Fabtech - Chip Shots

Cross-pollinator: Ascent Solar’s new boss Farhad Moghadam gets his geek back on

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:09:37 GMT

Farhad Moghadam loves to make semiconductor analogies when he talks about his corner of solar photovoltaics. The former Applied Materials and Intel exec is wearing a new hat these days as he marks his third month as president/CEO of Ascent Solar. The company just announced its latest conversion efficiency numbers for its copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide thin-film PV cells (14.1% peak) and modules (11.7% peak, 10.5%-plus median) and will be ramping its roll-to-roll CIGS-on-polyimide process to volume scale in its Thornton, CO, factory early next year.

Rudolph likely to leverage Adventa process control IP into solar space

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:16:29 GMT

Rudolph Technologies' acquisition of Adventa Control Technologies for an undisclosed wad of cash has immediate implications for those trying to keep their semiconductor manufacturing processes, equipment, and factories under tight control. ACT's software lurks in some 80% of those fabs, with somewhere upwards of 18,000 of its systems installed. The buy certainly won't hurt Rudolph's bottom line either, as the addition of ACT should double the revenues of the company's data analysis and review biz unit. But the move by Rudolph, which launched its own photovoltaic-specific Solar Discover process control and yield management package earlier this year (and which is already an option on Spire's turnkey cell lines), may also end up benefitting the PV production crowd. To read the rest of the blog, click here to go to pv-tech.org.

A few words from Lehman on why DRAM, solar industries don’t compare, but polysilicon does

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:21:44 GMT

The news has been grim for Lehman Brothers today, but one part of the giant investment bank that's doing yeoman work is its solar energy equity research group, led by analyst Vishal Shah. His daily email newsletter and periodic reports are some of the most informative and cogent in the space.

SMIC plows ahead with process migration plans, but will chip foundry ever make money?

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:22:58 GMT

Since its inception, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., better known as SMIC, has pursued an aggressive plan to join the elite chip foundry companies. During the Chinese firm's chase of the big two--TSMC and UMC--it passed Chartered to ascend to the number-three slot a couple of years ago, although it has been nip and tuck with the Singaporean concern since then, alternating between third and fourth place. But the one cornerstone of SMIC's gameplan where it has failed miserably is one of the most basic to any business model--profitability.

National Semiconductor execs are all smiles when it comes to SolarMagic

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:49:52 GMT

National Semiconductor may have seen net income slip a bit in its latest quarterly results, but Brian Halla and his team have shown no erosion in their excitement over the company's initial product foray into the photovoltaics market space, launched in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008: SolarMagic.

Oberai discusses Magma’s move into solar PV yield management space

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:18:02 GMT

The semiconductor industry has long had its eye on improving yields in the fabs, developing an ever-more sophisticated array of software and hardware tools to detect defects and faults, monitor and analyze process and design variations, zero in on the root causes, and crunch the giga-reams of resultant data to try and make sense of the perturbations of the production flows. As the solar photovoltaics manufacturing industry ramps up and seeks ways to improve its own best practices on the factory floor while reducing costs, the need for a comprehensive, PV-specific yield enhancement strategy has become more acute. One company familiar to the design and yield communities in the chipmaking realm, Magma Design Automation, announced earlier this week that it is developing a new solar-specific software system based on its proven YieldManager platform.

Solar start-up Suniva sees plenty of efficiency, cost innovations left in crystalline silicon PV

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:23:57 GMT

Spun out of the Georgia Institute of Technology's Center of Excellence in Photovoltaics (UCEP) last year, Suniva has emerged as one of the most intriguing start-ups in the solar PV space. Over the past six months, the Atlanta-based company has raised $50 million in Series B funds; started to build, outfit, and ramp its first solar-cell production line; and struck big-ticket, nine-figure, multiyear deals with its supply chain (REC for wafers) and customer base (Solon for modules). Suniva's goal is not to bring yet another "disruptive" thin-film or concentrator PV technology to market, but to harness the high-efficiency, low-cost potential of solar's workhorse starting material--crystalline silicon.

While First Solar keeps on trucking, others in CdTe thin-film PV pack keep on muddling

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:20:35 GMT

How does that additional 72 MW of cadmium-telluride thin-film PV module-making capacity planned by First Solar for its Perrysburg, OH, facilities stack up against the rest of the CdTe competition's current production levels? According to recent data compiled by NREL and presented at Intersolar North America/Semicon West, First's extra chunk of factory output would exceed the total megawatt-nameplate of AVA Solar, PrimeStar, Calyxo/Q-Cells, Antec, Avendi, and ASP combined. The same data show the CdTe Gang of Six Followers projected to reach 280 MW by 2010--by which time First will have passed the gigawatt mark.

