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October 26, 2009...Australian semiconductor company, BluGlass Limited, has been awarded $4.96 million of Commonwealth Government funding to assist with the development and commercialization of its high efficiency thin-film solar cell technology. BluGlass has secured the funding under Climate Ready Program which is one of the three elements of the $240 million Clean Business Australia initiative.
The 'High-Efficiency Thin-Film Solar Cell' project aims to develop a third generation photovoltaic technology for manufacturing high efficiency solar cells based on the compound semiconductor material, indium-gallium nitride (InGaN).
AusIndustry, the Australian federal government's program to provide assistance to industry, will provide the cash to BluGlass over 33 months. As part of the funding agreement BluGlass will match the AusIndustry funding with its own expenditure.
"The Government backing is a major vote of confidence in BluGlass's technology. This will see Australian technology return to the forefront of solar innovation and adoption as Australia leads the way on climate change mitigation," said BluGlass CEO Giles Bourne today.
The Climate Ready program is reportedly a competitive grants program which offers match funding grants from $50,000 up to $5m on projects which help overcome climate change challenges. BluGlass News Release
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Motorola Claims its GaN Technology Saves Cable Operators Money
CompoundSemi News StaffOctober 26, 2009...Motorola of Horsham, Pennsylvania USA, reportedly implemented its gallium nitride technology that it says extends the reach of its fiber deep portfolio of optical nodes and RF amplifiers.
At the same time, the company says its extended reach RF amplification technology delivers up to 20-percent savings to Cable operators.
Motorola boasts that its technology, which it contends offers the highest-available RF output levels for cable operators, results in up to a 20-percent reduction of active components in N+1 architectures. Additionally the company says that reducing the actives in the network allows the operator to lower capital and operational expenses. The company says it also reduces system powering requirements while improving network reliability.
Motorola points out that cable providers continue to successfully leverage cost-effective fiber deep technologies as they drive fiber deeper into hybrid fiber coax (HFC) networks to deliver higher throughput video and broadband services to their subscribers. The company says that its extended reach RF amplification reduces the number of active components and their associated installation and operational costs. Motorola indicated that the new technology minimizes the need for re-spacing amplifiers as operators upgrade to 1 GHz and higher technologies. Motorola new Gallium Nitride technology is incorporated into its SG4000, BTN100, MBN100 and BLN100 optical nodes and BT, MiniBridger and BLE RF amplifiers.
"No other vendor can drive an RF signal as far as Motorola," said Joe Cozzolino senior vice president and general manager, Access Networks Solutions, Motorola Home and Networks Mobility. Company News Release Xiamen Sanan OptoElectronics in China Selects Veeco MOCVD Systems for Capacity Expansion
CompoundSemi News StaffOctober 26, 2009...Veeco reports that Xiamen Sanan OptoElectronics, a maker of LEDs based in China, ordered
Veeco’s TurboDisc® Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) Systems to expand their manufacturing capacity of high brightness light emitting diodes (HB-LEDs). Specifically Sanan Optoelectronics ordered the TurboDisc K465 GaN MOCVD System features Veeco's most advanced reactor technology and delivers high throughput for high volume production of GaN-based blue and green HB-LEDs. The TurboDisc E475 As/P MOCVD System is reportedly engineered for high-volume production of red, orange and yellow HB-LEDs. Veeco boasts that it offers a level of process control and reliability unmatched by competing MOCVD technologies.
Mr. Simon Lin, CEO of Sanan, commented, "The addition of Veeco's high productivity MOCVD systems to our manufacturing facilities in Xiamen and Tianjin, China ensures that we can continue to increase output of our market-leading HB-LEDs. We are seeing increased demand for LEDs in such applications as general illumination, TV backlight and outdoor display.”
Bill Miller, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, General Manager of Veeco's MOCVD Operations commented, "We are pleased that Sanan, a key technology leader and the largest manufacturer of HB-LEDs in China, has chosen Veeco’s TurboDisc MOCVD Systems for its capacity expansion. We are looking forward to partnering with Sanan as they increase their high volume production of HB-LED devices."
Veeco News Release
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Ascent Solar Achieves 14 Percent CIGS Cell Efficiency in Commercial Production
CompoundSemi News StaffOctober 21, 2009...Ascent Solar Technologies Inc., a maker of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cells based in Thornton, Colorado USA, reports that it has achieved 14 percent cell efficiency with its CIGS cells on a flexible plastic substrate. The achievement was a manufacturing milestone because the CIGS cells that achieved the record efficiency were produced at its 1.5 MW commercial production plant in Littleton, Colorado known as Fab1.
U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewal Energy Laboratory (NREL) measured 14.01 percent cell efficiency for Ascent Solar CIGS material.
Also Ascent Solar announced a peak efficiency of 11.7 percent for its monolithically integrated CIGS modules also manufactured at Fab1.
Dr. Farhad Mogahadam, President & CEO for Ascent Solar stated, “This is a significant breakthrough in demonstrating our ability to achieve thin film CIGS cells with 14% efficiency from regular production machines. Ascent Solar’s ability to manufacturer monolithically integrated modules with efficiency as high as 11.7% in regular production serves as a vital element to our low cost per watt manufacturing goal.”
