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UK-based semiconductor wafer supplier IQE has raised £10.5 million through issuing nearly 44 million new shares at 24p each. IQE will use this to invest in solar cell manufacturer, Solar Junction.
IQE will use US$5 million to buy a 9% equity share in SJC; US$8 million to buy high volume MBE production tools and US$2 million to buy ancillary quality control equipment, process transfer and to establish initial wafer manufacturing at IQE.
The company will also be SJC’s exclusive supplier of epitaxial layers on wafers and have exclusive access to SJC’s on-going R&D programme.
"Solar Junction holds the world record CPV cell efficiency of 43.5%," claims IQE CEO Dr. Drew Nelson. "Using our combined intellectual property, IQE and SJC have a clear roadmap to increase efficiency to over 50% during the coming few years. It is expected to facilitate a significant acceleration in our concentrator photovoltaic strategy and it provides us with an opportunity to become a key epi supplier to the CPV market."