Taking the silicon shipment area numbers, semiconductor sales figures to the woodshed

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:35:11 GMT

The latest numbers from the SIA and SEMI's silicon manufacturers group (SMG) have come out in the past two weeks, so it's time for Chip Shots' quarterly metrification-and-comparison woodshed exercise.

VLSI Standards’ Tortonese talks about company’s move into solar PV cell/module calibration

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:31:17 GMT

When the term "traceable calibration standards" gets mentioned, it's not likely to trigger a giddy rush of excitement among most professionals in the semiconductor, flat-panel display, and related micro/nano industries.

Solar-charged Kobe: SPI to install PV systems at L.A.‘s Staples Center, Nokia Theatre

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:35:01 GMT

By the time the Los Angeles Lakers have their grudge match with the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics on Christmas Day 2008, the home team's Staples Center venue should be getting a burst of power from a fresh batch of 1727 Solar Power, Inc. (SPI) modules on its very SoCal "surfboard"-shaped roof.

SI’s Lammers does nice blog on semi tool/materials M&A, but what about his own employer’s status?

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:43:42 GMT

Although David Lammers of Semiconductor International might be better known for his consummate "reportering" skills (with no apologies to George W), he's also a pretty good blogger when he gets around to it. His latest posting, the snappily headlined "M&A Activity Picks Up in Downturn Dog Days," discusses the wave of mergers and acquisitions' goings-on in the semiconductor equipment and materials space over the past several months.

Thin is in: Examining the benefits, challenges of the ultrathin—solar wafer, that is

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:45:39 GMT

You got your thin wafers, your very thin wafers, and soon your ultrathin wafers.

Just roll with it: Selected short takes from the flexible electronics, PV realm

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:48:34 GMT

The copy flow has slowed here this week, due to a combination of laptop software problems (thanks, Microsoft Vista!) and a deadline for a print feature in the first edition of Photovoltaics International (if you haven't signed up for a free subscription at pv-tech.org, please do!).

Solar-cell simulation gets a dino-sized push from Synopsys’ Sentaurus

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:51:19 GMT

Although its name conjurs connections with the dinosaur realm, fallen Roman (or Romulan) Empire heroes, or fabled half-human/half-horse creatures, Synopsys' Sentaurus has more in common with virtual reality than paleontology, ancient history, or Greek mythology.

Signet Solar expects final acceptance test of first thin-film PV line to be completed within 90 days

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:55:49 GMT

During our Tuesday (July 29) chat at the company's modest global headquarters in Menlo Park, Signet Solar's founder-CEO Rajeeva Lahri and VP of manufacturing Bijan Moslehi updated me on the company's latest news and future plans, including the status of the ramp of their first production facility in Mochau, outside of Dresden.

SEMI, SEIA comment on US Senate’s failure to pass solar investment tax credit extension

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:58:31 GMT

A cloture motion on an eight-year extension of the 30% solar energy investment tax credit failed yet again on the US Senate floor today (July 30), by a largely party-line vote of 51-43, the legislation still needing an additional nine votes to get to the senior chamber's floor for debate.

Chip Shots hits the road, looks ahead, heats up a few Intersolar/Semicon leftovers

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:38:29 GMT

Although I haven't finished with my post-Intersolar North America/Semicon West-inspired blogging yet, I'll be on the road again the beginning of this week, visiting a mostly solar PV cast of companies in the anachronistically named Silicon Valley. I also have a backlog of interviews and coverage to plow through that I collected before the recent double-banger event, including interviews with execs from Suniva and Skypoint Solar, as well as a report about my recent visit to Cymer's extreme-UV lithography source project.

Local media reports Hynix in talks with solar companies about Eugene, OR, fab

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:41:12 GMT

The impending closure of Hynix Semiconductor's Eugene, OR, 200-mm fab and resultant layoff of more than 1400 employees and contract workers announced last Thursday has sent shockwaves through the community--but the story may end up having a silver lining, or at least a sunny outcome. The local Register-Guard newspaper ran an extensive feature in Friday's edition, with the headline "Hynix, solar company talk: State, local officials report negotiations but say it's not sure thing."

XeroCoat’s antireflective material might add zeros to the bottom line, megawatts to the power line

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:43:20 GMT

Anyone who's been driving yield enhancement in a chip fab, conversion efficiencies in solar cells and modules or productivity improvements in either sector knows that a few percent here, a few percent there can add up to millions of dollars in savings or improved bottom-line margins.