PRODUCTS AND SOLUTIONS
Sixtron Advanced Materials has developed a proprietary process to produce SiC-based thin films with excellent anti-reflective and passivation properties on silicon solar cells - without the complex requirements of using pyrophoric silane gas.Sixtron is currently focusing on developing anti-reflective coating solutions for the solar cell industry. Other thin film solutions, that are highly scalable and cost-effective, for both the electronics industry and the industrial coatings applications are under development. Sixtron thin films have unique optical and mechanical properties, and can be deposited without the complex requirements of hazardous silane gas.
Sixtron solutions are designed to be "plug-and-play" with current solar cell manufacturing practice. The current complex gas handling and safety systems are replaced by the Sixtron SunBox, the trademark name for the gas source equipment. No changes are required with the deposition tools and wafer handling when using the Sixtron solution.
The input to the SunBox is a cartridge of solid, environmentally stable, safe-to-handle polymer. Operators are no longer exposed to danger when performing cylinder changes with pressurized pyrophoric silane. In solar cell manufacturing, frequent silane cylinder changes are required to ensure a constant supply of gas to the PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition) reactor. The deposition tools and wafer handling remains the same for the Sixtron solutions.
Silane explosions have resulted in operator deaths in solar cell plants. The large volumes of silane required in solar cell manufacturing plants are impeding cost reduction strategies for solar power ($/pW) - SiXtron is eliminating this limitation.
For more information sales@sixtron.com