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'LAST POWER' Project Reports Achievements
CompoundSemi News StaffMay 20, 2013...'LAST POWER', the EU program to develop reliable and economical power
electronics, recently reported on the project's achievements. The project was launched in
2010 through the European Nanoelectronics Initiative Advisory Council (ENIAC)
Joint Undertaking (JU), which links private companies, universities and public
research centers to study of wide bandgap semiconductors (SiC and GaN). ‘LAST POWER’ is an acronym for 'Large Area silicon carbide Substrates and heTeroepitaxial GaN for POWER device applications'.
The main achievements stemmed from SiCrystal’s development of 150mm
diameter substrates with a cut-off angle of 2°-off axis with comparable quality
to the 100mm 4°-off material available at the project’s beginning. At
LPE/ETC, a novel CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) reactor was employed to
fabricate 600-1200V JBS (Junction Barrier Schottky) diodes and MOSFETs on 150mm
4H-SiC. The JBS diodes on 150 mm substrates had electrical performance
comparable with the state-of-the-art 4°-off material. Chemical mechanical
polishing (CMP) process, StepSiC ® reclamation and planarization from NOVASiC, enabled the JBS fabrication. The same company also developed epitaxial growth process for fabricating both MOSFET and JFET devices.
Acreo and FORTH with the support of CCR, jointly developed novel modules for
high-temperature 4H-SiC JFETs and MOSFETs. CCR studied molding compounds and
“lead-free” die-attach materials for reliable packaging.
ST Microelectronics also successfully produced AlGaN/GaN HEMTs epitaxial
structures with a 3 μm thickness and 200V breakdown. Last Power collaborated
with IMM-CNR, Unipress, and ST to develop ‘gold free’ production
for normally-off AlGaN/GaN HEMTs that is fully compatible with the fabrication
process at the ST production line. Research into High-thermal-conductivity Substrates for GaN Electronics Gets UK Funding
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 29, 2013...Researchers from the University of Bath and the University of Bristol will
receive funding totaling more than £823,800 from UK’s Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) over the next three years years. The
project is to develop highly thermally conductive substrates for GaN
electronics.
A £430,597 grant (EPSRC reference EP/K024337/1) was awarded to the
University of Bath’s Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
with principal investigator Dr DWE Allsopp joined by professor W Wang. A
£393,218 grant (EPSRC reference EP/K024345/1) goes to the University of
Bristol’s Department of Physics, with principal investigator professor M
Kuball and professor D Cherns. IQE Silicon Compounds Ltd, NXP Semiconductors UK
Ltd and Plessey Semiconductors Ltd will partner with the University of
Bristol.
According to the researchers, AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors
(HEMTs) will enable future power conditioning applications, and be used for high
efficiency military and civilian, microwave and RF systems. The researchers
note that although the performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs presently reaches RF
powers up to 40W/mm, at frequencies exceeding 300 GHz, its reliability, which
is often thermally limited, is a serious issue.
The project aims to mitigate this issue through developing novel substrates
that have higher heat extraction capabilities than SiC and developing low cost
substrates that have improved heat extraction compared to GaN-on-silicon for
more cost sensitive power electronics. The researchers assert that improvement
in heat spreading will imcrease reliability and circuit efficiency and ease Gan
electronics constraints. U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium and NREL Collaborate to Develop Thin Film PV Cells and Modules
CompoundSemi News StaffMarch 18, 2013...The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Photovoltaic
Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC) have agreed to improve manufacturing of solar
cells, including thin film, advanced silicon, and future materials. These
national partnerships are modeled after the research from not-for-profit
consortium, Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (SEMATECH) and the College
of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE).
NREL’s pioneering work in renewable energy and photovoltaic research
includes establishing processes, measurement and characterization capabilities,
and gaining expertise in all the major PV conversion technologies. In the
collaboration, PVMC will reportedly leverage decades of knowledge and
capabilities in materials and cell processing, advanced testing, metrology and
materials analysis, and modeling. Additionally, the NREL and PVMC collaboration
will be expanded to other national labs.
"Through this initiative, we look forward to enhancing the
manufacturability of thin film solar PV technologies, which is critical to
enabling increased usage in residential, commercial and utility applications
across the country," commented Dr. Pradeep Haldar, PVMC Chief Operating
and Technology Officer and CNSE Vice President for Clean Energy Programs.
"Together we are leading the national effort to help facilitate the
transfer and commercialization of future solar products, equipment, and
manufacturing lines including thin film, advanced silicon, and future
materials," said Joe Hudgins, senior VP of business development and
strategic alliances, PVMC.
Several on-going initiatives are currently attempting improve PV
manufacturing development such as the recently signed Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) of SEMI and PVMC to cooperate on standards and roadmap
activities in the solar thin film industry. Emcore Awarded DOD Contract
CompoundSemi News StaffFebruary 18, 2013...Emcore Corp. of Albuquerque, New Mexico USA, was awarded a
$7,364,902 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Advanced
Multi-Junction Space Cell Producibility Program. The project
is to be conducted in at the company's Albuquerque facility.
