Category Archives: LEDs

Catching up with Sumika


July 13, 2009

by Debra Vogler, senior technical editor, Photovoltaics World

July 13, 2009 — Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. and its U.S. subsidiary Sumika Electronic Materials, Inc., recently earned a supplier excellence award from one of the world’s largest microelectronics manufacturers. PV World caught up with Ken Campmann, GM of Sumika’s epi operations, before Intersolar North America, for an update on the company.

Among the products Sumika offers for the worldwide solar market are GaAs-based epitaxial wafers, materials that enable volume production of a variety of end products including high-efficiency solar cells (where the company is currently working with several development partners), as well as cell phone power amplifiers and LEDs. The intent is to use epitaxial core competencies established over the years to produce and supply GaAs- and germanium-based wafers to partners.

In 2003, Sumitomo purchased ATMI’s III-V epi division (which included Sumika) and put it together with the sales and marketing of Sumitomo Chemical’s IT-related businesses (e.g., photoresists) to form Sumika. The company recently branched out into solar applications, where it is working with a couple of different companies, Campmann told PV World. One is RSL Energy, a joint venture between Sumitomo Chemical and RoseStreet Labs formed in 2006 to develop and manufacture full spectrum solar cells. RSL Energy has patent licenses from both Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (the interband, or “I-band” solar cell technology) and Cornell University (an indium-nitride-based solar cell). Sumika is also working with other companies on a triple-junction cell grown on germanium.

I-band technology uses a single semiconductor material that absorbs at three different wavelengths, vs. traditional CPV triple-junction technology that uses three different materials that each absorb at a different wavelength to cover the solar spectrum. Having just a single junction cell is simpler for manufacturing, noted Campmann. “You don’t have to worry about losses due to tunnel junctions — so you can make a single cell that covers the entire solar spectrum,” he noted. Dilute nitrides (III-V-based, with a bit of nitrogen) are one set of materials that are being evaluated for I-band solar cells. The biggest challenge, according to Campmann, is finding a material with good optical qualities that still has the properties required for absorbing three wavelengths. — D.V.

June 28, 2009 — A team led by Yale University researchers has created the first rudimentary solid-state quantum processor, taking another step toward the ultimate dream of building a quantum computer.

They also used the two-qubit superconducting chip to successfully run elementary algorithms, such as a simple search, demonstrating quantum information processing with a solid-state device for the first time. Their findings were published June 28 in Nature‘s advanced online publication.

“Our processor can perform only a few very simple quantum tasks, which have been demonstrated before with single nuclei, atoms and photons,” said Robert Schoelkopf, the William A. Norton Professor of Applied Physics & Physics at Yale. “But this is the first time they’ve been possible in an all-electronic device that looks and feels much more like a regular microprocessor.”

Working with a group of theoretical physicists led by Steven Girvin, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics & Applied Physics, the team manufactured two artificial atoms, or qubits (“quantum bits”). While each qubit is actually made up of a billion aluminum atoms, it acts like a single atom that can occupy two different energy states. These states are akin to the “1” and “0” or “on” and “off” states of regular bits employed by conventional computers. Because of the counterintuitive laws of quantum mechanics, however, scientists can effectively place qubits in a “superposition” of multiple states at the same time, allowing for greater information storage and processing power.

For example, imagine having four phone numbers, including one for a friend, but not knowing which number belonged to that friend. You would typically have to try two to three numbers before you dialed the right one. A quantum processor, on the other hand, can find the right number in only one try.

“Instead of having to place a phone call to one number, then another number, you use quantum mechanics to speed up the process,” Schoelkopf said. “It’s like being able to place one phone call that simultaneously tests all four numbers, but only goes through to the right one.”

These sorts of computations, though simple, have not been possible using solid-state qubits until now in part because scientists could not get the qubits to last long enough. While the first qubits of a decade ago were able to maintain specific quantum states for about a nanosecond, Schoelkopf and his team are now able to maintain theirs for a microsecond—a thousand times longer, which is enough to run the simple algorithms. To perform their operations, the qubits communicate with one another using a “quantum bus”—photons that transmit information through wires connecting the qubits—previously developed by the Yale group.

The key that made the two-qubit processor possible was getting the qubits to switch “on” and “off” abruptly, so that they exchanged information quickly and only when the researchers wanted them to, said Leonardo DiCarlo, a postdoctoral associate in applied physics at Yale’s School of Engineering & Applied Science and lead author of the paper.

