Tiger Group and GESemi announce equipment and IP sale
Tiger Group and GESemi are now accepting offers for equipment used to produce high-efficiency, GaAs based thin-film photovoltaic (PV) cells and more.
The offering of fully decommissioned, ready-to-ship manufacturing assets from Endicott-based Ubiquity Solar—with nearly 600 crates stored in South-Central New York—features brands such as Aixtron , Attolight, GigaMat, SCHMID, Hercules and KLA-Tencor.
In March 2021, Ubiquity Solar acquired the assets of Alta Devices, which pioneered and manufactured high efficiency GaAs flexible thin-film solar cells used in many applications, including satellites and vehicles. The production cell efficiencies are 20 percent AM0 for space-based applications and 26 percent AM1.5 for terrestrial applications. These thin-film GaAs PV cells, have one of the highest power-to-weight ratio in the industry at more than 800 watts per kilogram, noted GESemi COOrKevin Shows.
“The advanced production lines available in this sale can be used to manufacture products for weight-sensitive applications like drones that require high-efficiency conversion of solar energy to electricity,” he said. “In addition, this is an excellent technology for the space market.”
Some of the MOCVDs are brand-new and configured for producing GaN based semiconductor devices and have not been modified for GaAs applications.
“There are countless other potential applications for thin-flexible GaAs PV cells, including satellites and electric vehicles,” Show said. “This sale represents a tremendous opportunity to advance your business by acquiring game-changing tech at liquidation values.”
Also available are patents (nearly 200 in all) and intellectual property (IP) assets related to the high-tech manufacture of GaAs wafers.
“With its PV technology products, Ubiquity Solar focused on offering more power in watts per square meter and better overall energy-production performance compared to space-grade silicon for the space market,” noted Chad Farrell, MD, Tiger Commercial & Industrial. “The high utility of its thin, light, productive PV cell makes the machinery and equipment (M&E), patents and IP available in this sale particularly valuable to the sector.
Categories include: PVD sputter, MOCVD, surface-preparation, ELO, plating lines, wet processing, test and measurement, inspection, analysis lab and plant support/IT. It includes all the equipment to produce about 150kWp(AM0) year of thin-film GaAs-PV cells from the Alta Devices pilot line but none of the utility support equipment, buildings, or permitting to put into operation. It also includes some of the equipment to expand to 1.5MWp(AM0) per year of production.
Sale highlights include the IP, rights and patents for thin-flexible GaAs solar cells; Aixtron R6 MOCVD systems with two configured for GaAs and four configured for GaN applications; Aixtron Crius II MOCVD systems for GaAs applications; AVP Technologies inline multi-chamber sputtering system; Hitachi S-4700 scanning electron microscope; Bruker Icon atomic force microscope; and small module assembly pilot line currently in operation.
All equipment was running production prior to the shutdown and professionally decommissioned in 2021. Limited amounts of raw materials and finished goods also are available
