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August 9, 2010...A consortium spanning Europe hopes to significantly reduce the power consumption of telecommunications and data networks. Five partner organizations have co joined the BIANCHO project (BIsmide And Nitride Components for High temperature Operation), a three year research and development initiative with funding of €2.190 m through the EU Framework 7 program. The project's goal is to develop new semiconductor materials to allow lasers and other photonic components to become more energy efficient and also more tolerant of high operating temperatures.
These telecommunications and data networks are estimated to consume up to 3 percent of European electricity.
Intrinsic losses from components turns to heat. Heat requires power hungry cooling.
This happens due to a process known as Auger recombination, and it is a consequence of the band structure of the semiconductor materials used in making components such as semiconductor lasers and optical amplifiers. BIANCHO proposes to eliminate Auger recombination by making components with novel dilute bismide and dilute nitride alloys of Gallium Arsenide and Indium Phosphide.
The project will be coordinated by the Tyndall National Institute (Ireland), internationally recognised for its strength in semiconductor band structure modelling. The other academic partners are Philipps Universitaet Marburg (Germany) focussing on material growth and characterisation; Semiconductor Research Institute (Lithuania) responsible for the design, manufacture and characterisation of bismide-based epitaxial structures; the University of Surrey (UK) who contribute unique characterisation facilities and modelling expertise. CIP Technologies will be in charge of the commercialization.
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Honda Soltec Residential CIGS Modules Reach 11.6 Percent Efficiency
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 9, 2010...Honda Soltec Co., Ltd., Honda's wholly-owned solar cell subsidiary added to its lineup of home-use solar cell modules. The company began sales of two new residential-use solar cell modules with maximum output of 130W and 120W respectively. It also began selling a power conditioner with rated output of 5.5kW.
The company says it has advanced its solar cell production technology to improve the quality of the electricity-generating layer. As a result, the company boasts that its new copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS)-based residential-use solar cell module with maximum output of 130W achieves solar energy conversion efficiency of 11.6 percent. According to Honda Soltec, this is the highest among the CIGS-based solar cells being sold in Japan.
The company began production and sales of solar cell modules for residential use in 2007 and for public/industrial use in 2008. Before the new additions, Honda Soltec's product lineup included two types of residential-use solar cell modules with maximum output of 125W and 115W respectively - and one type of power conditioner with a rated output of 4.0kW. The company says it will continue sales of these products along with the new products introduced today.
So far the residential use solar modules have not caught on. They have been installed in 2,250 homes through builders and contractors. Aixtron Financial Performance Jumps in H1 2010
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 9, 2010...MOCVD equipment maker Aixtron posted a very strong performance for the first half of 2010. The net income jumped a massive 742 percent compared to the same period of 2009.
The H1/2010 operating
result increased year on year by 769 percent to EUR 106.9 Million.
The company cited high ongoing system demand, mainly from high brightness LED backlighting and lighting applications. A stronger U.S. dollar also positively influenced the results. The net
income improved by 33 percent over Q1/2010 from EUR 31.8m to EUR 42.3m or 22 percent of sales.
Paul Hyland, president and CEO at Aixtron, commented,
"It seems clear to me that a combination of the positive volume and performance effect the
backlighting applications have had on LED industry yields and efficiencies and the sustained
government subsidies we are now seeing, are creating tangible momentum in the
development of Solid State Lighting applications. This is an early and very encouraging
development."
Hyland added, "The macro perspective is that the industry is clearly moving from a technical niche market to
a more sustainable and larger commodity market, and this development is already having a
corresponding effect on the expectations of customers who are demanding, better
performing products with better cost of ownership, which in turn is driving shorter product
cycles and for us; increased R&D investments."
Anticipating continuing robust demand for its systems the Executive Board reportedly raised the expected results for the full year 2010 to 750 Million in revenue.
