Friday, November 14, 2003
Move over LCD Displays! Cool!
Palo Alto Research Center Creates The First Jet-printed Plastic Transistor Arrays. Printing Expected to Lead to Low-cost Display Backplanes.
Palo Alto, Calif., Oct. 28, 2003 - The Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) has developed the first plastic semiconductor transistor array entirely patterned using jet printing. Jet printing will lower the cost of active-matrix display backplanes by replacing vacuum deposition and photolithography in current manufacturing. The technology is also expected to open up new markets for wall-sized TV's, unbreakable cell phone displays, rollable displays, and electronic paper.
"PARC contributed greatly to the amorphous silicon transistor that is at the heart of all active-matrix liquid crystal displays. With this breakthrough, PARC is well positioned to revolutionize display technology yet again," explains Mark Bernstein, president and center director of PARC.
These arrays are printed using two techniques – an additive and a subtractive method – on either flexible or rigid substrates. Polymer inks are jetted directly onto substrates just where they are needed – the additive process. Other materials are deposited everywhere and a mask is jet-printed on top. The material is then dissolved away except where protected by the printed mask – the subtractive process. Both methods require precise layer-to-layer registration. The PARC printer is controlled by a patent-pending computer vision system to ensure proper alignment of the layers, even if the substrate warps or deforms during processing – a well-known complication with flexible substrates.
“The process is analogous to color registration. The printer correctly positions each layer of color with respect to the other layers, even if the paper or substrate has shrunk or warped. In this case, the layers to align are metal, dielectric and semiconductor, which create the transistor arrays,” says Dr. Raj Apte, research scientist at PARC.
The scientists at PARC perfected the technique of jet-printing polymer semiconductors to make high-performance transistor arrays. This advancement builds on the invention of polythiophene-based semiconducting polymer ink developed at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC) by Dr. Beng Ong. It is one of several joint research projects conducted within the Xerox Innovation Group. As Dr. Bob Street, research fellow at PARC, describes, “These printed transistors have exceptional performance for polymers and meet all the requirements for addressing displays: high mobility, low leakage and good stability.”
Under a National Institute of Standards and Technology grant, scientists from PARC and XRCC are collaborating with teams at Motorola Labs and Dow Chemical to "develop novel organic electronic materials and processing technologies to enable the fabrication of large-area electronic devices, such as displays, using relatively inexpensive printing technologies in lieu of semiconductor lithography."
SOURCE: PARC Press Release)
Palo Alto Research Center Creates The First Jet-printed Plastic Transistor Arrays. Printing Expected to Lead to Low-cost Display Backplanes.
Palo Alto, Calif., Oct. 28, 2003 - The Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) has developed the first plastic semiconductor transistor array entirely patterned using jet printing. Jet printing will lower the cost of active-matrix display backplanes by replacing vacuum deposition and photolithography in current manufacturing. The technology is also expected to open up new markets for wall-sized TV's, unbreakable cell phone displays, rollable displays, and electronic paper.
"PARC contributed greatly to the amorphous silicon transistor that is at the heart of all active-matrix liquid crystal displays. With this breakthrough, PARC is well positioned to revolutionize display technology yet again," explains Mark Bernstein, president and center director of PARC.
These arrays are printed using two techniques – an additive and a subtractive method – on either flexible or rigid substrates. Polymer inks are jetted directly onto substrates just where they are needed – the additive process. Other materials are deposited everywhere and a mask is jet-printed on top. The material is then dissolved away except where protected by the printed mask – the subtractive process. Both methods require precise layer-to-layer registration. The PARC printer is controlled by a patent-pending computer vision system to ensure proper alignment of the layers, even if the substrate warps or deforms during processing – a well-known complication with flexible substrates.
“The process is analogous to color registration. The printer correctly positions each layer of color with respect to the other layers, even if the paper or substrate has shrunk or warped. In this case, the layers to align are metal, dielectric and semiconductor, which create the transistor arrays,” says Dr. Raj Apte, research scientist at PARC.
The scientists at PARC perfected the technique of jet-printing polymer semiconductors to make high-performance transistor arrays. This advancement builds on the invention of polythiophene-based semiconducting polymer ink developed at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC) by Dr. Beng Ong. It is one of several joint research projects conducted within the Xerox Innovation Group. As Dr. Bob Street, research fellow at PARC, describes, “These printed transistors have exceptional performance for polymers and meet all the requirements for addressing displays: high mobility, low leakage and good stability.”