Next, the team will work to increase the amount of time the qubits maintain their quantum states so they can run more complex algorithms. They will also work to connect more qubits to the quantum bus. The processing power increases exponentially with each qubit added, Schoelkopf said, so the potential for more advanced quantum computing is enormous. But he cautions it will still be some time before quantum computers are being used to solve complex problems.

“We’re still far away from building a practical quantum computer, but this is a major step forward.”

by Pete Singer, editor-in-chief, Solid State Technology

June 16, 2009 – It’s increasingly clear that 2009 will be a tough year for the semiconductor industry, but if historic trends hold up we can expect to enjoy a return to double-digit growth, at least for 2010 and 2011, according to an optimistic analyst speaking at The ConFab in Las Vegas this week.

Global recessions have always led to pent-up demand for electronics, noted analyst Bill McClean of IC Insights. “There’s perfect correlation,” he said. “Every time we had a global recession, we had pent up demand, everybody cuts back, and what happens — the semiconductor market *booms*.” His take: “We’ve got strong double-digit growth coming in the next couple of years.”

The overall outlook for the year remains negative, with weakness predominant in the first half. IC Insights’ forecast for the semiconductor electronic system production is -14% for 2009 (in US $); its semiconductor market forecast is -17%.

Despite this negative growth, there has still been a strong demand for electronic systems and semiconductors, McClean noted:

“We had about a quarter billion cell phone sales logged in the first quarter of 2009. If you went by the tone of the market, you would have thought cell phone sales went to zero. They didn’t. And more of the mix was toward high-end cell phones –3G cell phones take a lot more integrated circuits. By the end of the year, you’re talking about over 300 million cell phones shipped in the fourth quarter. That’s even more than the fourth quarter of ’08.”

McClean said that even in the worst-case scenarios predicted by some analysts, underlying demand will be stronger than the present IC unit shipments. “We need to be at ’06-’07 levels at least,” he explained. “We’re at 27 billion units — we need to be at 34 billion units. That’s why you’re going to see a sequential IC unit shipment increase in the second quarter of this year probably close to 20%, at least. We have to get back to our underlying demand.” Excess inventories are no longer an issue, he said, saying the IC inventory burn is over. “We’re not going to be talking about IC inventory issues in the second half of this year,” he added.

The industry should also get a boost in the second half from a seasonal uptick, which should be an entirely different story from the first half. “A lot of people forget about seasonal weakness for electronics systems sales, whether it’s PCs, cell phones, or course consumer electronics. The second half of the year is always much stronger than the first, so we have a seasonal uptick to look forward to.”

McClean is also bullish on the overall economy. “We’ve got low oil prices, record low interest rates and $2 trillion in stimulus. This is already starting to get traction in the worldwide market. In the second half we’ve got seasonal strength for systems sales, we’ve got inventory adjustments completed and the global GDP turning positive in the second half.” — P.S.

June 11, 2009 – Media and investors are abuzz with word from top global foundry bellwether TSMC that Morris Chang has retaken the helm of the company, with goals to make a concerted push outside the semiconductor world into LEDs and solar energy.

At the company’s 2009 shareholders meeting, Chang, who also will retain his chairman title (Rick Tsai will head up TSMC’s new business development), indicated the foundry business will grow over the next decade (as much as 50% from current levels to $14B-$15B by 2018), but the better growth will come from non-foundry businesses, which are pegged to top $2B by then. With semiconductor growth slowing industrywide, “There will be many challenges in future and one of them is to create new businesses to fuel TSMC’s growth,” he said, quoted by Reuters. Tsai pointed specifically to the green/solar sector for opportunities “that will help fuel the company’s growth and profit.” Reuters also pointed out that TSMC didn’t rule out the possibility of spinning off the new units in the future.

Industry watchers offered mixed reactions to the exec shuffle. TSMC’s management has been solid enough, and Chang involved in the industry enough, that it probably won’t make a big difference, UBS semiconductor analyst Jonah Cheng, told Reuters.

Local media, though, expressed shock at the deal, given that TSMC is the lone major foundry turning a profit and its May sales continued to climb, suggesting the worst may be over. While acknowledging the need to explore non-semiconductor, higher-growth opportunities, “the reshuffle of senior executives come as a shock, as Tsai performed well,” noted Kenneth Lee, senior semiconductor analyst at Fubon Securities Investment Services Co., quoted by the Taipei Times.

