Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

Amtech Systems, Inc. has added to its Board of Directors with the appointment of Dr. James (Jeong Mo) Hwang, an industry veteran with more than 20 years of semiconductor and solar industry experience. Previous posts include senior engineering and management roles at such major players as Spansion, Texas Instruments and Simtek Corp.

Adding to a long list of executive reshuffles in the past few months, JA Solar has announced that its COO Dr. Elmer Hsu (pictured) is retiring from the company with immediate effect. The company is promoting Baofang Jin, JA Solar's co-founder and chairman of the board since the company's inception, to executive chairman, while CEO Samuel Yang will retain his title, working with Mr. Jin to ensure a smooth management transition.

Semilab, one of the world's largest metrology companies, has named Dr. Chris Moore as President and CEO of Semilab USA. This decision gives Moore responsibility for strategic direction and operations of all Semilab divisions within the US.

Building on his experience in the equipment sales industry, Robin Bancroft, a former European agent for Baccini, has joined DEK Solar as Alternative Energies Business Development Manager for Western Europe. Mr. Bancroft brings several years of sales and management experience to the company, and will be shouldered with the responsibility of managing market development of DEK’s solar metallization lines.

Abound Solar is looking for a new CEO, as Pascal Noronha is stepping down as chief executive while taking over the role of chairman of the board of the CdTe thin-film PV company. Current chairman John Hill will remain on the board as a founding director.

Heraeus group’s PV materials sector has hired Tung Pham as research scientist for the organization; he will work primarily in the North American lab located in Pennsylvania. Under the direction of Weiming Zhang, PV research and development manager, Pham will be advancing the company’s current paste platforms and developing new PV materials.

Bekaert Advanced Coatings, provider of rotatable sputter solutions for all PVD applications, is expanding its sales team in the U.S. in order to assure local support to customers’ needs.

Signet Solar has announced the appointment of Bruce Horn as the company's Chief Financial Officer. Horn will oversee Signet's financial development and offer strategic support as the company scales its manufacturing capabilities.

Robert Lieberman has joined Spire Corp. as corporate controller, bringing more than 25 years of manufacturing and distribution experience to the role. As corporate controller, he will be shouldered with responsibility for Spire’s financial dealings, and working on improving existing processes and business efficiencies.

Jetion Holdings, a solar-cell manufacturer, dismissed its chief executive and three senior managers for alleged “breaches of their service contracts and fiduciary duties”. The board dismissed the four staff on the grounds that they are operators and shareholders of a solar module producer and exporter that competes with Jetion.