Latest Gallium Stories

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Solar cells are nothing new, but what may be coming is a technology to make a less expensive version of them. Silicon is used in both computer chips and solar cells, and both require a surface coating before use. This coating requires a lot of heat and energy to run in a passivation process, making it a costly step. A group of MIT researchers wrote in the journal Advanced Materials they have found a way to passivate silicon at...

A new way of making crystalline silicon, developed by U-M researchers, could make this crucial ingredient of computers and solar cells much cheaper and greener. Silicon dioxide, or sand, makes up about 40 percent of the earth's crust, but the industrial method for converting sand into crystalline silicon is expensive and has a major environmental impact due to the extreme processing conditions. "The crystalline silicon in modern electronics is currently made through a series of...

University of California, Davis, researchers for the first time have looked inside gallium manganese arsenide, a type of material known as a "dilute magnetic semiconductor" that could open up an entirely new class of faster, smaller devices based on an emerging field known as “spintronics.” Materials of this type might be used to read and write digital information not by using the electron’s charge, as is the case with today’s electronic devices, but by using its "spin."...

MONTREAL, Oct. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Orbite Aluminae Inc. (TSX:ORT / OTCQX:EORBF) ("Orbite" or the "Company") today announced it has reached an agreement with the firm M&K of St. Louis, Missouri (USA) for the engineering and construction of a separation plant capable of producing gallium oxide at a purity of 4N (99.99%) and scandium oxide at a purity of 2N or greater (99%+) from the acid recovery circuit of its HPA plant in Cap-Chat, Quebec. This addition represents a major...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have developed a thinner, more flexible, less expensive type of semiconductor that uses graphene instead of silicon. Typically, the silicon-based semiconductors used in commercial technology are "rigid, opaque, and about half a millimeter thick," according to Gizmag's Ben Coxworth. However, a new process developed by Dr. Helge Weman, Professor Bjørn-Ove...

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Soraa, the world's leading developer of GaN on GaN(TM) (gallium nitride on gallium nitride) solid-state lighting technology, announced today that co-founder Dr. Shuji Nakamura received the Inventor of the Year Award from The Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association (SVIPLA). Each year the SVIPLA recognizes an individual who has made an exceptional contribution in the technical arts and this year has chosen to honor Dr....

With enough sunlight falling on home roofs to supply at least half of America's electricity, scientists today described advances toward the less-expensive solar energy technology needed to roof many of those homes with shingles that generate electricity. Shingles that generate electricity from the sun, and can be installed like traditional roofing, already are a commercial reality. But the advance ― a new world performance record for solar cells made with "earth-abundant" materials ―...

FREMONT, Calif., Aug. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Soraa, the world's leading developer of GaN on GaN((TM)) (gallium nitride on gallium nitride) solid-state lighting technology, announced today that it has been selected by Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to lead a project on the development of bulk gallium nitride (GaN) substrates. Using GaN as a substrate holds promise for many industries, but has immediate applications for light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which Soraa...

Solar power cells are limited by the wavelengths of light they can absorb from the sun. Ideally a solar cell would absorb every wavelength, but to date the goal has not been reached. Silicon, today's photovoltaic industry standard, is limited in the wavelength range it can 'see' and absorb. A possible solution has been found in indium gallium nitride. Using this material, scientists can tune the material's response so it collects solar energy from a variety of wavelengths. The more...

FREMONT, Calif., May 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Soraa, the world's leading developer of GaN on GaN(TM) (gallium nitride on gallium nitride) solid-state lighting technology, today announced the addition of two industry-leading executives to the leadership team. Dr. Tom Caulfield has assumed the position of Chief Operating Officer and Ray Letasi joins Soraa as Vice President of Global Sales. Dr. Caulfield has held numerous executive positions in publicly traded and private companies...