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IBM announced plans on Thursday to invest $1 billion in flash memory research and development and launch a series of systems that will use solid state drives.

solid state drives and flash memory IBM

At an event in New York, IBM’s Steve Mills, head of IBM’s software and systems division, said Flash is at a key tipping point and IT will see all-solid state data centers sooner than later. 

Corporate servers have struggled to keep up with the substantial growth in data use from smartphones and tablets. IBM believes there is a solution in flash memory, which is faster, more reliable, and uses less power than a traditional hard disk drive. The $1 billion investment will be put to use in research and development to design, create and integrate new flash-based products in its expanding portfolio of servers, storage systems and middleware.

"The economics and performance of flash are at a point where the technology can have a revolutionary impact on enterprises, especially for transaction-intensive applications," said Ambuj Goyal, IBM’s general manager of systems storage. "The confluence of Big Data, social, mobile and cloud technologies is creating an environment in the enterprise that demands faster, more efficient, access to business insights, and flash can provide that access quickly."

IBM also announced the availability of the FlashSystem line of all-flash storage appliances. Sprint Nextel will be installing nine of these storage systems at its data center, becoming one of the first companies to adopt IBM’s flash-based model.

As part of its commitment to flash development, IBM said it plans to open 12 Centers of Competency around the globe, which will allow customers to run proof-of-concept scenarios with real-world data to measure the projected performance gains that can be achieved with IBM flash products.

"Clients will see first-hand how IBM flash solutions can provide real-time decision support for operational information, and help improve the performance of mission-critical workloads, such as credit card processing, stock exchange transactions, manufacturing and order processing systems," IBM said in a news release.

Once a white-hot PC product that sold in the tens of millions of units annually, netbook computers are now marking their final days, with the rise of tablets causing their shipments to wind down to virtually zero after next year, according to an IHS iSuppli Compute Electronics Market Tracker Report from information and analytics provider IHS.

Shipments of netbooks this year are forecast to amount to just 3.97 million units, a plunge off the cliff of 72 percent from 14.13 million units in 2012. The market for the small, inexpensive laptops had steadily climbed for three years from the time the devices were first introduced in 2007, peaking in 2010 when shipments hit a high of 32.14 million units. Since then, however, the netbook space has imploded and gone into decline—fast.

Next year will be the last hurrah for netbooks on the market, with shipments amounting to a mere 264,000 units. By 2015, netbook shipments will be down to zero, as shown in the attached figure.

“Netbooks shot to popularity immediately after launch because they were optimized for low cost, delivering what many consumers believed as acceptable computer performance,” said Craig Stice, senior principal analyst for compute platforms at IHS. “Initially intended for light productivity tasks such as web browsing and email, netbooks eventually became more powerful, taking advantage of a mature PC technology that allowed cost-effective implementation of various functionalities. And though never equaling the performance of full-fledged notebooks and lacking full laptop features like an optical drive, netbooks at one point began taking market share away from their more powerful cousins. However, netbooks began their descent to oblivion with the introduction in 2010 of Apple’s iPad.”

The following year, netbook shipments dived 34 percent on what would become a trend of irreversible decline.

“The iPad and other tablets came in a new form factor that excited consumers while also offering improved computing capabilities, leading to a massive loss of interest in netbooks,” Stice said.

At the other end of the spectrum, high-end laptops were also making their appearance. Although much more costly than netbooks, they offered premium performance. Squeezed in between, netbooks could only pass off pricing as their strong point, losing out in other benchmarks that consumers deemed important, including computing power, ease of use such as touch-screen capability, and overall appeal.

From the supply end of production, the major original equipment manufacturers of notebooks will have already terminated netbook production at this point. Whatever production is left is expected to be limited, or manufacturers will simply be shipping last-time builds to satisfy contractual obligations to customers.

Mobile PCs also get hit by media tablets

Mobile PCs retained the largest share of the overall PC market in the fourth quarter last year—the latest time for which full figures are available—compared to desktop PCs and entry-level servers. Mobile PCs had about 63 percent share, compared to 34 percent for desktops and 3 percent for entry-level servers.

