Silevo is a solar cell innovator and photovoltaic (PV) solar module manufacturer that has evolved the use of silicon for solar to offer cost-effective high performance solar modules. The company was founded on the principal that an evolutionary silicon solar cell technology can enable rapid acceleration of grid parity and widespread solar adoption.
Silevo was founded the summer of 2007 in the heart of Silicon Valley by a pair of executive innovators from Applied Materials, Inc. With more than 35 years of experience in semiconductor innovations and more than 130 patents between them, Dr. Zheng Xu and Dr. Jianming Fu envisioned a new hybrid solar cell technology that would combine the best attributes of crystalline silicon, thin film and semiconductor CMOS device architectures and materials to achieve the highest performance efficiencies and temperature coefficients. By combining groundbreaking technology with a low-cost manufacturing process and operation, Silevo is enabling industry leading Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) that provides economically and environmentally sustainable energy generation, and a roadmap to grid parity.
By 2009, Dr. Xu and Dr. Fu developed a proprietary solar cell technology called Triex, powered by a new and innovative ‘tunneling junction’ solar cell concept. They received a U.S. Department of Energy Technology Development grant in 2009 to aid in equipment development. Silevo validated the proof of concept at its U.S. headquarters in Fremont, CA, where pilot production scale is currently manufacturing Triex cells that demonstrate between 22 – 23% conversion efficiency on full-size substrates with proven production and economical materials. Furthermore, the Triex technology roadmap shows headroom to enable up to 26.5% conversion efficiency in commercial products.
After operating in stealth mode for several years to protect innovations throughout development and validation, Silevo commercially introduced Triex in October 2011. Today the company is focused on continuing innovative research and development at its U.S. headquarters in Silicon Valley, while scaling production operations in Asia (Hangzhou, China) and Buffalo New York.
Management
Silevo brings together a strong team of innovators, disciplined semiconductor and solar factory operations talent, business executives, inventors and scientists with proven track records ramping products and revenues from the ground floor into billion dollar product lines and enterprises.
Dr. Zheng Xu
Dr. Zheng Xu is co-founder, president and CEO of Silevo. As one of the leading physical vapor deposition (PVD) scientists in the world, Dr. Xu is focused on making solar electricity more affordable through improved solar cell conversion efficiency and highly automated volume production technology at Silevo. His expertise in device physics and PVD for Transparent Conductive Oxides (TCOs) are core to Silevo’s groundbreaking Triex solar cell technology.
Triex Technology
Silevo is the first company to commercialize a ‘tunneling junction’ solar cell, a hybrid technology which couples the best attributes of 3 different materials (1) N-type crystalline substrate, 2) Thin Film Passivation, 3) Semiconductor oxide to optimize cell and module performance while limiting costs. Silevo’s breakthrough cell innovation coupled with traditional crystalline silicon (c-Si) package techniques enable Silevo’s Triex modules to optimize all three performance indicators in order to deliver the industry’s best value.
Cells & Modules
Silevo’s Triex cell is based on a breakthrough tunneling junction cell architecture to push the industry to grid parity. The hybrid technology incorporates N-type crystalline silicon substrates to enable good carrier lifetime and low light induced degradation, thin film passivation layers to produce high voltage, and a semiconductor tunneling oxide interface layer for excellent junction quality and temperature coefficient performance.