Online information source for semiconductor professionals

The news has been grim for Lehman Brothers today, but one part of the giant investment bank that's doing yeoman work is its solar energy equity research group, led by analyst Vishal Shah. His daily email newsletter and periodic reports are some of the most informative and cogent in the space. Read more >>

Since its inception, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., better known as SMIC, has pursued an aggressive plan to join the elite chip foundry companies. During the Chinese firm's chase of the big two--TSMC and UMC--it passed Chartered to ascend to the number-three slot a couple of years ago, although it has been nip and tuck with the Singaporean concern since then, alternating between third and fourth place. But the one cornerstone of SMIC's gameplan where it has failed miserably is one of the most basic to any business model--profitability. Read more >>

National Semiconductor may have seen net income slip a bit in its latest quarterly results, but Brian Halla and his team have shown no erosion in their excitement over the company's initial product foray into the photovoltaics market space, launched in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008: SolarMagic. Read more >>

The semiconductor industry has long had its eye on improving yields in the fabs, developing an ever-more sophisticated array of software and hardware tools to detect defects and faults, monitor and analyze process and design variations, zero in on the root causes, and crunch the giga-reams of resultant data to try and make sense of the perturbations of the production flows. As the solar photovoltaics manufacturing industry ramps up and seeks ways to improve its own best practices on the factory floor while reducing costs, the need for a comprehensive, PV-specific yield enhancement strategy has become more acute. One company familiar to the design and yield communities in the chipmaking realm, Magma Design Automation, announced earlier this week that it is developing a new solar-specific software system based on its proven YieldManager platform. Read more >>

Spun out of the Georgia Institute of Technology's Center of Excellence in Photovoltaics (UCEP) last year, Suniva has emerged as one of the most intriguing start-ups in the solar PV space. Over the past six months, the Atlanta-based company has raised $50 million in Series B funds; started to build, outfit, and ramp its first solar-cell production line; and struck big-ticket, nine-figure, multiyear deals with its supply chain (REC for wafers) and customer base (Solon for modules). Suniva's goal is not to bring yet another "disruptive" thin-film or concentrator PV technology to market, but to harness the high-efficiency, low-cost potential of solar's workhorse starting material--crystalline silicon. Read more >>

How does that additional 72 MW of cadmium-telluride thin-film PV module-making capacity planned by First Solar for its Perrysburg, OH, facilities stack up against the rest of the CdTe competition's current production levels? According to recent data compiled by NREL and presented at Intersolar North America/Semicon West, First's extra chunk of factory output would exceed the total megawatt-nameplate of AVA Solar, PrimeStar, Calyxo/Q-Cells, Antec, Avendi, and ASP combined. The same data show the CdTe Gang of Six Followers projected to reach 280 MW by 2010--by which time First will have passed the gigawatt mark. Read more >>

The latest numbers from the SIA and SEMI's silicon manufacturers group (SMG) have come out in the past two weeks, so it's time for Chip Shots' quarterly metrification-and-comparison woodshed exercise. Read more >>

When the term "traceable calibration standards" gets mentioned, it's not likely to trigger a giddy rush of excitement among most professionals in the semiconductor, flat-panel display, and related micro/nano industries. Read more >>

By the time the Los Angeles Lakers have their grudge match with the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics on Christmas Day 2008, the home team's Staples Center venue should be getting a burst of power from a fresh batch of 1727 Solar Power, Inc. (SPI) modules on its very SoCal "surfboard"-shaped roof. Read more >>

Although David Lammers of Semiconductor International might be better known for his consummate "reportering" skills (with no apologies to George W), he's also a pretty good blogger when he gets around to it.

His latest posting, the snappily headlined "M&A Activity Picks Up in Downturn Dog Days," discusses the wave of mergers and acquisitions' goings-on in the semiconductor equipment and materials space over the past several months. Read more >>