Nonetheless, mobile PCs continued to be sideswiped by the ongoing popularity of tablets, and new Ultrabooks and similar ultrathin PCs have yet to take off to the extent hoped for by manufacturers.

Among the computer brands, Hewlett-Packard was No. 1 during the fourth quarter with a nearly 18 percent  share of total PC shipments. China’s Lenovo was second, followed by Dell in third place, Acer in fourth, and Asus—which introduced the first netbook in 2007—in fifth.

Landing in sixth place was Toshiba, which climbed one spot from the third quarter, sending Apple one rung down to seventh. Apple struggled during the last quarter of 2012 because of constraints related to panel supply for the company’s new iMac desktop system, which kept Apple PC shipments down.

In eighth place was Samsung, trailing Apple by a tenth of a percentage point, followed by Sony and Fujitsu rounding out the Top 10.

Imagine if you could track and trace connected goods, assets and people in real-time, anywhere, at any time with high accuracy. BlinkSight and imec recently made this future a reality, with the launch of the first ever single-chip indoor GPS solution.

BlinkSight, a fabless semiconductor company in real-time location systems (RTLS), released the first single-chip “indoor GPS” solution for RTLS and wireless sensor network (WSN) applications. Based on ultra-low power impulse radio technology by imec and Holst Centre, the new chip delivers real-time information to track and trace people and objects in indoor environments. Its unique combination of high accuracy, long range and low power consumption is ideal for both business and consumer applications.

“The real-time location business is emerging and the global market for connected devices is growing at tremendous speed,” said BlinkSight CMO Guus Frericks. “Adding highly accurate indoor capabilities to connected devices such as smartphones paves the way for a broad range of game changing consumer applications across ‘Internet of Things’ segments like smart homes, offices and retail.”

BlinkSight’s innovative system solution uses the ultra-low power “impulse-radio” (IR) developed by imec and Holst Centre which enables real-time 3D location information that is accurate to within 10cm. The device combines digital processing elements and sophisticated analog radio functionality in a single chip, enabling superior performance at a low cost of ownership. It can operate in both the 3.1-4.8GHz and 6-10GHz bands for use around the world and seamless co-existence with other wireless technologies.

Moreover, with an operating voltage range of 1.5 to 3.6V, the new device is ideal for battery-powered applications. Together with its small form factor and low power consumption, this makes it suitable for integration into tags, wireless sensors, base stations and mobile devices. A base station equipped with BlinkSight’s technology could track and trace thousands of fast moving tags in real time. In addition the tags are interactive and capable of sending dynamic data (e.g. temperature).

“Our solution is easy to install and thanks to the collaboration with imec we’ve been able to bring a working solution to market very fast,” said BlinkSight CEO and founder Stéphane Mutz. “A lot of effort went into minimizing power consumption, and we expect to have tags powered by energy harvesting available soon. We aim to bring a complete turnkey system to market and want to work with industry leaders to bring accurate indoor GPS capabilities to connected devices.”

“Imec was a pioneer of impulse radio and the first to demonstrate an integrated impulse radio prototype. We are thrilled that BlinkSight is now successfully bringing the technology to market.” said Harmke de Groot, Program Director Ultra-Low Power Wireless and DSP at Holst Centre/imec.

Fabricated in standard 90nm RF-CMOS, the chip is manufactured at TSMC in Taiwan. The chip features a single chip impulse radio transceiver, which is optimized for indoor GPS applications; standard 90nm RF-CMOS technology; single 1.5 to 3.6V power supply; embedded software programmable ultra-low power 128-bit vector DSP; a range greater than 60m line of sight and greater than 20m no line of sight; 3D positioning accuracy better than 10cm; and over five years operation from a standard coin battery.

BlinkSight is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in the design of integrated circuits and turnkey solutions for Real Time Location Systems. Founded in 2011, this privately held company is based in Caen, France and has offices in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Cambrios Technologies Corporation, a developer of nanowire-based solutions for the transparent and flexible conductor markets, today announced the establishment of its branch office in Tokyo, Japan, and the appointment of Takashi Murayama as Country Manager for Japan.

