VC Watch

Startup Says Its Silicon Oscillator Beats Crystals, MEMS

U.K. fabless-chip startup eoSemi is sampling a CMOS replacement for kilohertz crystal oscillators while disclosing details of its proprietary technology. CEO Ian Macbeth (shown) says the startup took a deliberate approach to technology development and deployment.

Startup MicroGen Systems Aims to Shake Up Energy Harvesting

By midyear, fabless chip startup MicroGen Systems Inc. plans to announce a foundry manufacturing deal for its microelectromechanical system-based piezoelectric vibrational energy harvesting technology, a move that could result in product shipments by the end of 2012.

Startup EpiGaN Powers GaN on Silicon Wafers

A team spun out from the Inter-university Microelectronics Center research institute is offering device makers epitaxial GaN-on-Si wafers with commercially viable 150- and 200-mm diameters. Gallium nitride and alloys containing aluminum and indium are important for such applications like optoelectronics, RF and lower-frequency power.

Group Tackles Declining VC for Chips

A new chip industry working group is studying the decline of venture capital funding available to nurture semiconductor startups and what, if anything, can be done about it.

ActLight Takes CMOS Tack to Smart Solar

A Swiss solar energy startup is taking an unconventional path to solar power development: It wants to use silicon CMOS wafers usually optimized for logic circuits to integrate large numbers of small solar cells with logic in a chiplike device.

Oxford PV Opens Window to Low-Cost Solar

Oxford Photovoltaics has secured about $1 million in seed funding to commercialize dye-sensitized solar cell technology. The low-cost solar approach could be used to glaze entire buildings in solar collectors.

Leyden Energy Squeezing More Juice from Li-Ion Batteries

Until one of the many emerging battery startups makes a process or materials breakthrough that provides a quantum leap in energy density, Leyden Energy is applying patented technology to improve existing Li-ion batteries.

Lime Tunes Flexible Radio For a Move into Mobile Gear

Lime Microsystems is looking to leverage its chip technology to move beyond its femtocell basestation origins into white-space radio and even mobile devices.

GaN Startup Raises $38M To Transform Power Conversion

Transphorm Inc. is that unusual form of VC-backed startup that has raised money to invest in semiconductor manufacturing, including construction of a wafer fab in California. Transphorm, which specializes in gallium nitride power ICs, boasts a blue chip list of investors. The startup has been cruising along in stealth mode since its formation in 2007.

Software Startup Seeks Parallel Prizes

Multicoreware Inc., a startup formed in 2009, is taking the lead in helping microprocessor vendor Advanced Micro Devices address the challenges of multicore processor and software development.