Emcore Gets $24 Million, 105 MW Order for Solar Concentrator Cells
Compoundsemi News StaffAugust 29, 2007...Emcore Corporation of Albuquerque, New Mexico USA , a provider of compound semiconductor-based photovoltaic cells for satellite and terrestrial markets, announced that it has been awarded a follow-on production order from Green and Gold Energy (GGE) of Glynde, Australia. The order is for 3-million solar cells for use in GGE's SunCube terrestrial concentrator system. Emcore pointed out that the 105 MW purchase order represents the largest purchase order of concentrator solar cells to date. Green and Gold Energy’s initial order earlier in the year was for 5 MW. According to Emcore, all hardware ordered under this contract is to be shipped by the end of 2008.
Emcore said its GaInP/GaAs/Ge concentrator triple-junction (CTJ) solar cell products that it will ship have been designed and optimized for Green and Gold Energy's 1100x CPV system. Under these high concentration conditions Emcore has demonstrated record conversion efficiency of 39 percent. (Ref: Coverage). The performance will enable the most cost effective CPV system on the market today, Emcore indicated. These record breaking cells are in volume production for multiple customers in a variety of cell sizes.
With strong support from Australian government, GGE plans to deploy solar power farms employing its relatively low-cost SunCube CPV system. The company says it is also entering into distribution agreements with several partners with a potential total of up to 500 MW of annual demand. Emcore News Release
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August 29, 2007...Cree reported that Milmega is using its silicon carbide (SiC) MESFETs to provide the RF power in Milmega’s new line of UHF power amplifiers. Cree says that its SiC MESFETs provide greater power density than conventional semiconductors. This greater power density enables higher efficiency in a smaller form factor. Milmega’s power amplifiers are reportedly designed for the electromagnetic-compatibility (EMC) and test-instrumentation markets. Cree says Milmega has taken advantage of its SiC MESFETs in its power amplifiers to offer a highly reliable and easily upgradeable UHF power amplifier family with exceptional power density and portability.
“We selected Cree SiC MESFET devices based on their power density and efficiency advantages. They enable amplifier products that are up to three times smaller and lighter than those using conventional transistor technology. This provides Milmega with a unique advantage in terms of performance and cost versus existing competitive products,” said Pat Moore, Milmega managing director. “We are encouraged by our customers’ extremely positive feedback on these products from our product launch at the recent IEEE EMC Symposium. Further, we continue to favor Cree’s products within their SiC MESFET and GaN HEMT families and have a number of innovative new products using these devices planned for release in the near future.” Cree News Release AmberWave Systems and Rochester Institute of Technology Awarded NSA Grant for CS Devices on Silicon
Compoundsemi News StaffAugust 29, 2007...AmberWave Systems and the Rochester Institute of Technology were awarded a three-year research grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant is to explore the integration of compound semiconductor devices on silicon using a technique called aspect ratio trapping (ART), which was initially developed by AmberWave Systems. Word of the grant award comes days after an Intel executive reported on Intel’s progress on producing compound semiconductor devices on silicon in the company blog.
AmberWave Systems contends that ART is a technology that may open the door to faster, more powerful chips for a wide range of applications such as silicon-based photonics or improved photovoltaic cells. “This research holds the potential for seamlessly integrating III-V and silicon microelectronics to retain the best properties of each, opening up the possibility for truly massive speed improvements in memory and processor chips, integrated silicon-photonic devices for ultra-high bandwidth fiber-optic communications, and novel radio frequency chips for wireless communications,” Dr. Donald Boyd, vice president for research at RIT said. AmberWave News Release
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Raytheon Foundry Receives Category 1 Trusted Foundry Designation from DOD
Compoundsemi News StaffAugust 29, 2007...Raytheon of Andover, Massachusetts USA, announced that the US National Security Administration’s Trusted Access Program Office has made Raytheon’s Radio Frequency Components foundry a Department of Defense Category 1 Trusted Foundry. The Category 1 designation is the highest award from the Department of Defense. The designation recognizes support of defense systems vital to mission effectiveness or operational readiness of deployed or contingency forces. Raytheon received the accreditation after a stringent review of its employees and procedures.