"We are seeing growth opportunities in Japan and are already shipping from our ClearOhmTM product line," said John LeMoncheck, Cambrios’ president and CEO. "Our newly created Japan office will support customers using our cost efficient transparent conductors in applications such as All-In-One computers and other touch screen enabled devices."

To oversee sales and distribution of Cambrios’ products in Japan, the company has named Takashi Murayama as its Country Manager. Prior to joining Cambrios, Murayama worked as country manager for various leading companies in the microprocessor, communications and nanotechnology industries, including Transmeta, Conexant Systems, Beceem Communications and Unidym. He also spent 19 years in sales and marketing management roles with Intel Japan. Murayama holds a Bachelors of Science degree in electrical engineering from Kagoshima University in Kagoshima, Japan.

Cambrios is known for its first product, its ClearOhm coating material, which produces a transparent, conductive film by wet processing with significantly higher optical and electrical performance than currently used materials such as indium tin oxide. Applications of ClearOhm coating material include transparent electrodes for touch screens, EMI shielding, OLED displays, e-paper, OLED lighting and thin film photovoltaics.

Several years ago when the challenges to 450mm wafer processing, EUV development and novel transistor designs were first being discussed, SEMI commissioned a study that predicted the industry could face an R&D funding gap that could exceed $9 billion if current technology and economic trends continue. At the time, SEMI issued a statement saying the industry was at a “crossroads” and “without significant attention to the R&D gap, the semiconductor equipment and materials industry will not be able to afford to keep up with Moore’s Law.”

technology forum

Much has happened since that report was issued: 450mm development was delayed, but now is ramping at G450C; Intel, Samsung and TSMC have invested over one billion dollars in ASML; cost targets have been missed at 28nm; and 3D-ICs have emerged as an alternative development path for leading-edge chip solutions.  But the R&D challenges remain.   The industry has responded in unexpected and unique ways, including new funding models, new consortia programs, increasing joint development agreements, and other mechanisms.  How R&D processes and strategies have evolved, and will probably continue to evolve, will be the subject of several programs at SEMICON West.

The most significant trend in R&D in the industry, and increasingly important to the supply chain, is the growth and changing role of R&D consortia.  Not long ago, the top research organizations served the advanced research needs of IDMs.  Today, equipment and material suppliers, EDA software providers, fabless chip companies, and other diverse organizations participate in consortia initiatives.  In the near future, there may be increasing involvement from system companies like Apple, Cisco, and Google.  Along with changes in participation, the types of research conducted by consortia have also evolved, many directly involving component and subsystem suppliers. Today, there are consortia that specialize in key areas like wafer size transition and lithography, but also many of their programs seem to overlap, potentially creating inefficiencies and redundancies in R&D efforts that consortia were supposed to eliminate.

Many of these issues will be discussed in a special executive panel on semiconductor R&D at SEMICON West.  On Wednesday, July 10, I will be joined on stage by Daniel Armbrust, president and CEO of SEMATECH; Michael Liehr, executive VP at CNSE; Dr. Laurent Malier, CEO of CEA-Leti; and Dr. Luc Van den hove, president and CEO of imec to discuss the critical trends and developments in R&D and how they will affect SEMI members.  We will discuss the important role of consortia and what’s new at their organizations, but also share our perspectives on the changing role of the R&D engineer and scientist in the industry today.  Increasingly, R&D is becoming more about managing complex multi-organization processes and innovation platforms than it is about pure research looking for the next “ah-ha” discovery.

Another critical R&D issue is the changing innovation pipeline delivered by technology start-ups.  In the past, the industry enjoyed a healthy ecosystem of emerging companies funded by venture capital that were ripe candidates for merger and acquisition.  Today, VC venture funding in the semiconductor industry is down nearly 50 percent from 2009 levels.  To help address this problem, SEMICON West will feature the first Silicon Innovation Forum (SIF) focused on new and emerging companies in the industry.  Organized by Applied Ventures, Dow Chemical Company, Intel Capital, Micron Ventures, TEL Venture Capital, and Samsung Ventures, SIF is designed to bridge funding gaps for new and early-stage companies by providing a platform to showcase new ideas to potential partners and investors.  SIF will consist of an open conference program on July 9 which is free to all SEMICON West attendees, followed by a reception and showcase for qualified investors.

