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Crystal Solar's Direct Gas to Wafer™ technology using epitaxial deposition allows for monocrystalline silicon to be deposited directly from feedstock gas. This allows for elimination of the three most cost-intensive steps from the conventional silicon PV technology-polysilicon, ingoting, wafering, while leveraging conventional, production-proven cell and module equipment and methods.
The use of epitaxial deposition for making wafers ("epi-wafers") using a multi-wafer, high-productivity reactor invented by Crystal Solar addresses some of the fundamental cost drivers that currently limit further cost reductions in silicon PV technology:
- Excessive materials usage because of cropping and squaring losses, as well kerf loss during wafering
- Complexity of material production and fragmented supply chain
- High capital costs, and the huge manufacturing scales required for conventional wafer making
Crystal Solar's kerfless wafer technology allows for very high efficiency solar cells and modules while reducing the manufacturing costs to well below $0.40/Wp, in alignment with the target set by the US Department of Energy's Sunshot Program. |
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