1366 Technologies
Encyclopedia
1366 Technologies is a company based in Lexington, Massachusetts
that has developed a technique to produce silicon
wafers
by casting
them in their ultimate shape directly in a mold, rather than the prevailing standard method in which wafers are cut from a large ingot. The company's management predicts that the new approach will be able to produce wafers at costs 40% below current methods. The company's name is a reference to the solar constant
, representing the watts of solar energy that hits each square meter of the surface of the earth. It is also the number of pins of Intel's current high-end socket, LGA1366.
's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy
(ARPA-E) program in December 2009 to fund research over an 18-month period. Grants from ARPA-E are is designed to provide money to relatively small projects offering the potential for high-payoff results in fostering advanced techniques. 1366 Technologies was able to announce eight months into the grant period that it had achieved success in its casting technology, in which molten silicon is poured directly into a mold to produce wafers in their final form, a square 6 inches (15.2 cm) on each side that is 200 micrometres thick and are then extracted from the mold using a proprietary technique to ensure that the wafer doesn't break while being removed from the mold. In traditional methods, wafers of this size are cut from a large single ingot or crystal, in an approach that leaves as much as half of the original silicon ingot as waste.
David Danielson, program director for solar energy at ARPA-E said that "early indications show this could be one of our great success stories." In conjunction with the lower-cost molding technique, the wafers from 1366 Technologies will have finer wires on its surface to minimize shadows and will be drilled with a series of holes to create an internal surface area that allows additional light energy to be captured. ARPA-E's first director Arun Majumdar
estimated that current techniques generate solar power at a cost of $4 per watt, and that bringing down that cost to $1.50 per watt could lead to the widespread adoption of solar energy. Company president Frank van Mierlo estimated that solar power generated using wafers from 1366 Technologies would be cheaper than power generated using coal.
n Hanwha Chemical, a major user of silicon wafers, as well as from Ventizz Capital Fund, North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners
. The money raised comes in addition to $12.4 million raised from investors in March 2008 and $5.1 million in February 2010, bringing the total financing to $37.5 million.
Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,399 at the 2010 census. This town is famous for being the site of the first shot of the American Revolution, in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.- History :...
that has developed a technique to produce silicon
Silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. A tetravalent metalloid, it is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table...
wafers
Wafer (electronics)
A wafer is a thin slice of semiconductor material, such as a silicon crystal, used in the fabrication of integrated circuits and other microdevices...
by casting
Casting
In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowing it to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process...
them in their ultimate shape directly in a mold, rather than the prevailing standard method in which wafers are cut from a large ingot. The company's management predicts that the new approach will be able to produce wafers at costs 40% below current methods. The company's name is a reference to the solar constant
Solar constant
The solar constant, a measure of flux density, is the amount of incoming solar electromagnetic radiation per unit area that would be incident on a plane perpendicular to the rays, at a distance of one astronomical unit...
, representing the watts of solar energy that hits each square meter of the surface of the earth. It is also the number of pins of Intel's current high-end socket, LGA1366.
Technology
The company used a $4 million grant obtained from the United States Department of EnergyUnited States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy
ARPA-E
ARPA-E, or Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy is a United States government agency to promote and fund research and development of advanced energy technologies...
(ARPA-E) program in December 2009 to fund research over an 18-month period. Grants from ARPA-E are is designed to provide money to relatively small projects offering the potential for high-payoff results in fostering advanced techniques. 1366 Technologies was able to announce eight months into the grant period that it had achieved success in its casting technology, in which molten silicon is poured directly into a mold to produce wafers in their final form, a square 6 inches (15.2 cm) on each side that is 200 micrometres thick and are then extracted from the mold using a proprietary technique to ensure that the wafer doesn't break while being removed from the mold. In traditional methods, wafers of this size are cut from a large single ingot or crystal, in an approach that leaves as much as half of the original silicon ingot as waste.
David Danielson, program director for solar energy at ARPA-E said that "early indications show this could be one of our great success stories." In conjunction with the lower-cost molding technique, the wafers from 1366 Technologies will have finer wires on its surface to minimize shadows and will be drilled with a series of holes to create an internal surface area that allows additional light energy to be captured. ARPA-E's first director Arun Majumdar
Arun Majumdar
Arun Majumdar is a materials scientist, engineer, and Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay graduate who is presently President Barack Obama's nominee for the Under Secretary of Energy...
estimated that current techniques generate solar power at a cost of $4 per watt, and that bringing down that cost to $1.50 per watt could lead to the widespread adoption of solar energy. Company president Frank van Mierlo estimated that solar power generated using wafers from 1366 Technologies would be cheaper than power generated using coal.
Financing
1366 Technologies has raised $20 million in capital to commercialize their innovation, from such investors as South KoreaSouth Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n Hanwha Chemical, a major user of silicon wafers, as well as from Ventizz Capital Fund, North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners
Polaris Venture Partners
Polaris Venture Partners is a venture capital firm specializing in seed and early stage investments particularly in companies engaged in the information technology and life sciences sectors....
. The money raised comes in addition to $12.4 million raised from investors in March 2008 and $5.1 million in February 2010, bringing the total financing to $37.5 million.