The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) has been a critical component in the R&D planning process and SEMICON West will again feature presentations and discussions on the latest version.  The ITRS is undergoing a major change this year to reflect the market evolution towards highly-flexible mobile devices. Presentations include topics on system drivers, design, modeling and simulation, process integration, devices, and structures (PIDS), lithography, front-end processes (FEP), and emerging research devices (ERD). Back-end-of-line working groups will present challenges for future interconnects — such as through silicon vias (TSVs); the latest roadmaps for semiconductor assembly; systems packaging applications, “More than Moore,” and the testing considerations for these quickly changing technologies.  They will also discuss roadmap developments in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and radio frequency and analog/mixed-signal technologies (RFAMS).  Look for these report-out sessions on the SEMICON West TechXpots on Thursday, July 11.

Other critical R&D topics that will be discussed at the SEMICON TechXPOT sessions are the latest developments in  lithography, processing requirements for non-planar transistors, 450mm wafer processing, advanced materials, and nano-defect metrology.  Unlike a conference with a variety of academic and special-interest topics, the SEMICON TechXPOT sessions quickly and succinctly provide the latest news and status from leading experts in the field, including “in the know” executives from organizations like ASML, Intel, GF, SEMATECH, G450C, ASE, ST Microelectronics and many more. In addition to their public presentations, TechXPOT speakers often make themselves readily available, providing suppliers and other stakeholders critical information on technology requirements and opportunities.

R&D engineers and scientists remain one of the most important audiences at SEMICON West.  Through private meetings with their top customers and suppliers, and through TechXPOT and other programs that deliver the latest developments in key areas of industry development, we think SEMICON West provides the most cost-effective and time-efficient value in the industry.  I hope you can join us.

For more information on SEMICON West and to register, visit www.semiconwest.org (free registration ends on May 10)

Glass is everywhere: from MEMS, CMOS image sensors and power to memory, logic IC and microfluidics

Glass is widely used in everyday life and found in large quantities in many industries, such as flat panel display applications. Over the last few years, glass has gained considerable interest from the semiconductor industry due to its very attractive electrical, physical and chemical properties, as well as its prospects for a relevant and cost-efficient solution. The application scope of glass substrates in the semiconductor field is broad and highly diversified.

The demand for glass is growing, and glass has already been adapted for various and unique wafer-processing functionalities and platforms supporting a wide range of end-applications. For example, WLCapping is driven mainly by MEMS and CMOS image sensors. In the coming years, the availability of other glass functionalities such as 3D TGV/2.5 D interposer in conjunction with end-applications like memory and logic IC will be the driving force for growth, creating new challenges and new technical developments along the way.

Mainly driven by the wafer-level packaging industry, the glass wafer market is expected to grow from $158 million in 2012 to $1.3B by 2018, at a CAGR of ~41 percent over the next five years

“Initially driven by CMOS image sensor and MEMS applications, this growing industry will be supported by relevant end-applications such as LED, memory and logic IC, where glass is on its way to being commercialized. In terms of wafers shipped, a 4x glass wafer growth is expected in the semiconductor industry over the next five years, achieving more than 15 million 8 inch equivalent wafer starts per year by 2018,” explains Amandine Pizzagalli, market and technology analyst, Equipment & Materials Manufacturing, at Yole Développement.

Glass substrate: a key enabler of various functionalities in the semiconductor field

The glass WLCapping platform is a mature functionality already adopted with significant volume in CMOS Image Sensors, where more than 3.3 million glass caps were shipped in 2012. This market is expected to grow slowly, with a CAGR of 14 percent from 2012-2018, mainly supported by MEMS devices impacted by the request for further miniaturization. On the flip side, the glass market for WLOptics will likely decline from 2015-2018 due to the development of competing technologies.