Under a National Institute of Standards and Technology grant, scientists from PARC and XRCC are collaborating with teams at Motorola Labs and Dow Chemical to "develop novel organic electronic materials and processing technologies to enable the fabrication of large-area electronic devices, such as displays, using relatively inexpensive printing technologies in lieu of semiconductor lithography."
SOURCE: PARC Press Release)
Hey, this is good! It is the end of check-outlines for the rest of us.
DoD Announces Radio Frequency Identification Policy. The Department of Defense announced today the establishment of a Radio Frequency Identification Policy (RFID). RFID technology greatly improves the management of inventory by providing hands-off processing. The equipment quickly accounts for and identifies massive inventories, enhancing the processing of materiel transactions to allow DoD to realign resources and streamline business processes.
Implementation of RFID minimizes time spent through the normal means of inventory processing. This technology allows the improvement of data quality, items management, asset visibility, and maintenance of materiel. Further, RFID will enable DoD to improve business functions and facilitate all aspects of the DoD supply chain.
The new policy will require suppliers to put passive RFID tags on the lowest possible piece part/case/pallet packaging by January 2005. Acknowledging the impact on DoD suppliers, the department plans to host an RFID Summit for Industry in February 2004. The RFID policy and implementation strategy will be finalized by June 2004.
RFID policy and the corresponding RFID tagging/labeling of DoD materiel are applicable to all items except bulk commodities such as sand, gravel or liquids.
SOURCE: US DoD News Release)
DoD Announces Radio Frequency Identification Policy. The Department of Defense announced today the establishment of a Radio Frequency Identification Policy (RFID). RFID technology greatly improves the management of inventory by providing hands-off processing. The equipment quickly accounts for and identifies massive inventories, enhancing the processing of materiel transactions to allow DoD to realign resources and streamline business processes.
Implementation of RFID minimizes time spent through the normal means of inventory processing. This technology allows the improvement of data quality, items management, asset visibility, and maintenance of materiel. Further, RFID will enable DoD to improve business functions and facilitate all aspects of the DoD supply chain.
The new policy will require suppliers to put passive RFID tags on the lowest possible piece part/case/pallet packaging by January 2005. Acknowledging the impact on DoD suppliers, the department plans to host an RFID Summit for Industry in February 2004. The RFID policy and implementation strategy will be finalized by June 2004.
RFID policy and the corresponding RFID tagging/labeling of DoD materiel are applicable to all items except bulk commodities such as sand, gravel or liquids.
SOURCE: US DoD News Release)
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Nice!
TRANSISTOR SETS NEW RECORD. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have broken their
own record for the world's fastest transistor. The device, with a frequency of 509 GHz, is 57 GHz faster than their previous record holder. Applications
benefiting from the device could include high-speed communications products, consumer electronics, and electronic combat systems.
"The steady rise in the speed of bipolar transistors has relied largely on the vertical scaling of the epitaxial layer structure to reduce the carrier transit
time," said Milton Feng, the Holonyak Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois. "However, this comes at the cost of increasing the
base-collector capacitance. To compensate for this unwanted effect, we have employed lateral scaling of both the emitter and the collector."
Unlike traditional transistors, which are built from silicon and germanium, these transistors are made from indium phosphide and indium gallium arsenide.
"This material system is inherently faster than silicon germanium, and can support a much higher current density," Feng said.
(SOURCE: NASA Tech Briefs)
TRANSISTOR SETS NEW RECORD. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have broken their
own record for the world's fastest transistor. The device, with a frequency of 509 GHz, is 57 GHz faster than their previous record holder. Applications
benefiting from the device could include high-speed communications products, consumer electronics, and electronic combat systems.
"The steady rise in the speed of bipolar transistors has relied largely on the vertical scaling of the epitaxial layer structure to reduce the carrier transit
time," said Milton Feng, the Holonyak Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois. "However, this comes at the cost of increasing the
base-collector capacitance. To compensate for this unwanted effect, we have employed lateral scaling of both the emitter and the collector."
Unlike traditional transistors, which are built from silicon and germanium, these transistors are made from indium phosphide and indium gallium arsenide.
"This material system is inherently faster than silicon germanium, and can support a much higher current density," Feng said.
(SOURCE: NASA Tech Briefs)
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Some good (great!) NEWS!...about time!