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Emcore and San'an Optoelectronics Start Terrestrial CPV Joint Venture
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 2, 2010...Emcore of Albuquerque, New Mexico USA, and San'an Optoelectronics of Xiamen, China, signed a joint venture agreement. The agreement is to start Suncore Photovoltaics to develop, manufacture, and distribute GaAs-based concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) receivers, modules, and systems for terrestrial applications. Suncore has an exclusive license from Emcore to manufacture Emcore's current and future CPV receivers, modules and systems in China for terrestrial solar power.
Emcore will own 40 percent of the venture, and San'an Optoelectronics will own 60 percent. The chairman of San'an Optoelectronics, Mr. Xiucheng Lin, will serve as Sucore's chairman, and Dr. Charlie Wang, current senior vice president of Emcore, will be the Suncore's general manager. All CPV related operational activities at San'an and Emcore's Langfang, China facility will be transferred to Suncore.
Suncore's primary manufacturing operations will be located in Wuhu city, Anhui province of China. Wuhu city's economic development organization agreed to provide lands, subsidies, grants, and other economic incentives for Suncore. Suncore will be Emcore's primary low-cost / high-volume manufacturing base for CPV receivers incorporating Emcore's CPV solar cells, and for CPV modules and systems for both Emcore's and San'an's worldwide sales efforts.
Suncore will first begin production of 12-MW of CPV systems for San'an's current customers and 2-MW of CPV components for projects sourced by Emcore. Additionally, Emcore and San'an are pursuing multiple CPV project opportunities, including the recently-announced Chinese government project for 280-MW solar energy in six western regions of China.
Solyndra to Provide 16.2 MW of PV Systems to Southern California Edison
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 2, 2010...Solyndra, Inc., of Fremont, California USA, a manufacturer of CIGs-based cylindrical solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, reports that has been awarded 20 year power purchase agreements to supply Southern California Edison. Solyndra's wholly-owned subsidiary which received the power purchase agreement, Photon Solar LLC.,
will provide the renewable electricity from 16.2 megawatts (MW) of rooftop photovoltaic solar systems on 18 rooftops.
Corby Whitaker, Solyndra's vice president of North America Sales stated, "Rooftop solar takes advantage of unutilized space to generate energy right where it is needed, eliminating the need for costly transmission lines and extensive environmental impact testing and permitting."
Photon Solar LLC plans to complete construction of the 18 rooftop systems comprising the 16.2 MW project during 2011. Construction of these PV systems is subject to California Public Utility Commission approval, financing of the project, certain permitting, and other customary closing conditions. Veeco Has Record Second Quarter 2010
CompoundSemi News StaffAugust 2, 2010...Veeco Instruments Inc., of Plainview New York reports record revenues and high profits for the second quarter of 2010. The company is currently forecasting 2010 total revenues of over $1 billion. The company generated about $52.4 million in profit for the quarter. This is $67 million more than the same quarter a year ago in which Veeco had a $14.7 loss.
John R. Peeler, Veeco’s CEO, commented, “Veeco has once again delivered tremendous results. Second quarter revenue was $253 million, a new record for Veeco, an increase of approximately 250% from last year and 55% sequentially. All three of our businesses, LED & Solar, Data Storage and Metrology, continue to execute extremely well, with sequential improvements in revenue and EBITA. Of particular note, our LED & Solar revenues were $186 million, with approximately $175 million in MOCVD."
Peeler noted that Veeco shipped 81 MOCVD systems since the third quarter of last year.
Mr. Peeler said that Veeco received $251 million in MOCVD orders, with customer wins in all regions, including the U.S., Europe, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. He indicated that the company experienced accelerating demand from LED companies expanding facilities in China. In particular, Peeler says that China’s initiative to subsidize the LED industry via seven national ‘industrial parks’ is spurring strong order quoting patterns for Veeco, both from local companies as well as from Korean and Taiwanese customers are partnering with Chinese entities. Our news features are reported
by the CompoundSemi News staff writers.
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