Tag Archives: Clean Rooms

APRIL 13, 2009 — LAKE MARY, FL — Advanced Solar Photonics, (ASP), a developer of laser marking, scribing, edge deletion and edge isolation systems for the solar industry, has increased the product line for its previously announced SolarFab™ project in Lake Mary, Florida to include not only thin film, but also mono-crystalline solar modules.

“Originally, our SolarFab™ production plant would only manufacture thin film modules, up to 40MW. However, due to high response for our panels, Advanced Solar Photonics will not only be producing thin film, but also mono-crystalline panels,” said Maureen McHale, Corporate Marketing and Public Relations Manager for ASP. “This new silicon line would initially be 25MW, ramping up to 50MW in a fairly short span of time.”

Having secured a 318,000 square foot facility within the last year, ASP is in the assembly stage of developing the two lines. Clean rooms are in place, equipment is starting to arrive and a pilot line will be up and running within the next few weeks. The first mono-crystalline panels are slated to be available in July 2009. Full thin film production is scheduled to ramp up by late 2010.

“Adding another dimension to the manufacturing plant not only allows us to meet customer demands, it also increases job creation for the Central Florida area. Up from projecting approximately 200 green jobs, we now estimate SolarFab will employ 500 people,” said McHale.

With the dependence on foreign oil, environmental degradation and the vulnerability of power networks, SolarFab™ SunPanels™, both thin film and the new mono-crystalline, will help meet government and consumers’ growing demand for increasingly efficient and cost- effective solar power.

Advanced Solar Photonics, located in Lake Mary, Florida employs an international team of technology driven professionals. Reaching out to the photovoltaic industry, ASP strives to lower manufacturing costs utilizing proven patented technology geared to improve and lower the cost per kilowatt. This technology is applicable to both the silicon and thin film processes.

www.advancedsolarphotonics.com

APRIL 8, 2009 — LEUVEN, BELGIUM — IMEC, the Belgian nanoelectronics research institute, has announced that it has begun expanding its Leuven campus facilities, starting with 2,800 square-meters of research labs and including the extension of its state-of-the-art clean room.

With this extension, IMEC will expand its research on sub-32nm CMOS, low-cost and high-efficiency solar cells, and biomedical electronics. IMEC also plans to construct a new office building later this year.

The 2,800 square-meters of extra lab space includes 1,200 square-meters of ultra-clean processing area as an extension of its current 300mm clean room. The clean room will be 450mm-ready so that IMEC’s advanced process technology research continues to follow industry standards. About 1,600 square-meters of new lab space will also be realized to expand both its research on silicon and organic solar cells and on biomedical electronics.

Today, IMEC employs about 1650 people. With this expansion, IMEC looks to create about 300 new jobs in the coming years for many different profiles, including researchers, operators, and lab assistants in several domains (engineering, chemistry, etc.).

The total cost of the expansion amounts to 70 million euro. The Flemish Government invests 35 million euro and IMEC will cover the remaining 35 million euro through a loan.

Gilbert Declerck, CEO of IMEC, stated, “In 2009, IMEC lights 25 birthday candles. Thanks to the unbridled commitment of our researchers and the continuous vision and support of the government of Flanders, we succeeded in putting Flanders on top of the world in nanoelectronics research. IMEC today is addressing the major challenges of our planet: environment, energy and the ageing population. Concrete programs in areas such as solar energy, smart-grid, energy scavenging and in several biomedical and medical applications address those challenges. We are proud that we can further expand IMEC’s activities so that we continue to offer valuable R&D programs to the industry that will contribute to Flanders, Europe and the world of tomorrow.”

News release and picture can be downloaded at:
http://www2.imec.be/imec_com/imec-expands-its-research-activities.php?year=
2009&month=04

About IMEC
IMEC is a world-leading independent research center in nanoelectronics and nanotechnology. IMEC vzw is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, has a sister company in the Netherlands, IMEC-NL, offices in the US, China and Taiwan, and representatives in Japan. Its staff of more than 1650 people includes about 550 industrial residents and guest researchers. In 2008, its revenue
(P&L) was estimated to EUR 270 million.
IMEC’s More Moore research aims at semiconductor scaling towards sub-32nm nodes. With its More than Moore research, IMEC looks into technologies for nomadic embedded systems, wireless autonomous transducer solutions, biomedical electronics, photovoltaics, organic electronics and GaN power electronics.

IMEC’s research bridges the gap between fundamental research at universities and technology development in industry. Its unique balance of processing and system know-how, intellectual property portfolio, state-of-the-art infrastructure and its strong network worldwide position IMEC as a key partner for shaping technologies for future systems.

Further information on IMEC can be found at www.imec.be.

APRIL 8, 2009 — CLEVELAND, OH — Demand for disinfectant and antimicrobial chemicals is projected to increase 3.6 percent annually to $1.2 billion in 2013.

Although this represents a substantial deceleration in value gains from the 2003-2008 period, growth in volume will accelerate due to rebounding production levels in key industrial markets such as coatings and plastics. The strong value gains in the previous five-year period were due in large part to price runups from 2005 to 2008, when the price of crude oil and other raw materials soared. These and other trends are presented in Disinfectant & Antimicrobial Chemicals, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm.

Demand for disinfectant chemicals in industrial, institutional and commercial, and
consumer markets is expected to grow, despite considerable scientific
disagreement about the necessity of using disinfectant chemicals in many of their
current applications. Gains in the consumer market — the fastest-growing overall — will
be driven by fears of foodborne and other pathogens, as disinfectant active ingredients
are being added to many traditional cleaning products that have not typically contained
such ingredients. In the health care market, there is broad agreement that aggressive
infection control programs are necessary. As a result, it will remain one of the largest
outlets for these products.

Use of these chemicals in antimicrobial additive applications, such as in paints,
plastics or textile products, is less controversial. These applications are less likely
to create an environment that could lead to the formation of resistant strains of bacteria,
and the chemicals are used to prolong the functional lives of these products. However,
there are environmental concerns about some of these additives.

Organosulfurs will be the fastest-growing product category, due mainly to
developments in the paint and coatings industry, the largest user of these products. Not
only is overall coatings production expected to rebound from a poor performance in
2008, but organosulfurs are likely to be the leading replacement for tributyl tin (TBT) in
the marine antifoulant segment.

Overall, phenolic compounds will remain the largest product category. Phenolics are one of the few product categories that are used extensively as both disinfectant actives (e.g., ortho-phenylphenol in hard surface cleaners) and antimicrobial additives (e.g., triclosan in plastic products and textiles).

Disinfectant & Antimicrobial Chemicals (published 03/2009, 172 pages) is available
for $4,600 from The Freedonia Group, Inc., 767 Beta Drive, Cleveland, OH 44143-
2326. For further details, please contact Corinne Gangloff by phone 440.684.9600, fax
440.646.0484 or e-mail [email protected]. Information may also be obtained
through www.freedoniagroup.com.

APRIL 2, 2009 — AGAWAM, MA — A new white paper, “The Microbial ID Breakthrough: How DNA Sequencing Services Help Prevent Catastrophic Cleanroom Shutdowns,” outlines common sources of contamination, discusses problems and delays associated with traditional methods of identifying those contaminants and highlights breakthrough solutions to these difficulties.

Contamination by an unknown organism often calls for total shutdown of a cleanroom’s operation until that organism can be identified and eliminated. Such shutdowns can have catastrophic effects on the schedules and productivity of medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers alike.

“Modern cleanrooms used for the manufacture of medical devices, pharmaceuticals, or combination products face widespread, persistent threats of contamination. Much of this contamination comes from the people working in these environments. They carry in invasive organisms on themselves