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March 10, 2010...First Solar of Tempe, Arizona USA, announced a photovoltaic power purchase agreement to supply Pacific Gas and Electric Company electricity from a 300 megawatt (AC) photovoltaic solar power facility. First Solar is reportedly developing the solar power facility in Southern California. According to First Solar, the Desert Sunlight project, to be located near Desert Center in eastern Riverside County, Calif., will have a total capacity of 550 megawatts, enough to power approximately 160,000 area homes or provide power for 480,000 residents. The other 250 MW portion of the project is already under contract to Southern California Edison (SCE). First Solar's power purchase agreements with PG&E and SCE are subject to the approval of the California Public Utilities Commission.
First Solar will build the Desert Sunlight project using its cadmium telluride CdTe thin-film photovoltaic solar modules and provide its project development, engineering, procurement, and construction capabilities. Construction on the project is expected to start by the end of 2010, and completion is planned for as early as 2013. First Solar says that the project will create approximately 430 construction jobs. The project's permit application has been fast tracked by the Bureau of Land Management.
"First Solar is one of the few companies that has all the capabilities required to realize very large, utility-scale solar projects like Desert Sunlight, which are important in helping our customers and California reach the state's renewable energy goals," said Rob Gillette, First Solar chief executive officer.
First Solar News Release Aixtron Shows Strong Growth in 2009
CompoundSemi News StaffMarch 10, 2010...Aixtron grew substantially in 2009 despite the recession.
The company's net income nearly doubled with an increase of 95 percent, going from EUR23.0 m in 2008 to EUR44.8m in 2009.
Aixtron's revenues grew some 10 percent in 2009 reaching EUR302.9m compared to EUR274.4m the previous year. Gross profit increased 19 percent for the year from EUR112.9m to EUR134.7m.
The company had an increase of 48 percent in the equipment order intake for the year from EUR250.8m to EUR370.1m.
The company's order backlog also nearly doubled with an increase of 98 percent, going from EUR105m in 2008 to EUR203.8m in 2009.
The management board will propose to change the company from an AG company to an SE company at the March 18 board meeting.
Paul Hyland, President & Chief Executive Officer at Aixtron cited the increasingly international nature of the business as the reason for the SE conversion.
Hyland commented, “...fiscal year 2009 has turned out to be one of the best years in the Company’s history. The forward looking decisions we made more than 5 years ago, namely to re-engineer our system technology into configurable modules and the decision to re-engineer our manufacturing processes and supply chain structure have played a decisive part in our ability to react quickly and profitably to the rapid and positive changes in 2009 market conditions. "
The company announced a guidance of Euros 600m to Euros 650m for 2010.
(As of March 10, 1 Euro= 1.3657 U.S. Dollars)
Aixtron 2009 Final Year-end Financial Results
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Georgia Tech Gets NASA Contract to Develop SiGe-based Phased Array Radar
CompoundSemi News StaffMarch 8, 2010...The Georgia Institute of Technology was awarded a $2.4 million contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to develop a new radar system, according to an article
from Georgia Tech. The radar system will study and map ice and snow formations from the air.
The phased-array radar will use
silicon-germanium (SiGe) chips in combination with radio-frequency micro-electromechanical systems (RF MEMS). The light weight systems could be placed on aircraft or satellites.
Previously, such mapping required heavy radar equipment that required surface operation, according to John Papapolymerou, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and principal investigator on the project. The system would allow unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to gather information by flying over a large area such as Greenland, using the radar system to map ice sheets in three dimensions.
While conventional radar requires a mechanical repositioning of an antenna, the new system would use phase shifting to electronically steer the signal beam. An 8 by 8 grid of fixed, interconnected antenna elements send and receive multiple radar signals virtually simultaneously.
Cressler,a Ken Byers Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said,"Using silicon-germanium allows much higher levels of integration, which older radar systems don’t give you," He added, "It enables you to go from a system which is much larger and more expensive, and less robust, to a chip that is only a few millimeters on a side and costs far less." Efficient Power Conversion Corporation Introduces 40 V to 200V Enhancement Mode GaN Power Transistors
CompoundSemi News StaffMarch 8, 2010...Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) of El Segundo, California USA introduced a family of enhancement mode power transistors. The transistors are based on EPC's proprietary gallium nitride on silicon technology.
