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May 18, 2010...Applied Materials is expected to enter MOCVD market as a new MOCVD equipment supplier as the company responds to soaring demand from consumers and OEMs for LED backlit TVs. Applied Materials may in fact be looking to produce an HPVE and MOCVD combined system. The company has produced HPVE systems for some time. However in the company's first government contract, in late January Applied was awarded $3.9 million from the DOE through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to reduce the costs of LED manufacturing by improving manufacturing equipment and processes. A portion of this money, some estimate $2.4 million, will go towards producing a more cost effective MOCVD system for producing LEDs.

C.J. Muse, an analyst with Barclays Capital, in a report and an EETimes article stated, "We believe, based on research on DOE’s LED related projects that AMAT may have gotten $2.4 million from the taxpayer in connection with development of an MOCVD solution over the next eight quarters through end of 2011, though we think that the final manufacturing is likely to be done in Singapore/ Taiwan.'' Muse added, ''On a larger scale, our checks suggest that Applied is working on a multichamber epi tool on the Centura platform, with one HVPE chamber and two MOCVD chambers, and with in-situ cleaning to speed up the cycle time,'' Muse said, ''It likely will use lamp heating for better temperature control for defining sharp interfaces and will be targeting a 2X improvement in uniformity, 50 percent reduction in cycle time, and a 50 percent improvement in quantum efficiency. The takeaway here is that the tool and the approach is still far from proven--but we will likely start to hear more on this front with the market focused on whether or not TSMC will actually place orders for the tool in the next 3-6 month timeframe,''

Eight Module Producers Tapped for ProLogis Rooftop Photovoltaic Test Site in Denver
CompoundSemi News Staff

May 19, 2010...The ProLogis real estate company has unveiled its new rooftop photovoltaic test site in Denver, Colorado. The site produces a total of 11 kWp from 99 solar photovoltaic modules. Eight different photovoltaic module manufacturers produced the modules. The manufacturers include: Ascent Solar, First Solar, GS-Solar, MiaSole, Solyndra, Suniva, United Solar Ovonic and Xunlight.

ProLogis reports that the site is already generating power and the initial configuration provides side-by-side comparisons of several module technologies, including monocrystalline silicon, glass-on-glass thin film, and membrane-applied thin film modules. In addition, the installation contains 16 individually monitored strings, each designed to test a certain system parameter.

In partnership with HatiCon Solar, ProLogis designed a new racking system for utility-scale rooftop solar installations. Matt Singleton, vice president of renewable energy at ProLogis, commented,  "As a real estate developer and owner, we seek the most compatible solution for our rooftop installations, both in terms of structural loads and roof integrity. This new attached rack design combines standardized, lightweight aluminum parts with the long-term assurance of a maintainable and warrantable watertight connection to our buildings."

The ProLogis Renewable Energy group was formed in 2009 to procure new business, manage installations, and provide development services for renewable energy projects globally. ProLogis has more than 450 million square feet (42 million square meters) of roof space worldwide available for solar photovoltaic installations.

Ascent Solar Starts Initial CIGS Production at FAB 2 Production Plant
CompoundSemi News Staff

May 17, 2010...Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., reports that has successfully begun initial production of monolithically integrated flexible CIGS modules from its high volume FAB 2 production plant in Thornton, Colorado. Simultaneous with today’s announcement the company issued a video virtual tour of its FAB 2 production plant.

Farhad Moghadam President and CEO of Ascent Solar stated, “Ascent Solar is the first company to commence regular production of monolithically integrated lightweight thin-film CIGS modules using a plastic substrate. This milestone marks the initiation of our regular production capability and our factory ramp up based on market demand. Initial production from FAB 2 is producing 10.5% efficient modules with peak module aperture efficiency as high as 11.9%, which gives Ascent a very competitive product across our target market opportunities.”

