Silicon Solar Solutions is an Arkansas based startup that is commercializing technology developed at the University of Arkansas. Our technology is called Top-down Aluminum Induced Crystallization (TAIC) and is a process to crystallize amorphous silicon into large grain polysilicon.  This low cost method for producing thin films of high quality poly-crystalline silicon from amorphous silicon represents a huge leap in current processing methods. The initial application is for silicon-based photovoltaics, but TAIC can also impact the display, LED and integrated circuit industries.

Opportunity and Product

The high cost of materials, depicted in the figure, illustrate the pain that solar manufacturers are facing. Materials account for 78% of the total product cost in a solar panel, so to have a significant impact on price, materials costs must be addressed. Our patented method for creating large grain polysilicon, denoted TAIC, will allow solar manufacturers to reduce their cost-of-goods-sold by 26%. At the same time, our technology increases the conversion efficiency of silicon-based solar panels by 16%, which is equivalent to the last eight years of progress. Silicon-based photovoltaics account for over 90% of the current $32 billion solar market, providing the opportunity for SSS’s technology to impact $28.8 billion of the market. Our manufacturing process is compatible with existing fabrication steps and utilizes standard equipment, which eliminates the high costs typically associated with retooling an existing manufacturing facility. Our technology would save manufacturers $74 per panel. For any manufacturer producing the industry average of 3 million panels annually, that is over $200 million in savings.