Thin film solar vendor DayStar Technologies (NASDAQ: DSTI) has named its chief operating officer Dr. Stephan DeLuca the company's new CEO, replacing company co-founder and chairman Dr. John R. Tuttle, who will continue to serve as chairman.

The swapout comes at a critical time. Two weeks ago, in DayStar's first quarterly conference call as a public company, CEO Tuttle revealed that the firm only had a few months of cash left, and was seeking to quickly raise $15M to $30M USD. (See Solar flares: SunPower, DayStar, Miasole and SunTech.) The company secured $15M earlier this year.

DayStar maintains the change will actually help its fundraising efforts. VP of sales and marketing Terry Schuyler told Cleantech.com it wasn't uncommon for companies at DayStar's stage to transition its technical company founders into other roles and put other "more experienced executives at the reigns." He described the mood at DayStar today as "upbeat."

Spokesperson Erica Dart said the change should help the company secure its funding to "transition to commercial scale production and allow us to continue operations for our gen III development."

The company's current gen II material is approximately 5% efficient. Other thin film solar vendors claim higher efficiencies. DayStar's gen III material could be 10% efficient, perhaps as high as 15% over 3-5 years, according to officials. Productization of the gen III material is on hold pending new funding.

Co-founder Tuttle had led the Company for the last six years. He was a pioneer in the application of copper indium gallium di-selenide (CIGS) to solar cell technology. His technical expertise is important to the company, as noted in DayStar's last prospectus: "Our success depends on the continuing efforts and abilities of Dr. John Tuttle ... The loss or ineffectiveness of Dr. Tuttle could harm our business plans, prospects, results of operations and financial condition."

"From start-up through DayStar's critical development stage, John's vision and energy, as founder and CEO, have contributed immeasurably to the company's emergence as a noted contender for market leadership in the fast growing photovoltaic industry," said Dr. Randolph A. Graves, Jr., DayStar's Lead Director, in a statement.

New CEO DeLuca joined DayStar in April as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer after 15 years at Inficon and its predecessor Leybold Inficon, a supplier of analytical instruments, sensors and software. He had most recently serving as Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Business Development at Inficon and had also served as the president of the company's Asia operations, based in Taiwan.

DayStar was one of the first companies to productize low cost CIGS foil-based material to convert sunlight into energy, and actually deliver production-grade product. Other vendors are pursuing similar technologies with varying levels of production readiness.

The company is also seeking a new chief financial officer. Current CFO Stephen Aanderud is resigning for health reasons.

Shares of New York-based DayStar were up 2 per cent at $5.93 in mid-afternoon trading Tuesday on the Nasdaq.