They span a range of 40 Volts to 200 Volts, and 4 milliohms to 100 milliohms. The company says that the power transistors demonstrate significant performance advantages over state-of-the-art silicon-based power MOSFETs. EPC’s technology produces devices that are smaller than similar resistance silicon devices and have many times superior switching performance. Applications such as DC-DC power supplies, point-of-load converters, class D audio amplifiers, notebook and netbook computers, LED drive circuits, telecom base stations, and cell phones can reportedly benefit from the improved performance.
EPC notes that its enhancement mode (normally OFF) GaN technology was explicitly developed to replace power MOSFETs. The transistors are produced in a standard silicon CMOS foundry on 150mm (6 inch) silicon wafers. “EPC’s GaN on silicon power transistors represent the first major breakthrough in power conversion technology since the development of the commercial power MOSFET. We have developed a very cost effective and reliable technology that is also very easy for anyone with power MOSFET experience to use in a way that will significantly boost their power management system performance,” said Alex Lidow, EPC’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer.
Company News Release Ascent Solar and FTL Solar Sign Strategic Alliance Supply Agreement
CompoundSemi News StaffMarch 3, 2010...Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a maker of thin-film photovoltaic modules,
has signed a strategic supply agreement with FTL Solar, LLC of Austin, Texas. The agreement includes a minimum purchase commitment of $6.5 million over a three year period for Ascent Solar's flexible CIGS photovoltaic two meter and premier modules. FTL Solar will distribute Ascent Solar's flexible thin-film CIGS solar cells on fabric.
Some of Ascent Solar's products that FTL Solar will distribute will take advantage of Ascent Solar recently obtained certification MIL-STD 810G, which allows the company to provide solar products for defense applications.
FTL Solar CEO Tony Saxton, stated, “We are pleased to announce that FTL Solar is a US distributor for Ascent's light weight photovoltaic (PV) modules for fabric awnings, airbeams, tents, tensile structures, sailboat sails, tarps and umbrellas."
Saxton said, "We have hit the market with FTL Solar's PowerMod™ tents with Ascent Solar PV modules 'outside' for military and tent rental industry sales, and with FTL Solar's PowerFold™ hand-held battery chargers for military and consumer sales."
Ascent Solar says it is scheduled to begin shipments to FTL Solar of their lightweight solar integrated tensile fabric product line that is intended to serve defense/disaster relief, and the portable power segments.
Ascent Solar News Release Sensors Unlimited Introduces New SWIR Cameras
CompoundSemi News StaffMarch 3, 2010...Sensors Unlimited-Goodrich ISR Systems has introduced two cameras with advanced imaging enhancements that the company says expand the dynamic range of short wave infrared (SWIR) imagery.
The company reports that its new indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) SWIR SU320KTX (320 x 240 pixel format with 40 micron pixel pitch) and the SU640KTSX (640 x 512 pixel format with 25 micron pixel pitch) cameras take a advantage of a number of new tehcnological advancements such as a new on-board automatic gain control (AGC) and adjustable enhancement thresholds. The company says that the devices have the unique ability to automatically compensate for variations in light levels that may differ by up to five orders of magnitude.
Sensors Unlimited contends that its the SU320KTX and SU640KTSX models are easy-to-integrate into mobile, handheld, or aerial surveillance systems and are compact, lightweight, and feature low power consumption.
The cameras have simultaneous RS170 analog and 12-bit CameraLink digital outputs for plug-and-play video and high quality images for image processing or transmission. Most importantly, this SWIR technology provides a key advantage by detecting reflected light at wavelengths that the human eye cannot see, providing real-time daylight-to-low-light imaging. The new cameras provide the highest sensitivity available in the SWIR 0.9 to 1.7 micron spectrum. The optional NIR/SWIR models extend the range of operation down to 0.7 and up to 1.7 microns.
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