June 9, 2009: NanoString Technologies, a privately held life sciences company advancing technologies for expression profiling, has closed a $30 million Series C equity financing. This financing, structured in two tranches, will allow NanoString Technologies to accelerate the commercialization of the nCounter Analysis System in the research tools and diagnostics arenas.

The round was led by Clarus Ventures, a global life sciences venture capital firm, and was joined by existing investors OVP Venture Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. In connection with the financing, Nicholas Galakatos, co-founder and managing director of Clarus Ventures, will join the NanoString Technologies’ Board of Directors.

“We believe that NanoString Technologies has the best-in-class platform for expression profiling. Their uniquely user-friendly technology that does not require sample purification or use of PCR constitutes a breakthrough in the field, as evidenced by the excitement of the scientific community towards their products. We are delighted to be part of the success of this emerging leader,” said Galakatos.

“Completion of this financing in this tough economic environment is an important validation of the differentiation of the NanoString technology platform, the success with key customers and the insight and determination of Clarus Ventures and our other investors. Our products have received tremendous interest from commercial and clinical researchers in a relatively short amount of time. The new funds will fuel our growth in manufacturing and product development and enhance our commercialization capabilities,” said Wayne Burns, CFO and Acting CEO of NanoString Technologies, in a statement.

NanoString Technologies is a life sciences tool company that is commercializing a novel and uniquely user-friendly technology for characterizing and quantifying expression profiles in complex biological samples.

June 9, 2009: For car designers, secret agents in the movies and jet fighter pilots, data eyeglasses — also called head-mounted displays (HMDs) — are everyday objects. They transport the wearer into virtual worlds or provide the user with data from the real environment. At present these devices can only display information.

“We want to make the eyeglasses bidirectional and interactive so that new areas of application can be opened up,” Michael Scholles, business unit manager at the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS in Dresden.

A group of scientists at IPMS is working on a device which incorporates eye tracking — users can influence the content presented by moving their eyes or fixing on certain points in the image. Without having to use any other devices to enter instructions, the wearer can display new content, scroll through the menu or shift picture elements.

Scholles believes that the bidirectional data eyeglasses will yield advantages wherever people need to consult additional information but do not have their hands free to operate a keyboard or mouse.


Data eyeglasses display information and respond to commands. (Source: Fraunhofer IPMS)

The Dresden-based researchers have integrated their system’s eye tracker and image reproduction on a CMOS chip. This makes the HMDs small, light, easy to manufacture and inexpensive.

The chip, measuring 19.3mm × 17mm, is fitted on the prototype eyeglasses behind the hinge on the temple. From the temple the image on the microdisplay is projected onto the retina of the user so that it appears to be viewed from a distance of about one meter.

The image has to outshine the ambient light to ensure that it can be seen clearly against changing and highly contrasting backgrounds. For this reason the research scientists use OLEDs, organic light-emitting diodes, to produce microdisplays of particularly high luminance.

In industry and in the medical field, the interactive data eyeglasses could enable numerous tasks to be performed more simply, efficiently and precisely. Many scenarios are possible, including patients’ vital functions, MRT and x-ray images for the operating surgeon, construction drawings for erection engineers and installation instructions for service technicians.

Some users have already tried out conventional HMDs, but the results were not very impressive. In most cases they were found to be too expensive, too heavy, too bulky and not very ergonomic.

“We have now overcome these hurdles,” says Scholles. With his team and colleagues from other Fraunhofer institutes he is already working on the next development stage of the bidirectional eyeglasses.

The Fids-on-the-Fly option for Asymtek’s Spectrum S-900N series dispensing platforms was developed in response to customer need for increased speed and precision for dispense operations on more densely populated substrates. The substrate is scanned in one pass to locate fiducials prior to the jet dispensing operation. The camera is always in motion, snapping images on the fly. It is reportedly up to 5.5 times faster than traditional stop-and-capture modes for locating fiducials, which translates into increase units per hour (UPH) of completed parts by as much as 35%.

In operation, the proprietary software calculates a spline travel path based on the programmed fiducial locations in the dispense program. Once the path is calculated, image-capture is performed at maximum acceleration and velocity without stopping. Fids-on-the-Fly uses a high-speed digital camera that operates at 60 frames/second. High-intensity on-axis LED light with adjustable red, green and blue (RGB) light levels enable reliable fiducial capture for even the most difficult applications.