Work is expected to be completed by April 13, 2018. The
company was contracted through the U.S.Department of Defense, and
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The goal of the project is to
improve the manufacturing processing capabilities and qualify solar
cells to at least 33 percent efficiency. The program is looking to
qualify high efficiency, flexible or rigid, multi-junction space
solar cells. Currently, the firm's highest efficiency solar
cell operates at a minimum of 29.5% efficiency. GraphenSiC AB Receives €60,000 in Business Support from Swedish Energy Agency
CompoundSemi News StaffJanuary 28, 2013...The Swedish Energy Agency granted Linköping University spin-off
GraphenSiC AB about €60,000 for business development. The company
says the funding will give it increased opportunities for
international development of its epitaxial graphene on silicon
carbide (SiC) technology. Applications for the technology range from
energy related electronics to various approaches of biosensors.
In 2012 Graphensic was selected as one of the 33 hottest technology
start‐up companies in Sweden. The company is a member of LEAD
Incubator that
support start‐up companies from university research. GraphenSic says
that the new financing will allow the company to hire an
experienced entrepreneur as chairman of the board to lead the
company and work with the sales and marketing. The firm noted that
in 2013 it may require further investment for new production
equipment if the need for production increases rapidly. HexaTech Awarded ARPA-E Contract For Aluminum Nitride (AlN) High Voltage Power Electronics
CompoundSemi News StaffDecember 17, 2012...HexaTech, Inc. of Morrisville, North Carolina USA, has received a $2.2 M award from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) to develop new aluminum nitride (AlN)-based power semiconductor technology for the modernization the electrical power grid. HexaTech's AlN technology leverages very low dislocation density single crystal AlN substrates. The company plans to use the funding to develop novel doping schemes and contact metals for AlN/AlGaN with high Al content.
Dr. Baxter Moody, Director of Engineering stated, “The development will enable a significant step toward producing 20 kV AlN-based Schottky diodes (SBD, JBSD) and transistors (JFET, MOSFET). The ARPA-E contract has opened the door for the material development and research to demonstrate AlN high-voltage, high-efficiency power conversion capability.”
The company asserts that for power systems and grid-scale power conversion applications, high efficiency AlN-based power devices will offer a significant reduction in size, weight, and cooling. Experimental devices based on Silicon Carbide (SiC) technology are currently being developed. However, the company expects aluminum nitride will enable power electronics with a 10X improvement in performance compared to silicon carbide.. HexaTech asserts that based on the wide bandgap material properties of AlN, the critical field is 6X larger, the on resistance will be lower, and the resulting power device area will be smaller for a comparable power level.
Semprius to Supply High Concentration Photovoltaic Modules to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for Department of Defense
CompoundSemi News StaffDecember 3, 2012...Semprius of Durham, North Carolina USA will be supplying its high concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) modules to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for the Department of Defense. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) received a $2.3 million award from the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) office of the U.S. Department of Defense for the project which will supply the HCPV technology for DoD installations and other commercial and utility scale applications.
As part of the project PWR will install a 200 kilowatt solar system at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The system will be comprised of 2,400 Semprius modules mounted on dual-axis trackers. It will produce over 400,000 kWh of electricity annually, which is enough to power 40 homes.
Semprius modules have reportedly reached 33.9 percent efficiency. Semprius and PWR, part of United Technologies Corp., began collaborating 18 months ago at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, to scale up the technology into a cost-effective, commercial-grade system.
"Having spent several years evaluating emerging PV technologies, we've selected Semprius because of the potential of their technology to drive down the cost of solar electricity significantly," said Randy Parsley, renewable energy program manager at PWR. "We look forward to executing this project with Semprius to help the DoD begin to achieve its energy independence and energy security goals."
Stion Receives $2 Million DOE Award to Scale Up Production of Tandem Junction Cells
CompoundSemi News StaffNovember 26, 2012...Stion, a manufacturer of copper indium gallium selenium and sulfur (CIGS) solar modules baed in San Jose, California USA, announced a $2 million award from the US Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative.The initiative is to continue pilot production and scale-up of its ultra high-efficiency thin film modules based on proprietary tandem junction technology. The tandem junction technology uses the company's CIGS solar modules as the base. On top of that a second layer that is geared to convert sunlight from a different part of the spectrum. The tandem structure maintains the same glass / glass packaging design as Stion’s current commercial modules.
The award is a Tier 2 grant under the Sunshot’s Incubator 7 Program and is designed to accelerate the transition to commercial production. It is a follow-on to the Tier 1 award given to Stion in February 2011. As part of Tier 1, Stion successfully advanced its technology into commercial prototype stage and produced tandem junction prototype modules at 18.8% aperture efficiency, the highest for any module prototype based on thin-film technology.
Stion contends that its unique approach to thin film PV leverages proprietary materials and device expertise along with a robust, high-volume manufacturing process based on readily available, standardized equipment. Stion began shipments of products in March based on its single junction CIGS technology, and has produced commercial modules with as high as 15.6% aperture efficiency. You could own this space...
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