Vitex Systems, Inc., a leading technology developer, licensor and engineering service provider for thin-film encapsulation and moisture barrier films, today announced that it has executed a license agreement with a global supplier of specialty materials and related thin-film services, granting them the rights to develop and manufacture Vitex's proprietary Barix™ Barrier Film. Licensed fields of use include, but are not limited to, photovoltaic and other large-area thin-film technology based applications. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"This new partner has years of experience coating various films in roll-to-roll format, and can support requests for Barix Barrier Films in sizes and volumes larger than Vitex is currently able to handle," said Chyi-Shan Suen, President and COO, Vitex Systems. "They have a specialty materials division that brings a deep understanding of the materials and proper characteristics required to produce superior coatings with our patented process, as well as a strong engineering team and proven production capability ready for producing Barix Barrier Films."
Suen added, "Over the past year Vitex has achieved significant milestones demonstrating the unique advantages of Barix Barrier Film for encapsulation of thin-film photovoltaic cells to create thin, efficient, flexible solar cells."
Cooperating with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Vitex recently demonstrated results obtained on SoloPower's thin-film CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide) PV. When protected by Vitex's Barix Barrier Film, the cells had less than 10% efficiency degradation after 1,920 hours of damp heat tests at 85°C and 85% relative humidity, exceeding the IEC 61646 standard which only demands testing to 1,000 hours.
Vitex Systems Inc., headquartered in San Jose, Calif., licenses its intellectual property and provides related engineering expertise to enable organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display manufacturers and producers of organic optoelectronic devices to speed time-to-market of thinner, lighter, lower-cost products. Vitex solutions include: Barix™ proprietary encapsulation process technology; Barix Barrier Film, previously known as Flexible Glass, a next-generation flexible barrier substrate; and the Guardian™ deposition system tool. The company was incubated at Battelle Memorial Institute, the world's largest independent private non-profit research foundation, and was spun off as an independent company in 1999.