In semiconductor applications, the technology is suitable for die-to-wafer alignment for 3-D stacking or for large boards for package-on-package processes. Asymtek, a Nordson Company Carlsbad, CA; www.asymtek.com

Something is emerging at SEMICON West this year, July 14-16, 2009, at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. It’s Extreme Electronics, focusing on MEMS, high brightness LEDs and solid state lighting, nanotechnology, and printed and flexible electronics. Market analysts, technologists, and executives from leading companies driving commercialization of these emerging technologies will provide updates on current market trends, technology highlights, product status, and the materials and process technologies needed to successfully ramp these products to volume production.

A section of Moscone’s North Hall is being devoted to Extreme Electronics. There will be company exhibits and an Extreme Electronics technology stage featuring a series of mini-conferences on emerging market opportunities. A networking session will follow each conference session, and online and offline networking opportunities will be available at the show and throughout the year. A complete Extreme Electronics conference program can be found at the SEMICON West website, but here are the highlights of each session.

Opportunities in MEMS
In the MEMS field, demand grows for devices that integrate new capabilities into the chip package in applications ranging from camera modules to tunable cell phone switches, energy harvesting sensor networks to biomedical diagnostics. Jean-Christophe Eloy, president and CEO of Yole D

by Paula Mints, Navigant Consulting

May 27, 2009 – The theme at this year’s thin-film conferences has been clear: survival during a prolonged period of sluggish demand and lower crystalline prices. Unfortunately, no clear answers or paths to recovery have emerged. One thing that may be becoming clear to the thin-film sector is that the promise of unlimited demand was a dream, and it is time to wake up.

During the significant surge in demand that the industry experienced from 2004 through 2008, most forecasts grew exponentially, rising on the basis of long-term contracts, which were assumed to be ironclad. Typically these contracts began with a significant upfront fee, and often the capacity necessary to deliver the raw material, wafers, cells, modules and even systems did not exist when the contracts were signed.

These were heady times for an industry that suffered through over 30 years of unprofitability. New entrants, most acquiring turnkey a-Si and micromorph manufacturing lines, were able to sign module contracts with customers even though they had no manufacturing experience and in some cases no manufacturing facilities. Crystalline was seen as the old technology, too expensive to compete against presumably lower-cost thin films. Despite lower efficiency and the additional system costs that come with this, thin films were seen as the future of the industry. All bets were off because success was assured.

Where did it go? Where will it go?

Europe, the largest global market, consumed 79% of product in 2008, with ~45% going to Spain. Sunny Spain gobbled up all available product, and at a higher average price than anywhere else in the world. Margins widened for all technologies. This is normal market behavior; if the market is elastic and demand is high, producers will naturally charge what the market will bear. If 2007 was an excellent year for sales, 2008 was a party that everyone wanted to go to whether or not they were invited.

Uncontrolled activity in Spain led to an unfortunate side effect — the government intervened and the market shut down. The PV industry was forced to look for new (and previously undeveloped markets) in which to put ~2.5-MWp a year. Even now, some installed systems in Spain have lost financing, and others are being dismantled.

Optimism, however, continued as the rule, with most assuming that a new market — perhaps the US, most likely Italy — would open up and take in the stranded inventory and 2009 planned production. At the end of 2008, industry optimism ran smack into a banking and credit crisis that took global economies into recession. Housing starts stopped, commercial building slowed, credit froze, and buyers of technology stopped taking delivery because their customers were cancelling contracts. As quickly as strong demand started, it just simply stopped.

The chart below presents three forecasts: recession, conservative, and accelerated. The recession forecast is the most likely for 2009 based on the assumption that even if we build it, there is nowhere for it to go. Germany is now the largest global market, and even it is not big enough to consume >2GW of product. Sales of photovoltaic technology in Italy, Greece, Japan and the US continue to be slow, and other markets (China and India) have not developed.


Recession, conservative, and accelerated forecasts, 2003 to 2013. (Source: Navigant Consulting)

The thrill is gone: How do thin films compete?

All manufacturers for all technologies are slowing production, closing facilities for retooling, and lowering prices significantly. Crystalline prices average $2.25-$2.55 depending on the manufacturer; lower efficiency thin-films must price product 15%-20% lower in order to compete. Though the need to increase efficiency was essentially ignored during the years of high demand, the simple fact is that it is the system price or cost that counts, and the higher the efficiency the lower the system cost/price. Conversely, the lower the efficiency the higher the system cost/price. Though there are system designs to overcome the efficiency deficit (area penalty), the fact is that a thin-film system has increased costs in terms of substructure and installation, DC cabling, and inverter costs. Thin-film module prices are not just cheaper naturally; the technology must be priced cheaper or the system cost/price is adversely affected. For awhile, large-field (often referred to as “utility-scale”) installations were marketed as a natural fit for thin-film technologies assuming that in a remote location with available land, the area penalty would not apply. However, land must be leased or purchased, and the more of it that is used, the less availability for other uses. A fair amount of discussion has been had regarding the lower installation and system costs afforded a 5.7m2 a-Si or micromorph module, but there remains no data or evidence that this is so in the field. Moreover, if the large field application continues to slow, there will be no need to prove that this module is cheaper to install.