All of this said, we expect to see strong growth in the glass market, mainly supported by two emerging WLP platforms: with a CAGR of 110 percent and 70 percent respectively, the glass-type 2.5D interposer emerging platform and the carrier wafer will be glass’s fastest-growing fields over the next five years, since glass offers the best value proposition in terms of cost, flexibility, mechanical rigidity and surface flatness.

If glass is qualified for 2.5D interposer functionality, the glass market could exceed $1B revenue by 2018. However, it’s still unclear how BEOL wafer fabs will choose glass over the current silicon technology used for logic IC applications (for the 2.5D/3D SOC and system partitioning areas), but the glass variety of 2.5D interposer substrates is expected to significantly impact future glass wafer demand, and it’s obvious that the 2.5D glass interposer will attract many newcomers.

The use of glass interposers in packaging will certainly be on the HVM roadmap within a few years.

glass wafer market

Glass substrate: The top five players hold almost 80 percent of the market

In the semiconductor industry, the glass substrate market is split amongst five main suppliers. Schott (G), Tecnisco (JP), PlanOptik (G), Bullen (US) and Corning (US) will share more than 70 percent $158M glass substrate market this year, driven mainly by demand for WLCapping.

In the midst of this growing market, semiconductor glass suppliers are trying to differentiate themselves by proposing a variety of glass substrate material properties with a good CTE, solid thermal properties and no polishing/grinding steps required, which would result in reduced costs.

Many glass substrate suppliers such as AGC, Corning and HOYA are expected to increase their business in the next few years since they are quite aggressive in 2.5D interposers and glass carrier wafers, and are expected to ramp-up into high volume production. Since the big players are already deeply entrenched in the glass market, it will be very challenging for a new entrant to break through in the foreseeable future.

PC shipments fall, post worst quarter on recordIn another sign of the worldwide shift in preferred personal devices, PC shipments posted the steepest decline ever in a single quarter, according to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker (IDC).

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 76.3 million units in the first quarter of 2013, down -13.9 percent compared to the same quarter in 2012 and worse than the forecast decline of -7.7 percent, according to the IDC. Despite some mild improvements in the economic environment, PC shipments were down significantly across all regions compared to a year ago, marking the worst quarter reported since IDC began tracking the PC market in 1994. The results also marked the fourth consecutive quarter of year-on-year shipment declines.

The reduction in shipments isn’t entirely shocking, given the obvious cannibalization from tablets and smartphones. Smartphones shipments are expected to continue their historic rise at a rate of 24 percent CAGR from 2011 to 2016, according to Andy Oberst, Strategic Vice President of Qualcomm, and PC makers are collectively bracing for the change, as other indicators have risen throughout the past year. DRAM content growth is reported slowing, as slim notebooks have limited space for it, and tablets and smartphones have no use for it at all. Instead, its low-power variant, mobile DRAM, is seeing an increase. Additionally, the chip market outlook was downgraded in 2012, with the weak PC market mostly to blame.

"Although the reduction in shipments was not a surprise, the magnitude of the contraction is both surprising and worrisome," said David Daoud, IDC Research Director, Personal Computing. "The industry is going through a critical crossroads, and strategic choices will have to be made as to how to compete with the proliferation of alternative devices and remain relevant to the consumer. Vendors will have to revisit their organizational structures and go to market strategies, as well as their supply chain, distribution, and product portfolios in the face of shrinking demand and looming consolidation."

PC makers had pinned their hopes on the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 8 OS, which is a complete overhaul of the operating system with touch-screen capabilities. Unfortunately, these new shipment trends are indicating that the upgraded operating system has not had the desired effect on consumers.

Bob O’Donnell, IDC Program Vice President, believes it is clear that Windows 8 not only failed to provide a positive boost, but also appears to have slowed the market.

"While some consumers appreciate the new form factors and touch capabilities of Windows 8, the radical changes to the UI, removal of the familiar Start button, and the costs associated with touch have made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices,” said O’Donnell. “Microsoft will have to make some very tough decisions moving forward if it wants to help reinvigorate the PC market."

Microsoft, at least in public, does not appear to be on the verge of making tough decisions at the moment, however. A Microsoft spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that, along with their partners, they planned “to continue to bring even more innovation to market across tablets and PCs.”

