SiXtron sees explosive market for safer solar coating

Montreal, Quebec-based SiXtron began shipping its innovative coating material to solar companies earlier this month for evaluation.

The startup has developed a replacement for the highly combustible silane material used to coat crystalline silicon solar panels. SiXtron says its technology is not only cheaper, it removes the need for many of the costly handling procedures that silane requires.

"With silane, you don't need a flame, just a leak and an explosion is guaranteed," CEO Zbigiew Barwicz said. "Silane in high volumes is dangerous, and dangerous equals costly. We’re replacing silane and reducing the cost of operating a fab for photovoltaics."

Additionally, the equipment needed to use SiXtron's coating costs $100,000, compared to $1 million for a silane line. Barwicz said the equipment works with existing production lines, meaning the only adjustment needed is the gas line and source.

SiXtron's on-site gas generation system uses canisters of solid polymers shipped through FedEx. 

Based on initial interest in the company, SiXtron expects to reach commercial-scale production in 2010. To reach that mark, SiXtron plans to raise a $15 million round by the end of the year. 

Founded in 2004, SiXtron has raised $20.6 million in equity from ATEL Ventures, Cycle Capital, Innovatech sud du Québec, iNovia Capital, Sustainable Development Technology, and Canada Ventures West (see Solar and biofuel deals lead the day).

In 2008, a joint project between SiXtron and the Georgia Institute of Technology received a share of a $13.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop technologies that reduce the cost of solar (see Solar projects getting $13.7M from U.S. DOE). Barwicz said that project proved SixTron's coating can slightly increase the efficiency of a solar cell, from 16.76 percent to a little over 17 percent.

"We've proven in some cases that we can improve efficiency, now we're proving in volume with some customers," Barwicz said.

Barwicz predicted that a 20-gigawatt crystalline solar market, which is predicted by 2012, would create an addressable global market for SiXtron of $500 million.

SiXtron plans to sell directly to solar manufacturers, as well as production line equipment manufacturers and chemical companies. About half the interest to-date comes from companies that want to retrofit existing lines, while others want to build new lines using an alternative to silane.

"There are some places where there are government regulations that say you can handle only so much silane in one facility, such as Japan, or Germany," Barwicz said. "This would allow them to build additional production lines using an alternative to silane."

SiXtron has 25 employees.

SiXtron is one of 16 potential new global investment opportunities that the Cleantech Group added to its dealflow database this week—available exclusively to members of the Cleantech Network. Members can click here to search the dealflow database.

Interested in investing in cleantech companies? Here are four water technology companies from the Cleantech Group's dealflow database also looking for funding:

• Ohio-based MAR Systems is seeking $1.5 million in a continuation of its Series A for its patented, proprietary processes to remove arsenic, mercury and other heavy metals from industrial water streams. The round held an initial close in December.
• California-based Porifera is raising $5 million in a Series A round for further R&D and manufacturing of its next generation membranes based on carbon nanotubes for water desalination. Porifera says its membranes have vastly superior performance at similar cost relative to current membranes used in liquid phase separation.  
• China-based Multiform Harvest is raising $1.7 million to build pilot plants of its wastewater treatment system to remove phosphorus at livestock, food processing and municipal waste water treatment sites.
• Swedish Xzero is raising $2 million in 2009 and $10 million in 2010 for its water purification technology for the semiconductor industry.

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