Briefs

• MEMS tech transfer
• Hitachi prototypes
• RFMD revenues slip
• Soft & etch strategy
• Upmarket Endwave
• Infrared ahead
• Thermal imaging
• Software for embedded IrDA
• Sirenza consolidates
• Infra Red by MEMS
• PV level sensor

     

People

• NanoWorld AG’s
• Avanex Corp
• Sirenza Microdevices Inc.
• Intense Photonics
• JDS Uniphase
• Xanoptix
• ZettaCore
• Rafael Escolá Foundation
• Air Products
• The Crystal Consortium
• Vishay Intertechnology Inc

     

Patents

• Improving polymeric materials for use in solar cell applications
• Lattice-matched semiconductor materials for optoelectronic devices
• Solar rechargeable battery
• Electro-optical or PV cell, and its fabrication
• Solar simulator with movable filter
• Combination PV cell and RF antenna
• Forming zinc oxide film, and producing PV device
• Synthesis of layers, coatings or films using electrostatic fields
• Solar power generation apparatus and control method
• Power converter integrated solar cell module
• Solar cell device
• Transparent electrode comprising ZnO and a film with a melting point lower than that of ZnO

     

Patents

• Solar cell with integral monolithically grown bypass diode
• Solar cells incorporating light-harvesting arrays
• Polymer devices for PV and light emission
• Glass substrates coated with infrared and/or solar reflective thin layers
• Preparing vaporized antimony precursors
• Low-color UV absorbers for high UV wavelength protection
• PV device and its manufacture
• Adaptive, full-spectrum solar energy system

     

Research Trends

• Single-chip PV water electrolysis device
• Microscale combustion for micro thermophotovoltaic systems
• Minority carrier blockade in MIND model solar cells
• International review of market deployment strategies for PV
• Monolithic a-Si alloy solar modules
• Microstructure of amorphous and microcrystalline Si and SiGe alloys
• GaN/AlGaN back-illuminated MQW Schottky barrier UV photodetectors

     

Patents

• Testing solar cell assemblies for susceptibility to UV degradation
• Method of doping silicon, metal-doped silicon and making solar cells
• Method for making PV cell containing dye
• Solar cell with front-mounted bypass diode
• PV element, its production, and solar cell modules
• Solar battery module, and method for replacing solar cell
• Making and connecting bus bars on solar cells

     

III-Vs Website Watch

• Diving into the European Community pages
• Diversity behind plain pages
• Proving probes leads to EEL
• What's new with NEC Compound
• A database to drool over

     

Research Trends

• Is AM1.5 applicable in practice: Modeling eight PV materials
• Modeling of refractive index and reflectivity of quantum-well solar cell
• Monolithic crystalline multijunction solar cell development
• Characterization of modified Si solar cell emitter by porous Si layer
• Quality of chemical bath deposited CdS layers in thin-film PV cells
• Enhancing efficiency of solar cells and extending performance life

     

In Brief

• Thai investment in PV project
• Konarka secures future with new credit
• Grid project for Solar Plexus
• New Jersey PV project stalls

     

Patents

Including information on:

• Stabilizing dendritic web crystal growth
• Folding PV strip device
• Method for purifying silicon
• Photovoltaic module

     

In brief

Including brief news on:

• Mitsubishi Heavy to double PV sales
• Honda CIGS triple-junction solar cells
• Galapagos gets first PV catamaran
• NIST ATP award for AstroPower

     

Research Trends

Including information on:

• Thailand’s solar white elephants: 15 years of solar battery charging
• Integrated PV/gas-turbine system for satisfying peak demands
• Charge conduction and PV properties of DDE-based Schottky device
• Field-aided collection in GaInP₂ top solar cells
• PV roofing design issues and integration into buildings

     

Research Trends

• Corrosion of SnO₂:F transparent conducting layers in thin-film PV
• CuInSe₂ thin-film preparation via new selenization process
• Dynamic performance of hybrid PV/thermal collector wall
• Processing effects on microstructure of silver thick films

     

Research Trends

• Enhancing solar cell efficiency and extending performance life
• 5–20 MeV proton irradiation effects on GaAs/Ge solar cells for space use
• Design of hybrid a-Si/PEC multijunction cell for hydrogen production
• Photoassisted MOVPE-grown ZnSe/GaAs heterojunction solar cells

     

Briefs

• Element 110 nameday
• Data stored In polymer

     

Time domain approach to recursive digital filter synthesis

The problem of the design of IIR digital filters, when the analog filter has been synthesized, resides in the approximation of a continuous system by means of a discrete one. We present a synthesis method which discretizes an Input-State-Output (I-S-O) model of the analog filter and is completely performed in the time domain. The basis of the method is the way in which the problem is stated, which points out the fundamental role played by the interpolator and allows an easy implementation.The main advantages of our method, with reference to traditional approaches, are:

• •- it allows direct working on continuous representations of the analog filter and the discretization does not require symbolic calculations as in approaches based on substitution techniques (for example bilinear transformation);
• •- it is completely numerical and is very simple from a computational point of view;
• •- it can be used for single and multiple input-output filters;
• •- it allows longer sampling periods using suitable interpolators.

