NEWS I REVIEW
Milestone in GaN substrates
SOITEC and Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd, have reached a major milestone in their strategic joint development program started in December 2010 by demonstrating four and six-inch engineered gallium nitride (GaN) substrates and launching pilot production lines to enable wider market adoption.
These substrates are ideally suited for manufacturing advanced high-brightness LEDs for the lighting market and power- efficient controllers for the electric vehicles and energy markets.
Leveraging Sumitomo Electric’s manufacturing technology for GaN wafers and Soitec’s Smart Cut layer-transfer technology, this alliance project had originally produced two-inch wafers. With GaN wafers’ scalability, the companies are now proceeding with the next step to invest and establish pilot production lines in Itami, Japan, and Bernin, France. The pilot lines will fabricate four-inch wafers with six-inch wafer production to quickly follow to support customers demand.
Sumitomo Electric will manufacture bulk free-standing GaN substrates in Japan for shipment to France, where Soitec will apply its Smart Cut layer-transfer process to generate the final engineered wafers with the same thermal expansion (CTE) as GaN wafers. The resulting wafers have low defect density, enabling the manufacturing of advanced semiconductor devices at lower costs than bulk GaN wafers.
“Our partnership’s successful demonstration of four- and six-inch engineered GaN substrates’ scalability is a critical milestone, accomplished by applying very strong innovative capabilities from both sides,” said Frédéric Dupont, vice president of Soitec’s Specialty Electronics Business Unit. “The advanced substrates we are developing will allow the introduction of a new materials platform with novel and advanced functionalities.”
Yoshiki Miura, general manager of the Compound Semiconductor Materials Division at Sumitomo Electric, said, “With layer-transfer technology’s production readiness now proven for larger wafers, the substrates can be made even more cost effectively for large-volume production. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Soitec to fulfill the requirements of the LED and energy markets, which represent amazing business opportunities.”
Conergy completes 1 MW solar park
AFTER a successful 2011, with many projects in Greece, Conergy has completed another 1 megawatt solar park Volos in the north of Greece. The park is located in the industrial area of the city. Greece’s on going financial problems have not affected Conergy:
“The country benefits from very high irradiation levels and its Renewable Energy market is an important pillar for Greece’s economy,” says Conergy Greece boss Stefanos Melissopoulos. “The Greek market is and will be an
important market for Conergy and we see a lot of potential there. That is despite the recent difficult financial situation the country is facing.”
In the new solar park in Volos more than 4,000 Conergy PowerPlus 230P modules in combination with 2 central inverter stations will produce more than 1,400 megawatt-hours of clean solar energy annually. The solar park, which covers approximately 20,000 square meters, will help to avoid the emission of more than 1,200 tons of CO2 per year.
Canadian Solar and Al Fahad join forces
CANADIAN SOLAR has announced an agreement with the Al Fahad Group. Under the agreement, Canadian Solar will supply more than 1.5 MW of its solar modules to the Al Fahad Group, which is spearheading one of the largest solar PV projects in Abu Dhabi, considered one of the pioneers for renewable energies in the Middle East.
This will be a governmental venture, which was agreed upon during the recent World Future Energy Summit (WFES) held in Abu Dhabi.
Canadian Solar’s CS5A-M solar modules will be used for the project, as they are suited for the local environmental conditions.
“What convinced us to choose Canadian Solar was its proven performance and reliability, high quality and commitment to excellence. High performance under our challenging local climate parameters was at the forefront of our selection process,” explained Khaled Obaid Al Othman Al Ali, CEO of AL Fahad Group. “Additionally, we focus on long- term relationships with trustworthy partners. To these belong companies with experience, an extended track record and a very good customer service. With Canadian Solar all these requirements are met.”
“We are very proud about our agreement with Al Fahad Group, one of the most important companies for renewable energies in the Emirates, and excited to further build our presence together in the important Middle East market for high value, sustainable energy solutions. Our leadership, quality and cost benefits enable us to work with the best partners in key markets worldwide,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar. “The solar markets in the Middle East and especially in the United Arab Emirates have a great potential for development given commitment of the government and financial system, and forward thinking of key proponents, like the Al Fahad Group.”
Issue I 2012 I
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