Tuesday, October 25, 2011

SiOnyx claims performance gains with Black Silicon solar tech

By James M. Connolly

Beverly’s SiOnyx Inc. today released test results showing that its laser texturing technology known as Black Silicon has achieved efficiency gains in comparison with standard solar cells. The company said the tests showed an average efficiency of more than 17 percent — in terms of converting sunlight to energy.

SiOnyx said in a press release that its Black Silicon technology showed an efficiency improvement of 0.3 percent in comparison with solar cells already in the market. The tests were conducted on 156 mm multicrystalline silicon cells in conjunction with the German research institute ISC Konstanz.

In addition, SiOnyx said it achieved the efficiency gains with thinner wafers, which represent cost savings for manufacturers. The cells involved in the test were 20 percent thinner than the industry standard for wafers in production today, which SiOnyx said represents a cost reduction of 10 to 15 percent.

SiOnyx plans to license its technology to solar equipment manufacturers. “These results are further validation of the Black Silicon process and its ability to improve the economics of mainstream solar energy – and the technology is ready now,” said SiOnyx CEO and president Stephen Saylor in a statement to the press. “SiOnyx’s single-sided texture achieves significantly lower surface reflectance than industry-standard isotexture to improve cell performance. We boost infrared performance, thus making SiOnyx Black Silicon a great complement to existing selective emitter technologies.”

Founded in 2006, SiOnyx is backed by Polaris Ventures, Harris & Harris Group, Vulcan Capital, Coherent Inc., CrossLink Capital and RedShift Ventures. A year ago, SiOnyx closed $12.5 million Series B funding round.
 
SiOnyx licensed its Black Silicon technology from Harvard in 2008.