WORLDNEWS
How big was PV in 2008?
SEMI
announces
five PV
VLSI RESEARCH recently announced their analysis
standards
results for PV cell and module manufacturing
equipment market size for 2008. SEMI has published
five new technical
According to the company the PV cell and module standards applicable
manufacturing equipment market for all cell to the semiconductor,
technologies reached a value of US$4.4 billion in MEMS and
2008. Growth in the market is expected to slow to photovoltaic (PV)
8% in 2009 as demand for cells starts to cool with manufacturing
a fiscal slowdown and smaller manufacturers industry. The new
struggle to secure the financing necessary to fund standards are
the next round of expansion. available through the
SEMI network.
However, the outlook for equipment suppliers this
year varies by cell technology. Providers of SEMI Standards are
equipment for thin film cell technologies will published three times
experience strong growth in overall revenues in a year. The new
2009 due to large order backlogs and long VLSI Research Europe Managing Director, John standards, part of the
customer acceptance times. In contrast, suppliers West, remarked that the underlying fundamentals March 2009 cycle, join
of equipment for silicon wafer cell manufacturing of this market are strong and that this is a more than 780
are expected to see a potentially sharp decline temporary situation exacerbated by the global standards that have
from 2008 levels as customers with excess economic crisis. “2009 will be a period of been published by
capacity choose to fully ramp existing facilities consolidation for the market,” he explained, as SEMI during the past
before committing to new equipment. Overall, this weaker companies are likely to be squeezed out 35 years.
7
results in growth of 8% for the year. over the coming year.
The new standards
www
include a test method
.solar
for evaluating
STMicro boosts solar capacity
photovoltaic silicon
-pv-management.com
feedstock. While SEMI
has been developing
ORDINARY SILICON DIODES used in switched- these can be made smaller leading to compact and publishing PV
mode power supplies lose up to 1% efficiency by power supplies delivering higher power density. standards since 1981,
not turning off immediately, but STMicroelectronics they were previously
is among the first companies to introduce silicon A further benefit for switched-mode power supply included in the
carbide (SiC) diodes that save this energy normally (SMPS) designers is that SiC diodes allow higher materials volume.
Issue I 2009
lost during switching. switching frequencies, which enable other
components such as filtering capacitors and “Given the level of
The SiC Schottky diodes are especially useful in inductors to become smaller and less expensive, current standards
converters for solar power systems, where every and consume less power. development activity
fractional efficiency percentage is valuable. Power in the PV area, SEMI
supplies for servers and telecom systems, which SiC technology is able to deliver these benefits created a new volume
are operational round the clock, will also benefit because no reverse recovery charge accumulates focused on
from the cumulative savings of this apparently during the diode’s normal conduction period. photovoltaics,” said
small improvement in efficiency. These diodes can When a conventional bipolar silicon diode is turned James Amano,
also be used in motor controllers, which are off, this charge must be dispelled by Director, SEMI
deployed in large numbers worldwide, thereby recombination between groups of charge carriers International
saving the environmental impact of many close to the diode junction. The current flowing Standards. “The new
thousands of Watts of generated energy. during this recombination period is called the PV standard, along
reverse recovery current. This undesired current, with the four others
Moreover, by saving the energy normally when combined with the voltage across associated announced today, will
dissipated as heat by the silicon diode, the new semiconductor power switches, generates heat contribute to
SiC technology enables engineers to consider a that will be dissipated by the switches. By improved yield and
lower maximum current rating for the diode. This eliminating this reverse recovery charge, SiC ensure compatibility
allows smaller components to be used without Schottky diodes have much lower switching losses of equipment and
sacrificing usable power. In high power across the board, leading to higher efficiency and processes
applications where heatsinks are normally used, lower heat dissipation. worldwide.”
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