Laser Turns 50
CompoundSemi News Staff

May 17, 2010...It was 50 years ago on May 16, at the Hughes Research lab in Malibu, California when Theodore Maimen demonstrated the first laser that flashed a bright red spot onto a photo-detector. Hughes Lab later went on to become the defense and military research company, Raytheon. The word LASER is an acronym for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation." Lasers use optical or electrical energy to excite a material which can then amplify light.

In another advance that occurred some two years after the first laser was demonstrated, GE Scientist Robert Hall invented the first semiconductor (diode) laser in 1962. Diode lasers are the most ubiquitous kind. A diode laser is a laser in which the gain medium is a semiconductor material. such as gallium arsenide, gallium nitride, or indium phosphide . Most of the lasers in our daily lives from TV remote controls, CD players, and price code scanners in stores to laser printers, are laser diodes. Lasers also enable the Internet which uses them to transmit data through fiber optic cables to computers.

3M and NREL to Research Moisture Barrier for Thin-Film Photovoltaics and Reflectors for Solar Concentrator and Solar Photovoltaic Plants
CompoundSemi News Staff

May 17, 2010...The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and 3M, of St. Paul, Minnesota, have jointly undertaken research and development projects in three key areas of clean energy: thin-film photovoltaics, concentrating solar power, and biofuels. 3M and NREL will work to develop and test new moisture barrier films and flexible packaging for thin film solar cells made of semiconducting layers of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS). NREL researchers previously reported that CIGS cells have achieved a record efficiency of 19.9 percent. However, commercial viability for the cells requires high efficiency, low cost, and extreme durability.

The solar cells are expected to work effectively for 20 years. Therefore, they will need to be encapsulated in a flexible material that is transparent to light, but also provides durable protection without adding significant costs. NREL Principal Investigator Mike Kempe will test 3M technologies designed to protect solar cells from moisture and other contaminants during their 20-year lifetimes. Kempe and other NREL researchers will conduct accelerated stress tests, including temperature, humidity and irradiance tests, to establish failure barriers on as many as three types of 3M CIGS designs. NREL and 3M will jointly interpret the results to help establish module standards for a 20-year lifetime.

The company will also be working with the NREL on developing and improving effectiveness, and robustness of mirror films for concentrated solar power and concentrated photovoltaics.

Strategy Analytics Predicts LED Market Explosion Will be Hampered by Materials Shortage
LIGHTimes News Staff

May 18, 2010...Strategy Analytics predicts that the fast-growing market for high-brightness LEDs in LCD TVs will be restricted by a shortage of key semiconductor materials in the second half of 2010. This prediction is the focus of the company's report “Materials Shortage to Restrict Rampant LED Market.” Strategy Analytics (SA) points out that demand has soared with the rapid penetration of LED backlighting modules in LCD TVs. This has also lead to a soaring demand for capital equipment, especially metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactors used to make gallium nitride (GaN) LEDs.

SA says that a similar trend is now evident in the supply of consumables, specifically the metal-organic material trimethylgallium (TMG) and sapphire wafers. SA contends that demand for TMG already exceeds the available supply; therefore manufacturers need to absorb a 20% price increase in the near term. The company also predicts that a shortage of sapphire wafers, upon which most blue and white LEDs are produced, is also likely in the second half of 2010. “Concerns have previously been raised over the ability of MOCVD equipment vendors to meet rapidly increasing demand,” noted Asif Anwar, director of the GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Service at Strategy Analytics. “The concern for short supply of materials will create a bottleneck for LED market growth over the short term.”

The Strategy Analytics contends that Taiwanese LED manufacturers in particular need to adjust to the new reality of the supply chain. Historically, they have bargained for the price of these key materials. However, according to the SA's assertion, the balance of power in the LED industry has changed, with competitors backed by huge corporations, such as Samsung and LG, much better positioned to absorb higher material costs and to guarantee their supply in a constrained market.

Steven Entwistle, VP of the Strategy Analytics Strategic Technologies Practice, added, “Capacity expansions already in progress should relieve these constraints by mid-2011. Until then, the average selling price of high-brightness LEDs based on gallium nitride should hold up well.”

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