Silicon Solar Solutions Submits Patent Application
by February 18, 2013 9:56 am 91 views
Silicon Solar Solutions Inc., a Genesis Technology Incubator client at the University of Arkansas, has submitted an application for a full patent on a self-aligned hydrogenated selective emitter for N-type solar cells, moving the patent from “provisional” to “pending.”
That’s according to CEO Douglas Hutchings, a member of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s 2012 Fast 15 class.
According to a university-issued press release, the new technology could improve the efficiency of solar cells by 15 percent, thereby potentially saving manufacturers millions of dollars in production costs. The technology is part of a joint venture being developed by Silicon Solar Solutions and Picasolar, a UA graduate business competition team.
“If successful, this approach represents the single largest technology leap in solar since 1974,” Hutchings said in the release. “We have demonstrated it on lab-scale cells already. We’re all excited.”
Seth Shumate, a UA graduate student and senior scientist at Silicon Solar Solutions, invented the emitter. Shumate also is a member of the Picasolar team, which won the 2013 IBK Capital-Ivey Business Plan Competition and a $20,000 cash award on Jan. 26.
The National Science Foundation awarded Silicon Solar a $150,000 small-business grant in December to continue its development. The company now will raise $60,000 of outside investment for the emitter to secure an additional $30,000 from the National Science Foundation.
Hutchings said it hopes to receive a $750,000 Phase II grant in January to demonstrate the lab results on industrial-quality cells and start implementing the technology in existing solar-cell manufacturing lines.