Tech slump may be near end
Tuesday, November 4, 2003 Posted: 10:49 AM EST (1549 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- The high-tech industry's extended slump finally could be over, according to a report released Monday by an analyst firm that predicts next year will see the first significant increase in technology and telecom spending since 2000.
Worldwide spending on information technology should grow 5 percent to $916 billion next year, while purchases of telecom services are expected to rise 4 percent to $1 trillion, according to International Data Corp., a highly regarded analyst firm based in Framingham, Massachusetts.
After rising 12 percent in 2000, the last year of the dot-com boom, technology spending fell 1 percent in 2001 and 4 percent in 2002, IDC analyst Stephen Minton said. He predicts spending will end up relatively flat this year, with growth in the United States and emerging markets but declines in Europe, Japan and Canada.
Next year's growth is expected to come from improving business confidence and pent-up demand for technology products and services at companies that reined in spending during the last few years.
Minton said the findings were based on conservative assumptions about the economy, meaning even bigger boosts could be possible. Indeed, CIO magazine said Monday that its October survey of 243 corporate technology managers found that their budgets will grow an average of 6 percent in the next year.
Other technology watchers have been more circumspect lately.
A Merrill Lynch report last week said that few of the 100 corporate technology buyers the firm had interviewed in the United States and Europe expected to spend more than normal in the current quarter.
In October, Intel Corp.'s chief financial officer said the chip giant had seen "bits of evidence" but no overwhelming signs that tech spending was picking up. The next day, IBM Corp. chief Sam Palmisano said his company was counting on a rise in spending in 2004, but added that "it is too early to say that a rebound is at hand."
(SOURCE:CNN Tech News)
Tech slump may be near end
Tuesday, November 4, 2003 Posted: 10:49 AM EST (1549 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- The high-tech industry's extended slump finally could be over, according to a report released Monday by an analyst firm that predicts next year will see the first significant increase in technology and telecom spending since 2000.
Worldwide spending on information technology should grow 5 percent to $916 billion next year, while purchases of telecom services are expected to rise 4 percent to $1 trillion, according to International Data Corp., a highly regarded analyst firm based in Framingham, Massachusetts.
After rising 12 percent in 2000, the last year of the dot-com boom, technology spending fell 1 percent in 2001 and 4 percent in 2002, IDC analyst Stephen Minton said. He predicts spending will end up relatively flat this year, with growth in the United States and emerging markets but declines in Europe, Japan and Canada.
Next year's growth is expected to come from improving business confidence and pent-up demand for technology products and services at companies that reined in spending during the last few years.
Minton said the findings were based on conservative assumptions about the economy, meaning even bigger boosts could be possible. Indeed, CIO magazine said Monday that its October survey of 243 corporate technology managers found that their budgets will grow an average of 6 percent in the next year.
Other technology watchers have been more circumspect lately.
A Merrill Lynch report last week said that few of the 100 corporate technology buyers the firm had interviewed in the United States and Europe expected to spend more than normal in the current quarter.
In October, Intel Corp.'s chief financial officer said the chip giant had seen "bits of evidence" but no overwhelming signs that tech spending was picking up. The next day, IBM Corp. chief Sam Palmisano said his company was counting on a rise in spending in 2004, but added that "it is too early to say that a rebound is at hand."
(SOURCE:CNN Tech News)
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
You Thought Velcro Was Good?...Wait 'till you see this
Researchers propose that nano-velcro -- a reusable, carpeted material made
with hook-ended carbon tubes measuring just millionths of a millimeter across
-- could hold objects together as tightly as a strong adhesive. Individual
hook-ended carbon tubes were first created nearly ten years ago, but cannot
yet be routinely fabricated in one group.
Nano-velcro could be 30 times stronger than conventional epoxy adhesives,
and about 3,000 times stronger than a microscopic version of Velcro made
by carving tiny hooks into silicon wafers. Most solids would bond together
so effectively that the materials themselves would break before the pads
of hooks came apart.
Researchers estimate that two hooks can straighten out enough to be pulled
apart, but would also spring back into place, unharmed, once separated. The
hooks would link up again when pushed back together.
(Source: NASA Tech Briefs)
Researchers propose that nano-velcro -- a reusable, carpeted material made
with hook-ended carbon tubes measuring just millionths of a millimeter across
-- could hold objects together as tightly as a strong adhesive. Individual
hook-ended carbon tubes were first created nearly ten years ago, but cannot
yet be routinely fabricated in one group.
