A revolutionary breakthrough for solar panel manufacturers
The Leading Edge Difference
Efficiency Improvement
Our silicon wafers exhibit extremely low oxygen and defects, enabling superior drop-in performance.
Lower
Cost
Our two-steps, kerfless process dramatically reduces the cost to produce single-crystal wafers.
Reduction in Emissions
Our low-waste and low-energy process significantly reduces the solar industry’s carbon footprint.
Ultra-low Cost Single-Crystal Silicon Wafers
Leading Edge’s Floating Silicon Method™ produces single-crystal wafers in 2-steps, for over 35 percent lower cost than the incumbent technology. Silicon wafers today are produced in a 7-step process that wire-saws large silicon bricks. Sawing consumes expensive diamond-coated wire, requires costly chemicals for etching damaged wafers, and results in over 40 percent of the silicon ingot being wasted as non-recyclable saw dust called “kerf.” After 70 years of refinement, there is limited opportunity to cost-out this process further.
Our unique technology removes the need for these steps, creating a dramatic reduction in cost of production.
Unlocking a Step-Change in Solar Panel Performance
Incumbent wafer manufacturing technologies inherently and unavoidably contaminate wafers with oxygen – which critically limits the final solar cell efficiency. Our patented FSM technology creates extremely low-oxygen material with uniform resistivity, something unique to our technology. Wafers created with our manufacturing equipment can “drop-in” to existing solar lines to immediately realize up to seven percent more power than traditional wafers and unlock next-generation high efficiency panel technologies.
Eliminating a Gigaton of Manufacturing Emissions Every Year
The solar industry is projected to generate over five percent of global CO2 emissions by 2030, and silicon wafer production accounts for roughly 80 percent of this footprint. By eliminating the sawing waste and consuming only a third of the manufacturing energy, full market penetration of our manufacturing technology could mitigate up to one gigaton of manufacturing emissions each year.
Two Steps-Change Above the Rest
While current cutting-edge Cz technologies require seven steps to create a single-crystal silicon wafer, FSM technology reduces the process to two steps. By drawing cooled silicon off the surface of a pool of molten liquid silicon we’re able to remove the need for sawing, polishing, and more.
