Most Viewed Articles for the Week of July 14, 2008

With SEMICON West going on this week, the news hose was on full blast, making this week’s Top 5 the cream of the crop. SOI, flip-chip packaging, 450 mm wafers, ITRS updates and 3-D integration all made the grade. Its Top 5 status validated the title of one item: “Why 3-D TSV Is Hotter Than Hot.” Find out why. More

SEMICON West '08: South Hall Exodus
Aaron Hand, Executive Editor, Electronic Media — Semiconductor International, 7/17/2008

As expected, Moscone West was hopping this year at SEMICON West, with the solar pull just being too strong for most to resist. The South Hall quieted down by the second day, and everyone was off to Intersolar to see what all the fuss is about. Much of it was about Applied Materials. Blog

What's Your Solar Story?
Aaron Hand, Executive Editor, Electronic Media — Semiconductor International, 7/17/2008

Officially, SEMICON West has more than 250 exhibitors that have offerings for both the photovoltaics and the semiconductor markets. But it seems that nearly every exhibitor has some sort of solar story to tell. More

Thin-Film Photovoltaics Capture More of the Spectrum
Aaron Hand, Executive Editor, Electronic Media — Semiconductor International, 7/1/2008

Although thin-film silicon solar cells do not have conversion efficiencies as high as most competing technologies, they offer compelling capabilities in terms of cost per kilowatt hour of energy. Thin-film technology, along with semiconductor and flat panel know-how, will help the solar industry reach the coveted grid parity. More

Advanced TCAD Simulation Helps Optimize Solar Cell Efficiency
Ricardo Borges, Sudarshan Krishnamoorthy, Gergo Létay and Christoph Zechner, Synopsys Inc., Mountain View, Calif. — Semiconductor International, 7/1/2008

Regardless of the photovoltaic technology being pursued, the push to higher efficiencies has led to the use of new materials and structural concepts. Simulation enables the exploration and optimization of a wide range of variables. More

Lasers Enable High-Efficiency Processing to Support Solar Roadmap
Finlay Colville, Corey Dunsky and Jim Hopkins, Coherent Inc., Santa Clara, Calif. — Semiconductor International, 7/1/2008

The fast-growing photovoltaics industry is demanding a host of solutions from equipment suppliers, including improvements in throughput, yield and cost of ownership. Laser applications are playing an increasing role in these efforts. More

Leveraging MEMS for Next-Generation Photovoltaic Applications
Paul Lindner, Executive Technology Director, EV Group, St. Florian/Inn, Austria — Semiconductor International, 7/1/2008

Cross-industry innovation involves creative imitation in the course of a radical innovation process. This article discusses a successful application of technology from the MEMS industry to the photovoltaics industry. More

High Tech U Shoots for the Sun
Gary Summers, Contributing Editor, SEMI, San Jose — Semiconductor International, 7/15/2008

Over the past decade, the worldwide photovoltaics market has experienced explosive growth, and is forecast to continue robustly growing for years to come. Not surprisingly, a growing number of SEMI member companies are beginning to innovate and adapt their technologies to capitalize on this growing market opportunity. Some companies are even partnering with higher learning institutions to help prepare college and university students for jobs in the booming solar manufacturing industry. More

No Question of Solar Momentum in U.S.
Rhone Resch, President, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), Washington, D.C. — Semiconductor International, 7/1/2008

The U.S. solar energy industry, through a favorable mix of government incentives, corporate adoption and popularity with the public, has grown exponentially over the past few years. New solar installations nationwide increased by more than 40% from 2006 to 2007, resulting in 6000 new U.S. jobs. More

Surface Profiler Tackles Solar Market
Aaron Hand, Executive Editor, Electronic Media — Semiconductor International, 7/16/2008

KLA-Tencor's latest stylus surface profiling system, unveiled this week at Intersolar North America, offers advanced features for scientific research and production environments, such as solar cell manufacturing. More

IMEC Aims for Less Solar Silicon
Aaron Hand, Executive Editor, Electronic Media — Semiconductor International, 7/16/2008

IMEC (Leuven, Belgium) is developing a way to make solar cells more cost-effective, producing ~50-µm-thin crystalline silicon wafers using tools already available in the industry. More

Nitride Quantum Dots Hold Promise for Solar Cells
Space Daily, 7/14/2008

Magnolia Optical Technologies announced that it is collaborating with Kopin Corp. to develop InN-based quantum dot solar cells for NASA and Defense applications. More

Dainippon Screen to Produce Solar Equipment
Asia Pulse, 7/14/2008

The Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co. plans to enter the market for solar panel manufacturing equipment by converting and then selling devices used in the production of LCD panels. More

'Kerf-Free' Wafering Reduces Amount of Polysilicon for PV Apps
Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor — Electronic News, 7/11/2008

Using in-house technology and expertise, Silicon Genesis' PolyMax equipment is meant to eliminate sawing losses to significantly reduce the amount of polysilicon used within the ingot to wafer manufacturing steps and eliminate some of the costly consumables in wafer manufacturing. More

Intel Makes Another Solar Move With $38M Investment in Sulfurcell
Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor — Electronic News, 7/9/2008

The chip giant is investing $37.7M in Munich, Germany-based Sulfurcell, which will use the investment to expand production with a new plant in Berlin. More

LG Completes Construction of South Korea's Biggest Solar Plant
Asia Pulse, 7/7/2008

The LG Group said it has completed the construction of the nation's biggest solar panel plant, as part of the group's strategy to make inroads into the alternative energy market. More

Solar Rebates Target Corporations
Laura Peters, Editor-in-Chief — Semiconductor International, 7/1/2008

Leave it to a company like Wal-Mart to swing an investment deal that the everyday Joe cannot ever dream of. Well, OK, it's not just Wal-Mart but also Whole Foods and many other corporations in the United States, which are getting solar electricity on their rooftops without paying the large upfront installation costs that the average consumer must pay. More

Applied Defends SunFab Technology Against Sunfilm Claim
Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor — Electronic News, 6/24/2008

Following a patent infringement lawsuit filed against its German customer Sunfilm, Applied Materials Inc. said that it believes its SunFab thin-film solar tandem junction technology does not infringe the European patent at issue in the Sunfilm lawsuit. More

Silicon Valley PV Development Center Launches
David Lammers, News Editor — Semiconductor International, 6/25/2008

SVTC Technologies has set up the Silicon Valley Photovoltaic Development Center in San Jose, with Roth & Rau AG and JA Solar Co. as initial partners. Kurt Laetz, SVTC Solar program manager, said, "The vision is for us to be a place where customers can come and have the entire suite of support services for their development efforts." More

Solar Cell, Semi Industry Investments Equal by 2010, iSuppli Reports
Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor — Electronic News, 6/23/2008

The market research company expects global production of PV cells to rise to as much as 12 GW by 2010, up from 3.5 GW in 2007. More