Increased spending in NAND and flash by Micron, LEDs by Philips and Osram, and continued investments by GLOBALFOUNDRIES will create new opportunities for equipment and materials suppliers in Southeast Asia. These trends will be explored at the upcoming SEMICON Singapore 2013, which will take place May 7-9 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Center. With a focus on new technologies and products for advanced IC packaging, test, and fab efficiency, as well as in new application areas including LEDs and MEMS, the event capitalizes on Southeast Asia’s strong contribution to the global semiconductor market.

For the Southeast Asia region, capital equipment investment will see some pickup in the second half of 2013, followed by a strong recovery in 2014. Overall front-end fab equipment spending is expected to double next year from $810 million in 2013 to $1.62 billion in 2014. Foundry and memory are the two major sectors that invest most in the region. The GLOBALFOUNDRIES expansion plan at Fab 7 will be completed by mid-2014 while UMC continues to upgrade their Fab 12i capacity to 40nm process.

The Southeast Asia region’s capacity growth for front-end fabs shows two percent increase this year and an expectation of  higher growth, eight percent, in 2014, exceeding overall global capacity growth of five percent according to the SEMI World Fab Forecast.  The growth will mainly be driven by memory sector, specifically from NAND flash capacity as Micron gears up for further expansion at its Singapore NAND flash facility next year plus ongoing capacity conversion from DRAM to NAND flash at Fab 7 (Tech). Singapore is emerging to become the third largest NAND flash manufacturing country in the world by the end of 2014.  The conversion and the expansion projects will drive related semiconductor investment in the region in 2013 and 2014.     

For the assembly and test sector, Southeast Asia has long been the focal point of the industry with a large installed capacity from both IDMs and OSATs.  This position contributes to the region being the largest packaging materials consumption market in the world, representing a market size of $6.6 billion in 2013 and $6.8 billion in 2014. The region’s back-end equipment investment remain significant with over $1 billion spending each year throughout 2012 to 2014, accounting for about 17 percent of worldwide share according to SEMI’s WWSEMS.

Aside from manufacturing capacity, Southeast Asia region is now extending its value proposition to IC design and R&D areas with more joint development projects between multi-national corporations (MNC) and local institutes. SEMI expects to see a more robust semiconductor ecosystem arise from the region as a result of these endeavors and as companies seek ready access to customers throughout Asia-Pacific and South Asia.

Currently, Singapore has 14 wafer fabrication plants, including the world’s top three wafer foundries.  Singapore also has 20 semiconductor assembly and test operations, including three of the world’s top six outsourced assembly and test companies. There are about 40 IC design centers, which comprise nine of the world’s “top 10” fabless IC design companies.

SEMICON Singapore, in its 20th year, will feature over 40 programs and forums to highlight the industry’s major technology trends, and investment and expansion opportunities in manufacturing.  Forum themes include: Market Trends Briefing, Lithography Technology, Assembly Packaging Technology, 2.5D/3D-IC, LED Manufacturing Technology, Product Test, and MEMS.  Attendees can save up to 30 percent on programs by registering before April 15.

Other special programs include a job fair, a SEMICON University Program, and both an OEM Sourcing Program ad a Suppliers Search Program. These programs demonstrate SEMI Singapore’s commitment to connecting the global semiconductor manufacturers to Singapore-based resources and professions.

It sounds futuristic, but today Carnegie Mellon University researchers are developing edible electronic devices that can be implanted in the body to improve patient care.

"We are creating electronically active medical devices that can be implanted in the body," said Christopher Bettinger, an assistant professor in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at CMU. "The idea is for a patient to consume a pill that encapsulates the device."

Bettinger, along with Jay Whitacre, a professor of materials science and engineering, is creating edible power sources for medical devices that can be taken orally using materials found in the daily diet.

"Our design involves flexible polymer electrodes and a sodium ion electrochemical cell, which allows us to fold the mechanism into an edible pill that encapsulates the device," Bettinger said.

CMU researchers report that the edible device could be programmed and deployed in the gastrointestinal tract or the small intestine depending upon packaging. Once the battery packaging is in place, Bettinger’s team would activate the battery.