Nano-velcro could be 30 times stronger than conventional epoxy adhesives,
and about 3,000 times stronger than a microscopic version of Velcro made
by carving tiny hooks into silicon wafers. Most solids would bond together
so effectively that the materials themselves would break before the pads
of hooks came apart.
Researchers estimate that two hooks can straighten out enough to be pulled
apart, but would also spring back into place, unharmed, once separated. The
hooks would link up again when pushed back together.
(Source: NASA Tech Briefs)
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Remember when Bill said 640K was enough memory for anyone in the foreseable future?--Take a look at this...
New chip gives PCs supercomputing muscle
A computer chip that will enable personal computers to perform some calculations as fast as some supercomputers was unveiled on Tuesday.
Developed by ClearSpeed Technologies, based in California, the CS301 chip is capable of 25 gigaflops - 25 billion "floating point" calculations per second. These arithmetical calculations are also a common measure of computing power.
A desktop Pentium processor operates at a few hundred million flops, while some of the most powerful computers in the world operate at few hundred gigaflops. Putting around 20 ClearSpeed chips into a few personal computers could potentially provide the sort of power normally only found in a supercomputer built from hundreds of parallel processors or specialised hardware.
The CS301 works as a supplementary component to a regular processor. A chipset carrying one or two of the chips can be plugged into a normal PC like a graphics card and perform intensive calculations on behalf of the machine's normal processor. The chip is also very power-efficient, consuming only three watts and ClearSpeed is working on a version for laptop computers.
"The goal here is to enhance supercomputers at one level," says Tom Beese, CEO of ClearSpeed. "But also to deliver a power-efficiency that means you can put a few of chips inside a laptop, running along side a Pentium, and have a gigaflop laptop."
Protein modelling
The CS301 would be especially suited to arithmetically intensive scientific applications such as protein modelling or geological data analysis. Beese says the chip is fast and efficient because it has been designed almost entirely to focus on performing mathematical calculations with around 70 per cent of its surface dedicated to number crunching.
ClearSpeed plans to start selling a PC-compatible version of the microprocessor to research companies and universities within the next few months. A price has yet to be finalised but Beese says a single chip will initially cost around $16,500.
Many supercomputers are built from large arrays of off-the-shelf processors, although there is also a growing return to the use of specialised hardware. The world's fastest supercomputer, NEC's Earth Simulator, is made from specialised components. It is theoretically capable of 35 thousand gigaflops or 35 trillion floating point operations per second.
Details of the CS301 chip will be announced at the Microprocessor Forum 2003, which takes place in California this week.
(Source: Newscientist)
New chip gives PCs supercomputing muscle
A computer chip that will enable personal computers to perform some calculations as fast as some supercomputers was unveiled on Tuesday.
Developed by ClearSpeed Technologies, based in California, the CS301 chip is capable of 25 gigaflops - 25 billion "floating point" calculations per second. These arithmetical calculations are also a common measure of computing power.
A desktop Pentium processor operates at a few hundred million flops, while some of the most powerful computers in the world operate at few hundred gigaflops. Putting around 20 ClearSpeed chips into a few personal computers could potentially provide the sort of power normally only found in a supercomputer built from hundreds of parallel processors or specialised hardware.
The CS301 works as a supplementary component to a regular processor. A chipset carrying one or two of the chips can be plugged into a normal PC like a graphics card and perform intensive calculations on behalf of the machine's normal processor. The chip is also very power-efficient, consuming only three watts and ClearSpeed is working on a version for laptop computers.
"The goal here is to enhance supercomputers at one level," says Tom Beese, CEO of ClearSpeed. "But also to deliver a power-efficiency that means you can put a few of chips inside a laptop, running along side a Pentium, and have a gigaflop laptop."
Protein modelling
The CS301 would be especially suited to arithmetically intensive scientific applications such as protein modelling or geological data analysis. Beese says the chip is fast and efficient because it has been designed almost entirely to focus on performing mathematical calculations with around 70 per cent of its surface dedicated to number crunching.
ClearSpeed plans to start selling a PC-compatible version of the microprocessor to research companies and universities within the next few months. A price has yet to be finalised but Beese says a single chip will initially cost around $16,500.
Many supercomputers are built from large arrays of off-the-shelf processors, although there is also a growing return to the use of specialised hardware. The world's fastest supercomputer, NEC's Earth Simulator, is made from specialised components. It is theoretically capable of 35 thousand gigaflops or 35 trillion floating point operations per second.
Details of the CS301 chip will be announced at the Microprocessor Forum 2003, which takes place in California this week.
