Evident Technologies has announced the issuance of US Patent No. 7,482,059 covering the ability to synthesize a quantum dot with a metal layer which dramatically enhances the brightness and stability of a semiconductor nanocrystal complex. This advance of semiconductor materials science relies on a relatively low-cost colloidal formation processing, instead of needing epitaxial lattice-matching or […]
CaliSolar is ramping production of upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon (UMG-Si) solar cells and has selected Eyelit’s manufacturing software suite to support its new fab next to its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. CaliSolar is a private company claiming 15% conversion efficiency from cell made using 100% UMG-Si feedstock that undergoes purification at both the ingot and wafer […]
The SEMI PV Group today announced the release of its Global Photovoltaic (PV) Standards Roadmap Guidance Document, which identifies immediate opportunities for reducing cost and accelerating innovation in thin-film and crystalline silicon cell and module manufacturing through industry standards. This new roadmap confirms that major manufacturing cost savings are possible through standardizing wafer carriers and […]
Veeco has exited betas with a new Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) named Dimension® Icon™ that provides small-sample resolution for large-samples. Building upon the successful Dimension AFM platform, the latest member of the product line delivers the highest resolution, best ease-of-use, and fastest time-to-results of any large-sample AFM on the market today. “With the Icon AFM, […]
The first customer for an Applied Materials (AMAT) turnkey SunFab thin-film PV fab—Moser Baer in Greater Noida, India—announced today that the 40 MW capacity line has passed final acceptance test (FAT) certification after having met all manufacturing, module efficiency, and yield specifications. PV modules from the line have been certified by the International Electrotechnical Commission […]
Just over five years ago, I was one of the steering committee members of the MIT • Stanford • UC Berkeley Nanotechnology Forum, and had the pleasure of meeting new U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu when he was one of the presenters at our first event, “Nanotech beyond the hype,” held May 29, 2003 at […]
As SEMI’s SMC today, Raymond Roberge, SVP and CTO of Praxair Electronics, proposed a pragmatic new collaboration model for electronic materials R&D. Semiconductor fab process materials TAM for 2008 was ~$10B, yet materials suppliers now question their ongoing profitability. “Certainly the 300mm shift has resulted in productivity advances for IDMs at the expense of materials […]
Rudolph Technologies today announces Discover Solar™—the first fab management software tool designed specifically to help photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers increase cell efficiency and reduce costs. Discover Solar accepts all available data from each step in the solar manufacturing process, and then applies statistical process control (SPC) algorithms to generate automated reports. A company spokesperson confirmed that […]
SolFocus, the Mountain View, California developer of Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) systems, today announced that it has raised $47.5 million in the first close of its Series C financing and appointed Mark Crowley chief executive officer. Crowley, who was named president of SolFocus in August 2008, will assume the role of CEO, while previous CEO and […]
This is the first example of a posting to BetaSights new BetaBlog. New posts will appear most working days, so bookmark this site and check back regularly. BetaSights was founded in the fall of 2008 by industry veterans Ed Korczynski and Elizabeth Schumann, to provide commercial free, member supported, productive info about fab beta sites. […]