"This accreditation reflects our capability to provide the stringent protection measures required by the National Security Administration for gallium arsenide (GaAs) and gallium nitride (GaN) foundries," said Mark Russell, vice president of Engineering for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. Company News Release Intel Executive Touts CS Advances
Scott McMahanAugust 29, 2007... Mike Mayberry, director of components research of Intel’s Technology and Manufacturing Group outlined some of the company’s recent advances in compound semiconductor technology in the Research@Intel blog. He said that the company has been looking into compound semiconductors because of their high charge mobility that can potentially produce faster devices requiring less power. He mentioned that gallium arsenide (GaAs) has 8x the charge mobility of silicon, and indium antimonide (InSb) has 50x the charge mobility. He indicated that InSb could accomplish the same things as silicon with one-tenth of the power. However, the company would not be able to mass produce the circuits on the necessary scale with GaAs as a starting material. For this reason the company has looked at silicon substrates to hold the compound semi epitaxial wafers.
Mayberry explained that the company has broken down the problem of mass producing CS devices at high volumes into five challenges: Putting CS devices on silicon; Finding a suitable high-k gate dielectric; Building a compound PMOS device with performance comparable to NMOS devices to form efficient CMOS logic; Building enhancing devices that are normally off instead of requiring a voltage to shut them off; Make the devices small enough to compete with leading silicon device densities.
The pictures of Intel’s latest silicon based CS device littered with dislocation defects has left some experts wondering what is the accomplishment? It could be argued that Intel's CS accomplishments are more hype and hope than usable CS devices on silicon thus far. Research@Intel blog Ascent Solar Receives DOE Contract; Hydro ASA Acquires 23 Percent of Company
Compoundsemi News StaffAugust 27, 2007...Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a thin-film photovoltaic developer headquartered in Littleton, Colorado USA, reported that it has been awarded a $165,000 contract from the U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory. The contract is to develop materials and processing tools to increase manufacturing speed, increase throughput, and lower costs for producing the company’s thin-film copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) photovoltaic material.
“The early stage experimental research and development work performed under this grant is aimed ultimately at reducing manufacturing costs. We will be investigating a novel new approach to increasing the production throughput in the CIGS process,” Ascent Solar Chief Technical Officer, Dr. Joseph Armstrong, stated. Ascent Solar News Release
The government has not been the only investor to take an interest in the company. Earlier in August, Hydro ASA, a dominant energy and aluminum suppliers worldwide, acquired an additional 934,462 shares of Ascent Solar common stock and 1,965,690 Class B warrants through the exercise of a previously granted option. Hydro’s follow-on investment totaled $10.48 million. Hydro ASA will hold 23 percent of Ascent Solar’s outstanding shares and will have the opportunity to purchase more class B warrants for a total of up to 35 percent of common shares.
Einar Glomnes, head of Hydro’s Solar Division, commented, “ [Ascent Solar’s] super-thin and flexible solar cell modules go very well together with Hydro’s building systems activities, and we are looking forward to a continued fruitful partnership together with Ascent.” Ascent Solar News Release,
(Ref: Coverage). Veeco Introduces PV-Series Thermal Deposition Sources for CIGS Manufacturing
Compoundsemi News StaffAugust 27, 2007...Veeco Instruments Inc. of Woodbury, New York USA, has introduced a line of new production-scale PV-Series thermal deposition sources. According to the company, the new series of thermal deposition sources enable copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin film solar manufacturers to more quickly shift from pilot to full scale solar cell production. The new line of thermal deposition sources includes two systems: the PV-Series SUMO (for copper, indium and gallium) and the PV-Series Valved (for selenium and sulfur) for R & D and production environments.
"Veeco's new PV-Series sources for CIGS represent the industry's first commercially available production-scale thermal deposition solution for thin film solar manufacturing," said Jeffrey Hohn, Vice President and General Manager, Veeco MBE Operations. "We believe that our PV-Series sources will accelerate our customers' production ramp, reduce capital costs and provide more reliable operation, compared to currently available sources or solar cell manufacturers' in-house custom designs."