(Source: Newscientist)
Monday, October 06, 2003
In case you were wondering
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE ELECTRIC GRID? A massive blackout in August has forced a reexamination of the mixture of physics, engineering, economics, and politics that attempts to keep the power flowing.
Click here for the full article
(Source: The Industrial Physicist)
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE ELECTRIC GRID? A massive blackout in August has forced a reexamination of the mixture of physics, engineering, economics, and politics that attempts to keep the power flowing.
Click here for the full article
(Source: The Industrial Physicist)
SiGe comes of age. Can you say 802.11g-enabled coffee pot?
IBM launches low-power chip. IBM says it has created a new chip design that successfully puts a SiGe bipolar communications chip and CMOS computing chip on a single SOI wafer. IBM's technique, presented at the 2003 bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting in Toulouse, France, is the first to build SiGe bipolar chips onto thin-silicon SOI. The combination can lead to a "fourfold" increase in performance, or "fivefold" decrease in power consumption in wireless devices. IBM Research's VP of science and technology T.C. Chen says the new chip design could be implemented within five years.
(Source: SST's Semiconductor Weekly)
IBM launches low-power chip. IBM says it has created a new chip design that successfully puts a SiGe bipolar communications chip and CMOS computing chip on a single SOI wafer. IBM's technique, presented at the 2003 bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting in Toulouse, France, is the first to build SiGe bipolar chips onto thin-silicon SOI. The combination can lead to a "fourfold" increase in performance, or "fivefold" decrease in power consumption in wireless devices. IBM Research's VP of science and technology T.C. Chen says the new chip design could be implemented within five years.
(Source: SST's Semiconductor Weekly)
About time! Let's hope it's not a blip
SIA: August chip sales continue to climb. Worldwide semiconductor sales totaled $13.42 billion in August, up 4.0% from the $12.90 million in revenues reported in July, and a 12.5% increase from $11.93 billion in sales in August 2002, according to data from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). The figures, which represent a three-month moving average of sales activity, are up 7.4% from the March-May 2003 period, and up an eyebrow-raising 20% from the March-May 2002 period.
"With the exception of the peak year of 2000, this is the strongest monthly increase in August since 1990," commented SIA president George Scalise. A continued broad increase in end-market demand in the consumer, computing, and wireless sectors "is generating stronger third-quarter sales than normal seasonal patterns," he said.
Thanks to the back-to-school buying season, PC-related products continued to drive semiconductor sales in August, with microprocessors up 7.8% and DRAM sales up 11.0% over July. Also contributing to the sales boost is the beginning of a business cycle upgrade, the signs of which were first seen in 2Q (see WaferNews, V10n32, August 11, 2003). Consumer products, including DVDs and digital cameras, also continued to show strong demand, with application-specific standard products (ASSP) sales up 5.3% and flash memory up 6.9% from July.
Geographically, sales in the Asia-Pacific region showed the most growth between July and August, up 6.4%, followed by Europe (3.6%), the Americas, (2.4%), and Japan (1.6%), which slowed from July's 4.8% growth. Year-on-year, regional sales grew by at least 12% everywhere except in the Americas, where they were basically flat at 0.4%.
(Source: SST's Semiconductor Weekly)
SIA: August chip sales continue to climb. Worldwide semiconductor sales totaled $13.42 billion in August, up 4.0% from the $12.90 million in revenues reported in July, and a 12.5% increase from $11.93 billion in sales in August 2002, according to data from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). The figures, which represent a three-month moving average of sales activity, are up 7.4% from the March-May 2003 period, and up an eyebrow-raising 20% from the March-May 2002 period.
"With the exception of the peak year of 2000, this is the strongest monthly increase in August since 1990," commented SIA president George Scalise. A continued broad increase in end-market demand in the consumer, computing, and wireless sectors "is generating stronger third-quarter sales than normal seasonal patterns," he said.
Thanks to the back-to-school buying season, PC-related products continued to drive semiconductor sales in August, with microprocessors up 7.8% and DRAM sales up 11.0% over July. Also contributing to the sales boost is the beginning of a business cycle upgrade, the signs of which were first seen in 2Q (see WaferNews, V10n32, August 11, 2003). Consumer products, including DVDs and digital cameras, also continued to show strong demand, with application-specific standard products (ASSP) sales up 5.3% and flash memory up 6.9% from July.
