news digest ♦ Solar
development of its business based on enhancing its R&D division, international promotion and the opening of markets as generators of competitiveness.
Nanosolar CIGS achieve 17.1% aperture efficiency
Using a non-vacuum printed process, the firm says it has raised the bar for efficiency and cost savings.
The U.S. Department of Energy›s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has certified an aperture efficiency of 17.1% for a CIGS solar cell fabricated using Nanosolar›s non-vacuum, low cost printing on flexible foil technology.
«This achievement demonstrates that a non- vacuum CIGS deposition process can deliver world- class efficiency,» said Nanosolar CEO Geoff Tate. «At the same time, Nanosolar›s unique roll-to-roll printing process delivers substantial manufacturing cost benefits.»
Nanosolar›s mission is to become the lowest cost solar cell and panel manufacturer, independent of subsidies. The firm says this is possible because of its unique thin film printing process which enables significant cost savings when compared to conventional vacuum based deposition techniques.
In addition, the company says its high-throughput roll-to-roll printing method delivers a higher capital efficiency and better materials utilisation. Together, these advantages could give Nanosolar a path to lower manufacturing costs than competing photovoltaic technologies.
Northrop bags $8.9 million contract for GaN microscale power conversion
The award is to develop gallium nitride class E power amplifiers that incorporate supply modulation and control enabled by novel power switch technology.
Northrop Grumman Corporation has been awarded 206
www.compoundsemiconductor.net November/December 2011
a contract by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop more efficient radio frequency (RF) transmitter technology through the Microscale Power Conversion program.
Under the three-year, $8.9 million contract, Northrop Grumman will conduct research on high-efficiency transmitters with GaN Class E power amplifiers in conjunction with RF wideband contour modulation and sub-banded switching supply modulation. The objective of the program is to develop innovative RF power amplifier designs that incorporate supply modulation and control enabled by novel power switch technology.
The key to this research is to broaden the RF power amplifier’s supply modulation bandwidth up to 500 MHz with composite efficiency of no less than 75 percent by employing the contour modulation to maintain efficiency performance of the amplifier. Contour modulation is a technique in which a phase-modulated signal waveform and amplifier output impedance work together to maintain higher efficiency over a sizable output power back-off.
When supply modulation and contour modulation are working in concert, the dynamic range and efficiency of the power amplifier can be further improved. Microscale integration and packaging with thermal design considerations is critical in achieving the efficiency.
“With more innovative RF power amplifier designs, we can produce much more efficient RF transmitters without increasing their size,” said Pat Antkowiak, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s Advanced Concepts & Technologies Division. “This technique can open the door to creating more powerful electronic systems for a wide variety of applications.”
The design work will be performed by Northrop Grumman and its subcontractors, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and TriQuint Semiconductor. The final integration and demonstration will be done by Northrop Grumman in Linthicum.
UCLA will work on system architecture and co- design, design of the Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor circuit and other elements, controls and test support. TriQuint will work on GaN and related process technologies.
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