Thin films are facing difficult times, as are crystalline technologies. The assumed price advantage (because of assumed lower manufacturing costs) continues to evaporate. In this difficult competitive environment only First Solar, with the photovoltaic industry’s assumed lowest manufacturing costs, can compete. In particular, when First Solar acts as the system integrator and designer as it often does, its module advantage (installing at cost plus transfer costs) renders other technologies non-competitive.

For two years at least, thin films face a difficult competitive landscape: slower demand, significantly lower prices, and high inventories of higher-efficiency technologies. There are no easy answers, just continued technology development to further lower costs and raise efficiencies. Equally important, a real effort must be made to develop technologies and system designs that bring down the balance of system cost for thin films toward the goal of eliminating the area penalty. The entire photovoltaic industry has one to two years of slower demand and tough times ahead of it. These times can be used to even the playing field for thin films and create a significant competitive edge.

Paula Mints is principal analyst, PV Services Program, and associate director in the energy practice at Navigant Consulting. E-mail: [email protected].

This article was originally published by Photovoltaics World.

MAY 27, 2009 — ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — The Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology (IEST) has announced its new officers for the one-year term beginning July 1, 2009.

Michael Rataj moves from the position of President-elect to IEST President. Rataj has been involved in the contamination control industry for 12 years since taking over as QA Manager for Aramark’s Chicago cleanroom plant. Rataj holds an MS in biology from the University of Illinois and an MBA in operations management from the Illinois Institute of Technology Stuart School of Business. He has served as IEST Membership Vice President and is chair of Contamination Control (CC) Working Groups (WG) CC003 and CC023.

New officers are: Matthew Smyers, Fiscal Vice President and Carl Moran, Education Vice President (Design, Test, and Evaluation/Product Reliability).

R. Vijayakumar moves to the role of President-elect. A Senior Member of IEST, R. Vijyakumar has served as IEST Fiscal Vice President and chair of Contamination Control (CC) WG-001, 002, and 034.R. He has managed and successfully led departments and divisions of companies in various technical and business aspects of the contamination control industry for more than 25 years. Vijay is now president of Aerfil and holds an MS and a PhD, both in mechanical engineering, from the University of Minnesota.

Matthew Smyers is Vice Chair of IEST CC WG-006 and a voting member of CC WG-001, 002, 007, 013, 034, 036, and 200. He is the training and safety manager for Technical Safety Services (TSS). While working as a cleanroom testing technician for the past decade, Smyers has also been a gaffer, lighting scenes in movies and commercials.

Carl Moran is a voting member of Design, Test, and Evaluation (DTE) WG-009 and an observer in DTE WG-033. He started working for W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. to aid in the start-up of their new Microwave Transmission product line. Moran has since developed Gore’s test lab, which has grown to service the company across divisions. Currently Gore’s test lab leader, Moran is heavily involved with aerospace testing and has worked on qualification programs from the Cassini satellite mission to Saturn to the Mars Rovers, including GPS, radio, and television satellites, as well as the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the James Web Space Telescope.

Remaining on the Executive Board are Roger Diener, Education Vice President (Contamination Control); Greg Winn, Membership Vice President; Christine Peterson, Technical Vice President (Design, Test, and Evaluation/Product Reliability); Gary Knoth, re-elected as Technical Vice President (Contamination Control); and Charles W. Berndt, moving to the role of Immediate Past President; R. Vijayakumar moving to the role of President-elect; and Roberta Burrows, Executive Director.

Founded in 1953, IEST is an international not-for-profit technical society of engineers, scientists, and educators that serves its members and the industries they represent (simulating, testing, controlling, and teaching the environments of earth and space) through education and the development of recommended practices and standards.

IEST is an ANSI-accredited standards-developing organization; Secretariat of ISO/TC 209 Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments; Administrator of the ANSI-accredited US TAG to ISO/TC 209; and a founding member of the ANSI-accredited US TAG to ISO/TC 229 Nanotechnologies.
More information about IEST can be found at www.iest.org.