Veteran semiconductor executive becomes DayStar’s new CEO

CIGS thin-film start-up DayStar has appointed Magnus Ryde its new chief executive officer and a director of the company's board. DayStar also announced that William Steckel resigned from his positions of CEO and CFO on February 15. Steckel will continue to serve on DayStar's board. Ryde was North American President of the leading semiconductor foundry, Taiwan-based TSMC. He also spent 18 years with KLA-Tencor in various executive roles. DayStar has had a string of executive changes over the past two years.

In welcoming Ryde to DayStar, DayStar chairman Peter Lacey said, "Magnus is an executive possessing a unique combination of skills and experiences that make him the ideal leader for DayStar as the company commercializes its CIGS PV modules. Magnus has extensive experience with world class semiconductor manufacturers and high technology companies."

"I am excited to lead DayStar through the next phase of growth as we commercialize our unique thin-film PV technology," said Ryde. "DayStar has a robust technology roadmap which calls for commercial CIGS PV modules with a conversion efficiency of greater than 13% and less than $0.85 cost per watt at full production scale. There is wide consensus that CIGS is the most promising photovoltaic thin-film platform. DayStar has demonstrated repeatable high-efficiency CIGS with its one-step sputter deposition process, and I am confident in our ability to scale this process and commercialize our product."

The company did not give a reason for the change in CEOs.

Newsletter

Preview Latest Subscribe
We won't share your details - promise!

Publications

  • Photovoltaics International 14th Edition

    Photovoltaics International 14th Edition

    Published in November 2011, the 14th edition of Photovoltaics International provides a variety of technical papers from some of the industry’s stalwarts. Features include: TÜV Rheinland on junction box testing; Laser Zentrum Hannover on laser edge isolation of mc-Si cells; Calisolar on the importance of traceability; Fraunhofer ISE on EWT cells; and EPIA on Europe’s LCOE.

  • Photovoltaics International Lite, Volume 05 - 2011

    Photovoltaics International Lite, Volume 05 - 2011

    This digital interactive Lite sees Tom Cheyney follow Agua Caliente’s progress on becoming one of first truly utility-scale PV power farms, where 40–50MW (AC) will be commissioned by the end of the year. We also feature one of the world’s largest silicon thin-film PV power plants, Avenal; a report on warnings of the collapse of module prices from Solarbuzz and PI-Berlin presents tips on PV module testing. A print version of this edition will be distributed at Solar Power International 2011 in Dallas, Texas.

  • Manufacturing The Solar Future: The 2011 Production Annual

    Manufacturing The Solar Future: The 2011 Production Annual

    Manufacturing the Solar Future is the primary source guide for detailed information on the PV production process. This annual provides technical details on how the leading companies and research organizations worldwide are addressing this need by dramatically improving their manufacturing processes.

Partners

Acknowledgements

Solar Media