BASF Signs Agreements For Electronics Development

BASF and Bosch will cooperate in the field of organic photovoltaics as members of a new German government-backed technology initiative aimed at making the manufacture of solar cells much more cost-effective than it is today.

Germany's federal ministry of education and research will provide about $80 million in research funding, while companies including BASF, Bosch, Merck, and Schott plan to spend up to $400 million. The partners aim to develop solar cells based on organic semiconductive materials that can generate electricity from light at a lower cost than those with the silicon-based materials currently in use.

In a related deal, BASF and Bosch are each investing more than $2 million in the year-old German company Heliatek, which specialized in the manufacture of organic solar cells.

Separately, BASF and IBM will jointly develop electronic materials required to produce advanced integrated circuits. The two companies will develop chemicals needed to manufacture new high-performance chips based on 32-nm technology, down from the 45-nm technology considered the current state of the art.

The 32-nm technology, and related chemicals and materials, are expected to be commercialized by major semiconductor companies by 2010. The cooperation will benefit from IBM's strength in semiconductor process development and BASF's expertise and innovations in chemicals and nanotechnology, says Ralf Fink, senior manager at BASF Electronic Materials.