Geographically, sales in the Asia-Pacific region showed the most growth between July and August, up 6.4%, followed by Europe (3.6%), the Americas, (2.4%), and Japan (1.6%), which slowed from July's 4.8% growth. Year-on-year, regional sales grew by at least 12% everywhere except in the Americas, where they were basically flat at 0.4%.
(Source: SST's Semiconductor Weekly)
Oops...natural evolution at work
Song swappers flock to invitation-only Internet. Monday, October 6, 2003 Posted: 10:25 AM EDT (1425 GMT) SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- Just as Prohibition drove drinkers underground in the roaring '20s, the music industry's crackdown is pushing many song swappers away from the open Internet and into what amount to cyberspace speakeasies.
Click here for the full article.
Song swappers flock to invitation-only Internet. Monday, October 6, 2003 Posted: 10:25 AM EDT (1425 GMT) SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- Just as Prohibition drove drinkers underground in the roaring '20s, the music industry's crackdown is pushing many song swappers away from the open Internet and into what amount to cyberspace speakeasies.
Click here for the full article.
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Finally! ...maybe
Discovery may spur cheap solar power. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -- A major European chip maker said this week it had discovered new ways to produce solar cells which will generate electricity twenty times cheaper than today's solar panels.
STMicroelectronics, Europe's largest semiconductor maker, said that, by the end of next year, it expected to have made the first stable prototypes of the new cells, which could then be put into production. Most of today's solar cells, which convert sunlight into electricity, are produced with expensive silicon, the same material used in most semiconductors.
The French-Italian company expects cheaper organic materials such as plastics to bring down the price of producing energy. Over a typical 20-year life span of a solar cell, a single produced watt should cost as little as $0.20, compared with the current $4. The new solar cells would even be able to compete with electricity generated by burning fossil fuels such as oil and gas, which costs about $0.40 per watt, said Salvo Coffa, who heads ST's research group that is developing the technology. "This would revolutionize the field of solar energy generation," he said. ST's trick is to use materials that are less efficient in producing energy from sunlight but which are extremely cheap.
Coffa said the materials should be able to turn at least 10 percent of the sun's energy into power, compared with some 20 percent for today's expensive silicon-based cells. "We believe we can demonstrate 10 percent efficiency by the end of 2004," Coffa said. Following that, ST and others would need to develop production technologies to make solar cells and panels in large quantities to achieve the $0.20 per watt target, he said. "Our target is fixed at $0.20," said Coffa, who expects no major technological difficulties in going from prototypes to mass-produced commercial products.
Renewable energy is an essential part of research for ST, which says its chip and material expertise can be used to develop future solar cells and fuel cells. ST said three weeks ago it had found a new way to produce tiny yet extremely efficient fuel cells that could power a mobile phone for 20 days.
(Source: CNN/Technology)
Discovery may spur cheap solar power. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -- A major European chip maker said this week it had discovered new ways to produce solar cells which will generate electricity twenty times cheaper than today's solar panels.
STMicroelectronics, Europe's largest semiconductor maker, said that, by the end of next year, it expected to have made the first stable prototypes of the new cells, which could then be put into production. Most of today's solar cells, which convert sunlight into electricity, are produced with expensive silicon, the same material used in most semiconductors.
The French-Italian company expects cheaper organic materials such as plastics to bring down the price of producing energy. Over a typical 20-year life span of a solar cell, a single produced watt should cost as little as $0.20, compared with the current $4. The new solar cells would even be able to compete with electricity generated by burning fossil fuels such as oil and gas, which costs about $0.40 per watt, said Salvo Coffa, who heads ST's research group that is developing the technology. "This would revolutionize the field of solar energy generation," he said. ST's trick is to use materials that are less efficient in producing energy from sunlight but which are extremely cheap.
Coffa said the materials should be able to turn at least 10 percent of the sun's energy into power, compared with some 20 percent for today's expensive silicon-based cells. "We believe we can demonstrate 10 percent efficiency by the end of 2004," Coffa said. Following that, ST and others would need to develop production technologies to make solar cells and panels in large quantities to achieve the $0.20 per watt target, he said. "Our target is fixed at $0.20," said Coffa, who expects no major technological difficulties in going from prototypes to mass-produced commercial products.
Renewable energy is an essential part of research for ST, which says its chip and material expertise can be used to develop future solar cells and fuel cells. ST said three weeks ago it had found a new way to produce tiny yet extremely efficient fuel cells that could power a mobile phone for 20 days.
(Source: CNN/Technology)