An example is discussed which allows a comparison with the synthesis method based on bilinear transform and shows, also, that computing time may be saved as the sampling period may be traded off with the interpolator order.     

The social uses of Internet in Mexico: A case study

The telecommunication sector is creating and developing new uses for information and communications technologies. In a context of services, it has become important to take into account the diversity of potential uses of telecommunication technology. The purpose of this paper is to understand how are the users built up in the case of Internet in Mexico in the frame of social diversity and the construction of a democracy.The focus will be:

• 1.To analyse the main economic and political actors that are defining the social uses of Internet in Mexico.
• 2.To describe the main services that Internet is providing to users.
• 3.To select a small sample of users in Mexico in order to apply them a questionnaire that could let us know the new patterns of behaviour and emergence of new practices.

Are these services responding to social demands in order to increase the plurality of voices and freedom of expression?     

Adoption of Internet services in the Acceding and Candidate Countries,lessons from the Internet banking case

Little is known about the dynamics of adoption of Internet services in general in the Acceding and Candidate Countries¹ (ACCs). Retail Internet banking, however, is one of the most developed e-services and, the drivers and barriers for the adoption of Internet banking are likely to be relevant to other sectors' e-services. They may also shed light on the underlying supply/demand dynamics.The paper addresses the following questions:

• •What is the current Internet banking level of supply in the current European Union countries (EU15) and in ACCs? What are the drivers and barriers for development?
• •What is the current level of adoption by consumers? What are the drivers and barriers for adoption?
• •Are there supply/demand issues that are specific to ACCs?
• •What are the potential private/public policy options for addressing these issues?

This paper has been based on extensive data analysis, with contributions from Internet banking experts in the EU15 and in the ACCs. Results from this research have been used to develop and validate a model of adoption factors which includes access technology and infrastructure, and sector specific retail banking aspects. This model provides a more detailed understanding of the particular challenges in the ACCs for the development of the Information Society in general, and the adoption of Internet banking in particular. Policy options to address these are also suggested.     

Factors affecting Internet use in a saturated-access population

There is a large body of literature that focuses on technology and innovation adoption. Much of that deals with the factors that affect adoption at different stages. Some research deals with early adoption, such as that by Rogers (1995). Other research looks at innovations as they begin to penetrate the general population, such as Lin’s (1998) study of personal computer use. Across these studies the impact of the factors changes. For example, demographics are better at predicting early adoption but become less important for general adoption.This study looks at factors that affect usage of an innovation when it is available to most of the population. In this case the population was the faculty and staff at Washington State University, where 97% had access to the Internet. Like Lin’s study, the present research used the four scales of adoption factors (resources, need for innovativeness, complexity, advantages), media use, technology clusters, and demographics as predictors. Unlike Lin’s study which predicted PC adoption, this study predicted Internet use.Based on telephone interviews with a random sample of 296 faculty and staff in the Spring of 1998 the major findings were:

• 1.The four factors found in Lin’s study were replicated, but the strengths differed.
• 2.Gender and age were significant demographic predictors of use, younger males being heavier users.
• 3.Those owning more technologies were heavier users.
• 4.Those more positive on two perceptual factors (viewing the Internet as less complex and seeing more advantages) were heavier users.

     

ACE: a bond graph modelling and development tool for control system design and implementation

A software tool based on bond graphs is presented together with a hardware-in-the-loop experimental rig. These are designed to be used as aids in the planning, simulation, implementation and testing of control systems containing multiple actuators with sensory feedback.The windows-based, object-orientated (OO) development tool ACE (Adaptive Control Environment) enables the user to build up a graphical representation of the system by selecting objects from a library of system elements and/or mini systems. Each of these objects, although viewed as a graphical drawing of the selected element on this level, contains data representing an acausal bond graph. As the model is built up containing several of these objects, ACE has a view of the overall interconnecting acausal bond graph of the system.For hardware-in-the-loop simulation, ACE divides the core system model into three parts, representing:

• •the hardware-in-the-loop objects — that is the hardware under test (e.g. an electrical motor and sensors);
• •the controller — whose function it is to control the afore mentioned hardware;
• •an applied loading.

It is from the last two of these sub-systems that control code may be generated for operation and testing on a specially developed DAP (Data Acquisition Processor) controlled test-rig.