Sharp Poised to Regain Top Place in Solar Cell Output
Jiji Press Ticker Service, 3/14/2008

Sharp Corp. will regain the top spot in global solar cell production by 2010, President Mikio Katayama told Jiji Press in a recent interview. The company's solar cell output capacity will sharply increase after a new thin-film solar cell plant begins operations in fiscal 2010. More

Signet Solar Appoints Jan Lobbezoo to Board of Directors
Business Wire, 3/11/2008

Signet Solar, a manufacturer of silicon thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules, announced the appointment of Jan Lobbezoo to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. The addition of his expertise to the Board of Directors will help the company make renewable solar energy affordable and available on a global scale. More

Kyosemi Uses Ball Diodes in PV Modules
Kenji Tsuda, Asia Contributing Editor — Semiconductor International, 3/10/2008

At the Second International Photovoltaic Power Generation Expo in Tokyo, Kyosemi Corp. (Kyoto, Japan) demonstrated a transparent photovoltaic (PV) cell made of an array of hundreds of small ball p-type/intrinsic/n-type (PIN) diodes. More

Trina Solar to Purchase Solar Capital Equipment From GT Solar
Datamonitor NewsWire, 3/10/2008

An agreement was signed by Trina Solar Lianyungang, a subsidiary of Trina Solar, at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference. Senior government officials from both the U.S. State Department and China's National Development Reform Commission attended this conference and expressed strong support for greater cooperation between companies of both countries. More

$1.9B Solar Deal Shows Applied is Heating Up
James Detar — Investor's Business Daily, 3/5/2008

Applied Materials continues to make hay while the sun shines. The world's biggest maker of gear used to manufacture chips and flat panel displays announced it inked a contract valued at $1.9B to sell gear to a company that manufactures solar panels. More

California Leads Investment Race for Clean Tech
Bob Keefe, Cox Washington Bureau — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/4/2008

Cities across the nation are trying hard to become the next Silicon Valley for environmentally sensitive "clean" technology. But most of the seed money for the next big thing in high tech is still going where most venture capital funding has historically gone — to Silicon Valley. More

Hyundai Heavy to Set Up Polysilicon Joint Venture
Asia Pulse, 3/6/2008

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. said it plans to spend 41.7 billion won (US$43.9M) in cash to set up a polysilicon-producing joint venture with KCC Corp., a South Korean chemicals producer. More

Materials for Thin-Film, Organic PV $3.8B by 2015
Staff — Semiconductor International, 2/26/2008

Materials used in thin-film and organic photovoltaics (PV) will reach $3.8B by 2015, according to a new study by NanoMarkets, an industry analyst firm based in Glen Allen, Va. The PV market is becoming a source of opportunity for both traditional electronic chemicals suppliers and innovative materials firms. In addition, innovations at the material level will have a profound impact on the future of PV as a whole. More

IMEC Touts Record GaAs Solar Cells Conversion Efficiency
Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor — Electronic News, 2/25/2008

IMEC announced that it has achieved a conversion efficiency of 24.7% for a single-junction GaAs solar cell on a germanium substrate, which has been measured and confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The cell was made under the ESA-IMAGER project, with materials technology group Umicore producing the germanium substrate through an optimized manufacturing technology, aimed at improving the intrinsic germanium crystal quality, IMEC noted. More

KLA-Tencor Makes a Bid for ICOS Vision Systems
David Lammers, News Editor — Semiconductor International, 2/21/2008

KLA-Tencor (San Jose) said that it will make a friendly tender to acquire ICOS Vision Systems Corp. NV (Leuven, Belgium) in a cash transaction valued at $465.8M. ICOS provides packaging and interconnect inspection solutions for the semiconductor industry, and has "a market leadership position" in the inspection of photovoltaic solar technologies and LED products, the companies said in a joint announcement. More

Photovoltaics Ready for Next Big Market
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor — Semiconductor International, 2/20/2008

With photovoltaic (PV) technology rapidly approaching grid parity — some predict in two years — this old/new technology finally seems prepared to take center stage as one of the more important renewable energy sources. Grid parity is achieved when it is possible to buy and install a PV system and, over its life, the cost of the electricity generated is no greater than if it had been bought from conventional sources, such as a utility. More

TEL, Sharp Form Thin-Film PV Joint Venture
Staff — Semiconductor International, 2/18/2008

Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL, Tokyo) announced that it has formed a joint venture with Sharp Corp. (Osaka, Japan) to develop plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) systems for producing thin-film silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells. More