Release TriQuint Revenues Surge Upward for Q1 2007
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 26, 2007...TriQuint reported strong growth for the first quarter of 2007 ending March 31,
2007. Revenues grew 26 percent over the previous quarter and an impressive 186
percent over the same period a year ago. Ralph Quinsey, president and CEO stated,
“The first quarter of 2007 was a solid quarter for TriQuint with better
than seasonal revenue performance, improved gross margin percentage and earnings
above the midpoint of our guidance.” He added, “We recorded strong
design win activity for handset products in the quarter, increased revenue in
the space market and continued strong quote activity in the military market.”
TriQuints accomplishments for the quarter include booking $7.4 million in R&D
supported by military and other contracts. The largest part of the contracts
comes from year three of TriQuints DARPA GaN development project. The company
reported a record number of handset design wins for the quarter, and it began
shipments of power amplifier modules to a new top five handset customer. Additionally,
the company retired $218.8 million of convertible subordinated notes upon maturity.
Despite the strong quarter, TriQuint remains cautious for its second quarter
outlook predicting only flat to slight growth in revenue. Company
Q1 2007 Earnings II-VI Inc. Revenues Up 14 Percent for First Nine Months of Fiscal Year
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 25, 2007...II-VI Incorporated reported financial results for its third fiscal quarter
which ended March 31, 2007. Over the first nine months of the fiscal year, revenues
increased 14 percent to about $191.2 million compared to $167.6 million the
same period during the previous fiscal year. Net profits for the nine months
were $26.7 million compared to $19.4 million during the same period of the previous
fiscal year.
Company president and CEO, Francis Kramer explained that the company made significant
financial improvement in its Near-Infrared Optics business segment and increased
sales of UV filter products. He also said that the Infrared Optics business
segment posted record revenues for the quarter. "During the quarter,
we further strengthened our balance sheet and reduced our debt while making
essential investments in equipment and facilities to expand our production capacity.
We expect record revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2007, as well
as continued revenue and earnings per share growth in fiscal year 2008."
Links to Quarterly Financial Results
and Conference Call Forepi Takes Delivery of Aixtron’s Thousandth Reactor Shipped
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 24, 2007...Aixtron of Aachen, Germany, met an important milestone shipping its one-thousandth
reactor to Foremosa Epitaxy Corporation (Forepi) of Taiwan. While Forepi is
a big foundry, it is not so big as to have 999 other Aixtron reactors as at
least one of our competitors implied. Forepi is a pure-play manufacturer of
high power indium gallium nitride (InGaN) LED wafers and chips that was founded
in 1999. The company boasts that it is the only LED manufacturer in Taiwan to
currently offer the full optical spectrum ranging over high power InGaN blue,
green and near-UV LEDs. Forepi purchased Aixtron’s Close Coupled Chower
head MOCVD reactor with a 30 X 2in configuration. The device will be installed at its foundry in Lungtan Industrial Park Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Bernd Schulte, executive VP and COO of Aixtron, said, “We are very
pleased to be able to report the delivery to Forepi of our 1,000th reactor.
Forepi is one of our oldest long-term customers and it makes it all the more
rewarding an achievement when such a high profile company orders another of
our MOCVD tools.” Schulte said that brings Aixtron all-time global
total to 1600 Aixtron systems installed worldwide. Aixtron
News Release Veeco Awarded R & D Contract to Develop EUV Lithography Equipment
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 23, 2007...Veeco, a compound semiconductor equipment maker, reports that it has been selected
by Sematech to provide research and development for an extreme UV lithography
tool development project. Sematech, a leading nanoelectronics consortium along
with the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering ("CNSE") of
the University at Albany announced that Sematech North (ISMTN) will pay $2.4
million to Veeco for EUV lithography equipment development. Sematech will use
the research to further develop its ion beam deposition tool.
According to Veeco, Ion Beam Deposition tools are used in the fabrication of
mask blanks - the base material for the stencil-like photomasks that are used
to describe patterns on nanoelectronics wafers. Ion beam deposition is essential
for the deposition of ultra-thin layers of materials that are demanded in the
EUV manufacturing process, Veeco indicated. Since International SEMATECH North's
inception in 2002, Veeco has received nearly $19 million in funding for Ion
Beam products and R&D programs. Veeco
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