At the 2008 IEDM in San Francisco, Dr. Mark Pinto, CTO for Applied Materials was awarded The J.J. Ebers Award for outstanding contribution to the semiconductor industry. Presented by the IEEE Electron Devices Society, the J.J. Ebers award was established in 1971 and is given in commemoration of Jewell James Ebers, whose work on electron devices helped shape current technologies. The award is considered one of the technical community’s most prestigious awards.
Amtech Systems, Inc. has named Fokko Pentinga as the Managing Director of the company’s European division. Amtech Europe comprises Tempress Systems in Vaassen, the Netherlands, and R2D Automation in Montpellier, France, both of which are subsidiaries of Amtech Systems, Inc. Mr. Pentinga joins Amtech from his former role as General Manager of Tempress Systems, where he served for over 14 years.
REC has updated the status of its polysilicon expansion at Plant III, saying it has formally accepted and taken control over the entire fluidized bed reactor (FBR) area and all related equipment at the new factory under construction in Moses Lake, WA. However, quality control problems with certain carbon steel pipe welds have delayed start-up of silane production until late January 2009.
Silicon Valley-based SunPower Corp. has named Jorg Heinemann as its new Chief Information Officer. Mr. Heinemann joins the company from his former 20-year tenure at Accenture, where he most recently held the role of Executive Partner. As Chief Information Officer, he will steer SunPower’s global IT organization and manage the company's strategic technology planning.
Amelio Solar, Inc. has named Donald Osborn as its President and as Director of its photovoltaic power generation systems group. Based in Ewing, New Jersey, Amelio Solar intends to apply Mr. Osborn’s over 30 years of experience in the industry the company’s expansion plans, with the installation of a large-scale thin-film PV module factory in California planned for 2009. Mr. Osborn will also assume responsibility for development of the company's global turnkey thin-film PV module factory deployment business and expansion of its power generation systems portfolio.
Concentrix Solar officially inaugurated its production line for concentrator solar photovoltaic modules during ceremonies held Friday at its Freiburg, Germany, location. The fully automated 25-MW capacity facility, which can be expanded to 100 MW, has been running since September and shipping product since October. The factory is one of the few industrial-scale CPV manufacturing lines in operation.
The European Investment Bank will lend €40 million to Thin Film Solar Technologies to support the construction of a 30-MWp production facility for CIGSSe photovoltaic modules in Paarl, located in the Western Cape region of South Africa.The plant will hire up 150 employees, who will receive training and specialist skills development.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has named his selection to head the American Energy Department. Steven Chu, former co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics (1997), Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and founder of the Helios Solar Energy Research Center (SERC), has accepted the post that will see Dr. Chu instrumental in the allocation of Obama’s planned $150 billion investment in alternative energy technologies. Dr. Chu will work alongside Carol Browner, who will head the national energy council and led the Environmental Protection Agency under Bill Clinton.
According to a Forbes report, major investment banks Goldman Sachs and CDH Investment have together contributed close to US$100 million in Himin Solar Energy Group, a solar module manufacturer based in eastern China's Shandong province. The investment, which was announced earlier in the year but delayed because of the global economic crisis, has been earmarked for aiding in company growth and R&D.
The APOLLON project, a Europe-wide cooperation of PV research institutions, has accepted SolarTec AG’s application to become an industrial partner. In this role, SolarTec will develop a new concentrator system for the project, which is based on the fields of ‘PF’ (Point Focus) and ‘High Density-Mirror Based Spectra Splitting.’ SolarTec was chosen for participation from an applicant base of more than 400, including renowned research institutes.