Additionally, Veeco offers metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) systems for multi-junction solar cells. Veeco’s solar related capabilities also extend to a complete suite of thin film and surface roughness metrology systems including: atomic force microscopes, stylus profilers and optical interferometer technology. Company News Release Aixtron Becomes First MOCVD Equipment Maker to be CSA Guest Member; Receives Order for Gen 3.5 Deposition Tool for Flexible TFT Displays
Compoundsemi News StaffAugust 27, 2007...Wu Ling, Director of the China Solid State Lighting Alliance (CSA) announced that Aixtron of Aachen, Germany has become the first MOCVD equipment manufacturer to be recognized as a guest member of China’s Solid State Lighting Alliance. Aixtron says that the accolade is both for its MOCVD technology and its work with solid state lighting manufacturers. The CSA’s objective is the development and support of the Chinese Solid State Lighting Industry. Since its founding on October 12th, 2004, and its membership has extended to 40 leading Chinese SSL companies and research institutes. Aixtron News Release
Aixtron also reported that Plastic Logic Ltd., based in Cambridge, UK, has purchased an its Gen 3.5 deposition tool. The tool will be used for thin film deposition of the key organic dielectric layer for flexible organic TFT backplanes. Plastic Logic has developed a unique process to fabricate active-matrix backplanes on plastic substrates. When combined with an electronic-paper frontplane material, the process will reportedly be used to create thin, light, and robust display modules. Plastic Logic says this will enable a digital reading experience that is much closer to paper than any other technology. The newly developed equipment, based on Aixtron’s proprietary Close Coupled Showerhead (CCS) technology, will be installed and integrated into Plastic Logic’s new manufacturing line for production of Gen 3.5 substrates in early 2008. Aixtron News Release TriQuint to Acquire Peak Devices
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 22, 2007...TriQuint Semiconductor of Hillsboro, Oregon USA, a wireless component manufacturer, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Peak Devices, Inc. of Boulder, Colorado. The agreement to acquire Peak Devices, a privately held, fabless semiconductor company, is a cash transaction expected to close within the quarter. According to TriQuint, Peak Devices has an experienced RF team that focuses on RF discrete transistor technology. TriQuint noted that Peak Devices’ market segments include: 2-way communications, FM and television broadcast, telecommunications, avionics, radar, and military.
TriQuint Chief Executive Officer Ralph Quinsey stated, “Peak has developed proprietary semiconductor technology that has broad application across multiple markets. With this technology, a single wide bandwidth amplifier may replace complex high power multiplexer-combined-amplifiers. This is a technology that has exciting potential.”
TriQuint indicated that the goal of Peak’s technology is to introduce a device that can cover multiple octaves of bandwidth, such as 700MHz to 2800 MHz. This wide band technology can be incorporated into compound semiconductor materials including Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), and Gallium Nitride (GaN).
Bill McCalpin, Peak Devices CEO, will retain his responsibilities and report to TriQuint senior management. “The combination of Peak devices and TriQuint Semiconductor brings together extremely complementary capabilities. I see numerous opportunities for Peak’s technologies to enhance TriQuint’s existing product lines, as well as build new high power RF product segments.” TriQuint News Release IQE wins multi-year contract as preferred Epi wafer supplier to Anadigics Inc.
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 22, 2007...IQE plc has announced that Anadigics has selected IQE’s RF Business Unit to be its preferred supplier of advanced GaAs epi wafers. In the multi year contract valued at approximately US $50 million over the first two years, IQE will provide a range of wafer products which will be used to manufacture wireless chips for 3G, WiFi, WiMAX, broadband, and set top box applications.
Dr Drew Nelson, IQE Chief Executive said, “This major contract award recognizes the unique advantages that IQE can offer as a pure play wafer supplier, including multi site, multi platform manufacturing, a complete product range for the wireless communications industry, significant additional wafer capacity to support the rapidly growing demands of this and other customers, and the advanced engineering support for current and future product development that we can provide.“
In IQE financial news, the company published its Interim Results for the half year ended 30 June 2007. The results show revenues up 80% at constant exchange rates to £26.2m and an EBITDA profit of £1.3m (H1/2006: EBITDA loss £0.8m). IQE News Release Our news features are reported
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