News Article
Scifiniti aim to revolutionize wafer market
Materials company Scifiniti has announced that the company has raised $10 million in Series B funding from current investors Alloy Ventures, Firelake Capital, I2BF Global Ventures and Peninsula Ventures. The money will be used to bring Scifiniti's first product, SmartWafer, to market. SmartWafer is an ultra-low cost, drop-in replacement photovoltaic (PV) silicon wafer.
"When we invest, we are looking for companies that have disruptive technologies for very large markets," said Dan Rubin, General Partner at Alloy Ventures. "The wafer market for solar cell manufacturing is a multi-billion dollar market and continues to grow. The cost advantage of SmartWafer and their cutting-edge manufacturing approach puts Scifiniti in a leadership position to deliver solutions that will allow their customers to produce and sell modules that will have a significant impact on the solar market."
SmartWafer has been engineered specifically for solar cell manufacturing, unlike traditional wafers that have been adapted from the semiconductor industry. It uses a thin, deposited, high-quality silicon layer on a conductive substrate, offering the same form-factor as a standard wafer enabling a "drop-in" replacement. Cell and module manufacturers will be able to use the SmartWafer without any changes to existing processes and without the need to purchase new capital equipment.
SmartWafer reduces silicon use by more than 90 percent and helps to improve yields by reducing wafer breakage rate compared to conventional wafers, which will result in significant cost savings.
"We appreciate the continued confidence from our investors," said Sharone Zehavi, CEO of Scifiniti. "We have made significant progress in the development of our disruptive SmartWafer technology and we believe our customers will see dramatic benefits from our technology that will enable them to grow their revenue and improve margins."
