compound semiconductor ♦ news digest
RF Micro Devoices (RFMD) has announced a breakthrough in the commercialisation of high- performance photovoltaic (PV) cells.
The company reported it has developed the world’s first PV unit utilising high- volume six-inch gallium arsenide compound semiconductors.
RFMD stated the development was the culmination of a partnership with the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) which it entered into on July 1st last year.
Alfonso Velosa, research director for semiconductors at Gartner, said: “Within a few years the concentrated PV market may be able to deliver large volumes of renewable electricity, based in part on obtaining large volumes of high-quality - yet low-cost - solar cells, from bankable manufacturers.”
NREL is the only federal agency dedicated to the development, commercialisation and deployment of next-generation renewable energy sources throughout the US.
It began operating in 1977 as the Solar Energy Research Institute, but later changed its name after being designated a national laboratory in 1991.
Sterilization by a Diamond LED
2010-03-15
Output power of deep ultraviolet light enhanced
Satoshi Yamasaki (Principal Research Scientist), the Energy Technology Research Institute (ETRI) (Director: Yasuo Hasegawa) and Toshiharu Makino, the Energy Enabling Technology Group (Leader: Shin-ichi Nishizawa), ETRI of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) (President: Tamotsu Nomakuchi) successfully enhanced the output power of an ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diode (LED) using semiconducting diamond in cooperation with the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) (President: Sukekatsu Ushioda) and Syntek Co., Ltd. (President: Susumu Yamazaki), and also confirmed the sterilization of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in collaboration with the Corporate Advanced Technology Center (Head: Shinobu Kinoshita) of Iwasaki Electric Co., Ltd.
Owing to a global increasing trend of epidemic diseases caused by viruses such as the novel influenza A (H1N1), sterilization has become a critical necessity for society and daily life. Dry sterilization by UV light is a widely employed technique, in which a mercury lamp is used as the light source. However, mercury lamps require bulky equipment, and further, mercury is not environment-friendly. Therefore, there is a need for the development of UV LEDs, which do not contain mercury and facilitate easy sterilization. Although LED illuminations have been widely used as energy-saving light sources, e.g., Christmas illuminations, UV LEDs are yet to be put to practical use. Mercury-free UV LEDs can be employed as portable and easy-to-use germicidal lamps.
AIST has improved the quality of a diamond semiconductor, which is called the ultimate semiconductor, and has been conducting research and development aiming at its application to electronic devices. This has led to the development of LEDs that are based on a novel principle, according to which excitons are used for emitting UV light with a wavelength of 235 nm. We succeeded in developing a diamond LED with an output power of 0.3 mW, which is close to the practical output
April/May 2010
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