Semiconductor India Newsdesk
Heading:Magma improves
Vignani extends
solar yield with Indian PV
engineering
company
services to Europe
VIGNANI TECHNOLOGIES, a product
MAGMA DESIGN AUTOMATION has technology introductions and fast yield engineering services company with
announced development of a new yield ramps — are now critically needed in the headquarters in Bangalore, India, extends
enhancement software system customized solar industry to reduce costs,” said Dr. it activities to Europe with establishment
for solar fabs to improve conversion Sudhindra Tatti, president of Pegasus of Vignani Europe B.V. situated in
efficiency, increase yield and reduce the Semiconductor-Solar, a systems integrator Zevenbergen, The Netherlands
manufacturing costs of solar cells. Magma in the solar industry that also provides Vignani was established in June 2005
is collaborating with Pegasus semiconductor manufacturing expertise and and offers high end product design
Semiconductor-Solar to refine product consulting to solar manufacturers. “To keep services to companies in semiconductor
specifications and test the new product, up with the overwhelming demand, industry, automotive, solar, defence and
based on Magma’s YieldManager(r) innovation in the solar fabrication process medical equipment. Among its customers
software system. must be accelerated, and today no are 7 Fortune 1000 companies. In 2007
Solar-converted electricity costs two to enterprise-wide yield enhancement software revenue was 4.23 M$ and number of
three times as much to produce as energy exists for solar fabs. Being able to base a employees has grown to 200.
generated from traditional sources. much-needed solution on a proven product Kumar Ramachandran, CEO of
Inefficient energy conversion and the need such as YieldManager is a terrific advantage Vignani: “Recent research indicates the
to produce a very large number of wafers for Magma.” market for engineering services will
contribute to the high cost. Only about 16 YieldManager enables analysis and grow to Ä100+ B by 2020. Of that 25 %
percent of light that hits a solar cell wafer correlation of disparate data from most of will be outsourced to low cost and fast
can be collected as usable electricity. the equipment in the manufacturing line. growing economies like India. Europe is
To produce enough solar cells to With this information, semiconductor test an important market for us, where
generate 500 megawatts a year, a solar cell and production engineers can quickly willingness to outsource engineering
fab must produce as many as 400,000 identify and correct root causes of yield activities to India is still increasing.
wafers a day, an exponentially larger loss. Proven to efficiently address yield Establishment of Vignani Europe B.V.
number than even the largest semiconductor management for complex semiconductor will enable us to be close to our
plants produce. The cost of the silicon fabrication, a solar-targeting version of customers. We are also looking to
alone, not to mention the manufacturing YieldManager could effectively address the partner with companies who could
costs, for that number of wafers is similar solar cell fabrication process. leverage our expertise and help them
considerable. Magma is collaborating with several grow their business in emerging
Improving the energy conversion solar fabs and will soon announce markets.”
efficiency, reducing the manufacturing costs installation sites in Asia. Wil Huijben, President Vignani
and increasing the yield of silicon wafer- Magma is defining the product Europe: ‘“Since we started focusing on
based solar cells are critical to the growth of specifications with Pegasus Semiconductor- the European market, we have been able
the solar market. Magma’s new product will Solar, which will also conduct beta testing. to raise interest for our services with
allow solar fabs to better monitor all Pegasus Semiconductor-Solar is working to companies in the Netherlands, Belgium,
metrology, inspection and performance data bring solar energy into the energy UK, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, France,
throughout the manufacturing process. This infrastructure of semi-rural and urban areas Switzerland, Austria, Spain and Italy.
would enable fab operators to identify and of India. Customers appreciate our capability to
correct root causes of solar-efficiency and “The demand for low-cost alternative cover integrated product design activities
yield degradation caused by subtle fab energy far outstrips the supply today,” said from high level concept to detailed
processing fluctuations or instability. Ankush Oberai, vice president of the design. Combined with our flexible
“Semiconductor manufacturing tools Magma’s Failure Analysis Business Unit. engagement models with customers we
such as rapid fault detection, advanced “We’re pleased to support the explosive are able to add significant value to their
process control and integrated yield growth of this fledgling industry with business needs.”
management — which enabled rapid proven, yield management technology.”
Autumn 2008 |
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