Ascent Solar News Release Neo-Neon Orders Five Aixtron Crius MOCVD tools for UHB-LED Production Ramp
LIGHTimes News StaffOctober 20, 2009...Aixtron reported the delivery and qualification of multiple Crius MOCVD systems at Neo-Neon, one of its major customers in PR China. Since 2005, Neo-Neon set about the R&D and production of white lighting technology with their vertically-integrated approach resulting in a complete supply chain from front-end (epitaxy, chip process) to back-end (LED packaging and application). Neo-Neon International Ltd., based in Guang Dong, PR China, A decorative lighting manufacturer, received five Close Coupled Showerhead Crius systems in the 31x2" wafer configuration. These systems were delivered at the end of 2008. Neo-Neon says they will be used for the development and production of ultra-high brightness (UHB) blue/green LEDs.
Mr. Ben Fan, Chairman of Neo-Neon commented, “It was clear to us that as the only way to guarantee the desired prompt production ramp up we would require the world’s best MOCVD tools. Aixtron convinced us through the quality of their engineering, processes and local support that the Crius system was ideal for our blue/green LED production needs. The Aixtron MOCVD systems have been installed in our new factory complex, a five-story facility at our mainland China production plant. The Crius tools will be in the charge of our dedicated R&D and production staff working in close co-operation with Aixtron’s local support team.“
Aixtron News Release TriQuint Receives DARPA Award to Explore "Next" GaN Technology
CompoundSemi News StaffOctober 19, 2009...TriQuint Semiconductor of Hillsboro, Oregon USA, reports that it has been awarded a $16.2 million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) multi-year Gallium Nitride (GaN) R&D contract. The goal of the research is to create complex, high dynamic range circuits for future defense and aerospace applications such as phased array radar through the Nitride Electronic NeXt-Generation Technology (NEXT) program. TriQuint's Principal Investigator, Senior Fellow Dr. Paul Saunier, explained that achieving NEXT program goals could lead to GaN circuits as radically different as today’s computers are compared to those in the 1980s.
The TriQuint NEXT team will include IQE plc, a leading manufacturer of advanced GaN semiconductor wafers. TriQuint will also team with University of Notre Dame Professors Patrick Fay, Debdeep Jena, Greg Snider and Huili Xing to explore alternative wafer materials and circuit designs. University of Illinois Professor Ilesanmi Adesida will assist with work to develop advanced fabrication processes.
Dr. David Fanning, TriQuint’s Program Manager for NEXT, described the segments of the new DARPA contract and key performance milestones. “The initial phase will run two years;pursuing devices that can operate at 300 GHz with essential yield levels of a small circuit. The 18-month Phase II program will push the operating frequency to 400 GHz while increasing yield and circuit size. The third and final 12-month segment will seek to extend the operating frequency to 500 GHz while also substantially increasing yield and circuit size,” he said.
TriQuint News Release NCKU to Collaborate with Taiwan Nitride Material Inc. on AlN R&D
CompoundSemi News StaffOctober 19, 2009...National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) signed a joint venture agreement with a privately owned Taiwan Nitride Material Inc. led by its chairman Mr. H.H. Chang, for the production of aluminum nitride (AlN). The parties each agreed to invest a total of NT$ 30 million (US$ 932,000) for research and development of AlN, a semiconductor material often used for heat radiation and insulation in microelectronics and optoelectronics.
NCKU will share 18% of technology transfer from the venture. The university expects to have a revenue of at least NT$ 100 million (US$ 3.1 million) over the next ten years. Prof. Shyan-Lung Chung of the NCKU Department of Chemical Engineering developed the AlN production technique. NCKU says the agreement is the first joint venture in aluminum nitride production in Taiwan.
NCKU contends that unlike previous joint ventures between companies and academia in Taiwan, it will remain close partners with Taiwan Nitride Material even after signing the agreement and finishing technology transfer.
"Now it is the time for our earth with an emphasis in energy conservation and less carbon emission. Light emitting diode (LED) provides a right solution to it. That is, LED lighting is replacing iridescent bulbs. However, the life of LED is still of grave concern resulted from overheating of the device," said Mr. Chang, chairman of Taiwan Nitride Material Inc.
NCKU News Release Solarion Claims Record 13.4 percent Conversion Efficiency in Solar Cells on Plastic Film
CompoundSemi News StaffOctober 19, 2009...Solarion AG of Leipzig, Germany, a maker of Copper-Indium-Gallium-Diselenide solar cells (CIGS) on a plastic substrate, claims to have reached a record efficiency of 13.4 percent for copper indium gallium diselenide solar cells (CIGS) on a plastic substrate. The cells are reportedly manufactured using an industrial roll-to-roll system. The record cells do not use an anti-reflective coating. Solarion says that the record results were independently verified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg, Germany.
Alexander Braun, CTO of Solarion AG commented, "This result is not only a world record efficiency for flexible CIGS solar cells manufactured on a plastic substrate in an industrial roll-to-roll coating process, but is also the highest efficiency for any thin film solar cell on a flexible polymer substrate from a roll-to-roll process, regardless of the absorber material.”
Solarion says its patented ion beam process for producing the CIGS absorber allows the reduction of process temperature and thus the use of a flexible polymer substrate.
According to Solarion, the flexibility and high efficiency of its solar cells opens up new large-volume applications such as having solar modules can directly integrated into building systems for roofing and facade solutions. Solarion News Release
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