Bettinger reports that the battery could power biosensors to measure biomarkers or monitor gastric problems. The battery also could be used to stimulate damaged tissue or help in targeted drug delivery for certain types of cancer.

"There’s so much out there we can do with this novel approach to medical devices," said Bettinger, a recipient of the National Academy of Sciences Award for Initiatives in Research for his innovative work on advanced materials for next-generation implanted medical devices.  

Bettinger has worked for more than a decade at the interface of materials science and biomedical engineering. Some of his innovative technologies include new synthetic materials that mimic the natural properties of soft tissue and biodegradable electronics that could usher in a new era of electronically active implants. 

Bettinger is an assistant professor in the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon. Bettinger received an S.B. in Chemical Engineering in 2003, an M.Eng. in Biomedical Engineering in 2004, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering in 2008 as a Charles Stark Draper Fellow, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He completed his post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University in the Department of Chemical Engineering as an NIH Ruth Kirschstein Fellow in 2010. He has received many honors including the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering Award for “Outstanding PhD Thesis,” the ACS AkzoNobel Award for Polymer Chemistry, and the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society Young Investigator Award. Bettinger is also a co-inventor on several patents and was a finalist in the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.

Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 12,000 students are currently in attendance across Carnegie Mellon’s multiple campuses worldwide. Carnegie Mellon’s main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California’s Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico.

Natcore Technology Inc. announced major strides in advancing its black silicon solar cells to commercial levels of efficiency and, as part of its development process, has discovered that its technology could finally provide a low-cost selective emitter application.

Natcore’s initial black silicon solar cells, the first full-size black silicon cells produced using a low-cost, scalable manufacturing process, had efficiencies of approximately 1 percent, as compared with average efficiencies for commercial cells of approximately 17 percent.

Through refinement of its in-lab production process, and despite the lack of a key piece of equipment, Natcore’s technical staff has been able to achieve efficiencies as high as 14.7 percent.

These results have been achieved without an adequate diffusion furnace to control phosphorus diffusion into the solar cells’ silicon surfaces. Natcore has now obtained and installed a fully capable diffusion furnace, with commissioning of this crucial piece of equipment having begun the week of April 1, 2013. The company’s technical staff is confident that this diffusion furnace will allow for significant improvements in the efficiencies of its black silicon cells.

Importantly, Natcore’s staff has discovered that its proprietary liquid phase deposition (LPD) may make a low-cost selective emitter application available to the solar industry. Selective emitter technology is a long-sought enhancement to solar cells in which the regions under a cell’s front contacts are heavily doped to improve the electrical connection, while the remaining emitter surface is lightly doped to promote better efficiency.

Selective emitter applications have been proven to significantly increase solar cell efficiencies, but a low-cost, highly scalable process has remained elusive to industry. Theoretically, Natcore’s LPD process could make this achievable, and early results from experiments using the company’s newly installed diffusion furnace have been very encouraging.

Because of these positive results, Natcore is now rapidly moving to protect its selective emitter intellectual property, and is in the process of filing provisional patents.

"The solar industry has been clamoring for a selective emitter application that is cost-effective because of its demonstrated improvement to cell efficiencies," notes Natcore’s CEO, Chuck Provini. "In fact, once Dr. Daniele Margadonna joined our Science Advisory Board and learned of our plans to install a new diffusion furnace, he immediately urged us to simultaneously pursue a selective emitter approach. I’m pleased to say that we were very quickly able to demonstrate the efficacy of our technology toward this crucial and valuable application."

Natcore’s black silicon and selective emitter applications are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they are synergistic. Indeed, the envisioned production process would allow both of these important improvements to be seamlessly inserted into a solar cell manufacturing line.

"Combining Natcore’s black silicon technology with our groundbreaking selective emitter technology could raise today’s commercial solar cell efficiencies to new high levels, while still lowering the cost per watt," says Natcore’s Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Dennis Flood. "Solar cell manufacturers are aggressively seeking easy-to-implement production steps that will improve their product and profitability without having to raise their prices. Natcore’s combination of selective emitter and black silicon technologies promises to do just that."