Sixtron’s new coating aims to prevent solar cell degradation

Montreal, Quebec-based Sixtron Advanced Materials has launched a new anti-reflective passivation coating today, which it says nearly eliminates light induced degradation (LID) in solar cells.

The private company said LID is an issue for solar cell and module manufacturers because it can reduce the efficiency of modules in the field by as much as 5 percent in the first few hours of sun exposure. This can end up reducing the net energy harvest.

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 (see SiXtron sees explosive market for safer solar coating).

The company says solar cells with its new patent-pending coating, branded Silexium, exhibit at least 88 percent less LID than solar cells with traditional silane-based SiNx coatings.

The company says Silexium-coated solar cells offer net efficiency gains to existing production lines, and can lead to increased revenue and profit margins for solar cell manufacturers. The cells also deliver increased shunt, or leakage, resistance and reduced reverse current by an order of magnitude, representing additional protection against solar degradation.

Founded in 2004, Sixtron has raised more than $12 million since its inception from Ventures West Capital, Inovia Capital, and Cycle Capital (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).