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Veeco to Sell Metrology Business and Gets Massive MOCVD Order from China for LED Production
CompoundSemi News Staff

August 16, 2010...Veeco of Plainview, New York USA, has agreed to sell its Metrology business to Bruker Corporation, a provider of scientific instruments for molecular and materials research for $229 million in cash. The transaction has been approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to close in Q4 of 2010, pending regulatory review and subject to customary closing conditions. John R. Peeler, Veeco's CEO indicated that the company plans to focus on its LED & Solar and Data Storage Process Equipment businesses.

The sale will transfer ownership of Veeco's Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) business in Santa Barbara, CA and its Optical Industrial Metrology (OIM) business in Tucson, AZ, as well as Veeco's associated global AFM/OIM field sales and support organization. Bruker intends to combine Veeco Metrology with its global Bruker Nano instruments business, which currently sells systems and analytical solutions for materials and nanotechnology research.

Veeco also reports that Elec-Tech International, a Shenzhen electronics company, selected its TurboDisc K465i Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) systems for two new LED factories in Wuhu and Yangzhou, China. In August Veeco booked the initial systems from a large multi-tool order from Elec-Tech's LED subsidiary, Elec-Tech Optoelectronic Technology (Wuhu). In a cooperative agreement Elec-Tech and South Korean firm EpiValley plan to jointly develop the Chinese LED market. Elec-Tech indicated that it will purchase 130 MOCVD systems with the vast majority coming from Veeco. Elec-Tech noted that most of its LED production would go towards the BLU market.

August 16, 2010...Crystal IS, Inc., of Green Island, New York USA, a developer of UV-C LEDs has signed a joint development agreement with Asahi Kasei Corp., to create a manufacturing process for larger diameter aluminum nitride (AlN) substrates. The substrates will reportedly be based upon Crystal IS technology.

“Aluminum nitride substrates are a critical component in the fabrication of UVC LEDs for energy efficient water and air sterilization applications,” said Dr. Steven Berger CEO of Crystal IS. “Building on our intellectual property to develop manufacturable large diameter substrates is an important step towards high-volume production and long term growth.” Crystal IS notes that the development will take place at its facility in Green Island, NY. Crystal IS says that the program will run in parallel with its UVC LED activities.

“After a comprehensive study, we found Crystal IS wafer technology the most advanced and suitable for commercialization,” said Masafumi Nakao, who heads Asahi Kasei’s development of new business in compound semiconductors. “To reinforce our commitment to Crystal IS and the technology, we are happy to make a $2 million investment in the company as we assess the long-term market potential of these substrates for LEDs and a number of other high-power applications.”

AQT to Bring CIGS Solar Production Facility Online
CompoundSemi News Staff

August 16, 2010...Applied Quantum Technologies (AQT) announced that it plans to bring its CIGS solar production facility online this month. The company is going ahead with the new facility despite hard times in the solar industry. The facility will be located in aptly named Sunnyvale, California. AQT got the money for the new facility from its recent $10 million funding round. AQT indicated that it would begin fulfilling the $30 million in orders in its order pipeline.

Other companies such as Miasole, Nanosolar, and Solyndra already occupy the copper indium gallium diselenide market that began to grow just as prices for silicon, the main material in CIGS solar's chief thin-film rival, amorphous silicon, rose to precarious heights.

AQT revealed that it will be using the same equipment used to make computer hard drives to make small CIGS solar cell in sizes and with structures similar to crystalline silicon. According to AQT, this will allow it to sell its cells to solar module makers who are already equipped with crystalline silicon machinery. AQT says that this lowers costs overall.

New EU Project to Cut Power Consumption of Telecoms Networks
CompoundSemi News Staff

August 9, 2010...A consortium spanning Europe hopes to significantly reduce the power consumption of telecommunications and data networks. Five partner organizations have co joined the BIANCHO project (BIsmide And Nitride Components for High temperature Operation), a three year research and development initiative with funding of €2.190 m through the EU Framework 7 program. The project's goal is to develop new semiconductor materials to allow lasers and other photonic components to become more energy efficient and also more tolerant of high operating temperatures. These telecommunications and data networks are estimated to consume up to 3 percent of European electricity.

Intrinsic losses from components turns to heat. Heat requires power hungry cooling. This happens due to a process known as Auger recombination, and it is a consequence of the band structure of the semiconductor materials used in making components such as semiconductor lasers and optical amplifiers. BIANCHO proposes to eliminate Auger recombination by making components with novel dilute bismide and dilute nitride alloys of Gallium Arsenide and Indium Phosphide.

The project will be coordinated by the Tyndall National Institute (Ireland), internationally recognised for its strength in semiconductor band structure modelling. The other academic partners are Philipps Universitaet Marburg (Germany) focussing on material growth and characterisation; Semiconductor Research Institute (Lithuania) responsible for the design, manufacture and characterisation of bismide-based epitaxial structures; the University of Surrey (UK) who contribute unique characterisation facilities and modelling expertise. CIP Technologies will be in charge of the commercialization.

Honda Soltec Residential CIGS Modules Reach 11.6 Percent Efficiency
CompoundSemi News Staff

August 9, 2010...Honda Soltec Co., Ltd., Honda's wholly-owned solar cell subsidiary added to its lineup of home-use solar cell modules. The company began sales of two new residential-use solar cell modules with maximum output of 130W and 120W respectively. It also began selling a power conditioner with rated output of 5.5kW.

The company says it has advanced its solar cell production technology to improve the quality of the electricity-generating layer. As a result, the company boasts that its new copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS)-based residential-use solar cell module with maximum output of 130W achieves solar energy conversion efficiency of 11.6 percent. According to Honda Soltec, this is the highest among the CIGS-based solar cells being sold in Japan.

The company began production and sales of solar cell modules for residential use in 2007 and for public/industrial use in 2008. Before the new additions, Honda Soltec's product lineup included two types of residential-use solar cell modules with maximum output of 125W and 115W respectively - and one type of power conditioner with a rated output of 4.0kW. The company says it will continue sales of these products along with the new products introduced today. So far the residential use solar modules have not caught on. They have been installed in 2,250 homes through builders and contractors.

Aixtron Financial Performance Jumps in H1 2010
CompoundSemi News Staff

August 9, 2010...MOCVD equipment maker Aixtron posted a very strong performance for the first half of 2010. The net income jumped a massive 742 percent compared to the same period of 2009. The H1/2010 operating result increased year on year by 769 percent to EUR 106.9 Million. The company cited high ongoing system demand, mainly from high brightness LED backlighting and lighting applications. A stronger U.S. dollar also positively influenced the results. The net income improved by 33 percent over Q1/2010 from EUR 31.8m to EUR 42.3m or 22 percent of sales.

Paul Hyland, president and CEO at Aixtron, commented, "It seems clear to me that a combination of the positive volume and performance effect the backlighting applications have had on LED industry yields and efficiencies and the sustained government subsidies we are now seeing, are creating tangible momentum in the development of Solid State Lighting applications. This is an early and very encouraging development."

Hyland added, "The macro perspective is that the industry is clearly moving from a technical niche market to a more sustainable and larger commodity market, and this development is already having a corresponding effect on the expectations of customers who are demanding, better performing products with better cost of ownership, which in turn is driving shorter product cycles and for us; increased R&D investments." Anticipating continuing robust demand for its systems the Executive Board reportedly raised the expected results for the full year 2010 to 750 Million in revenue.

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