news digest ♦ Power Electronics
where two rows of CCDs produce low-resolution spectra in different wavelength bands. The blue CCDs spread the light at wavelengths between 330 and 680 nm, while the spectrum created by the red CCDs goes from 640 to 1000 nm. These spectra are used for gathering colour information on the stars and for correction of the optical aberrations in the astrometric part of the instrument.
Finally, the star images enter the spectroscopic field where a spectrograph only allows light in the narrow band of 847 to 874 nm. The filtered light is then dispersed over 1100 pixels to detect characteristic spectral lines in this band. Subsequent analysis on the ground enables stellar velocities in the radial (line-of-sight) direction to be calculated, based on the red or blue shifts of the spectral lines.
Located 1.5 million km from Earth, Gaia will operate at a temperature of minus 110°C (163.15 K). This low temperature will be maintained by passive thermal control, including the cold radiator on the focal plane assembly and a giant sunshade attached to the top of the spacecraft.
“In parallel to the assembly of the CSS, Astrium is working on the cold radiator and the proximity electronics module. We are aiming to bring together all three parts of the focal plane assembly by October of this year,” added Garé.
EpiGaN raises € 4 million for GaN-on-Silicon production
Capricorn Cleantech Fund, Robert Bosch Venture Capital (RBVC), and LRM jointly invested €4 million in EpiGaN, to launch volume production of gallium nitride-on-silicon wafers.
Imec spin off EpiGaN has closed its first capital round of € 4 million, which will allow it to start volume production of GaN-on-silicon epitaxial material for the next-generation efficient power electronics.
Set up in 2010, EpiGaN was founded by Marianne Germain, CEO, Joff Derluyn, CTO and Stefan Degroote, COO, as a spin-off of research institute imec. For more than 10 years, the founders jointly developed state-of-the-art GaN-on-Silicon technology on 4” and 6” wafers at imec, part of
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www.compoundsemiconductor.net August/September 2011 which has been licensed to EpiGaN.
They are today joined by a strong consortium of investors who share their vision on GaN-on- silicon as a key technology for enhancing power management efficiency, implementing renewable energy sources, or enabling cleaner transportation technologies with reduced environmental impact.
“EpiGaN has demonstrated the capability of its innovative material to support record device performance either in high voltage, high current or high frequency operation“, says Marianne Germain. “We are proud that investors have decided to support our initiative and will enable us to commercially provide the same high-standards material quality in large volume to our industrial customers.”
The participation of RBVC lends credibility to the strategic vision of the company: “We are impressed by the technological achievements of EpiGaN and the capabilities of the team. As a leading manufacturer of power electronics modules and systems, we believe that this technology has the potential to make significant contributions to the world of power conversion and are happy to be part of the investor syndicate supporting the company,” said Gadi Toren, venture capital investment partner at RBVC and future board member of EpiGaN.
Marc Lambrechts, who will join the board of EpiGaN on behalf of Capricorn Cleantech Fund, is convinced EpiGaN addresses a key target market: “Power conversion is an essential technology for an impressive number of cleantech applications such as energy efficient power supplies, solar inverters, wind energy, electric or hybrid vehicles and smart grids. The customers of EpiGaN will benefit from higher efficiency, improved reliability and reduced system size and weight, by using the EpiGaN state- of-the-art GaN-on-silicon technology.”
The support of the investors will allow EpiGaN to implement its own production capacity and increase its market supply: 4” and 6” GaN-on- silicon wafers for high voltage or RF applications are readily available from EpiGaN while a 200 mm wafer technology is under development in EpiGaN. EpiGaN will deploy its activities at the Research Campus Hasselt in Limburg, geographically located squarely within Leuven, Eindhoven and Aachen.
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