World News – UA – Leading Edge Equipment Technologies Secures More Funding for Solar Silicon Wafer Manufacturing Process

Manufacturer of silicon wafer manufacturing equipment, Leading Edge Equipment Technologies today announced the closing of $ 7-6 million in Series A financing led by Prime Impact Fund, Clean Energy Ventures and DSM Venturing

“Leading Edge’s technology is poised to structurally disrupt solar panel manufacturing,” said Matthew Nordan, Managing Director of Prime Impact Fund “As solar energy accelerates globally, Leading Edge offers an unusual opportunity to increase panel efficiency, reduce costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the panel production process »

Leading Edge Offers Instant Manufacturing Technology That Produces Notch-Free Monocrystalline Silicon Wafers This manufacturing technology reduces wafer costs by 50%, increases the power of commercial solar panels by up to 7% and reduces emissions of more than 50% manufacturing

“After critical technology demonstrations and the development of a new business tool, we are now ready to bring this technology to market in 2021,” said Rick Schwerdtfeger, CEO of Leading Edge who joined the team in 2020 to lead commercialization « Having recently secured a 31,000 square foot facility and doubled the size of our team, we will use this new funding to prepare for our 2021 commercial pilot projects. »

Current silicon wafer production technology is a seven-step process in which large silicon ingots, created in large, energy-intensive furnaces, are sawn into wafer wire. , this approach is extremely wasteful, results in high energy costs, and produces poor quality wafers that reduce the efficiency of solar panels. Leading Edge’s manufacturing equipment uses its patented floating silicon method to produce silicon wafers through ribbons This reduces the production process to a single step while consuming less energy and producing virtually no waste

“Despite intense growth in the solar industry over the past decade, many manufacturers have struggled to remain profitable, competing for market share and lower marginal costs. We are delighted to give manufacturers a revolutionary competitive advantage and unlock cost-effective, high-efficiency solar power, ”said Alison Greenlee, Co-Founder and Commercial Director of Leading Edge

Leading Edge received a Phase II grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II in the amount of $ 998,820 to support continued research and development of its advanced manufacturing process of silicon wafers The new funding will be used to continue development of p-type solar cells as well as more advanced n-type cell architectures The development will be carried out at Leading Edge’s production headquarters outside of Boston, Massachusetts

« Current silicon wafer production technology is a seven-step process in which large silicon ingots, created in large, high-energy furnaces, are sawn into wafer wire. company, this approach is extremely wasteful, results in high energy costs, and produces poor quality wafers that reduce the efficiency of solar panels Leading Edge’s manufacturing equipment uses its patented floating silicon method to produce silicon wafers through ribbons This reduces the production process to a single step while consuming less energy and producing virtually no waste »

Still to be seen, but this process could also remedy the premature cracking of cells, by not straining the crystal lattice by « sawing »

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Manufacturing, Wafer, Solar Energy, Venture Capital, Silicon