Chinese solar products maker JA Solar Holdings Co Ltd said on Thursday it has agreed with Shin-Etsu Chemical to licence intellectual property rights to the Japanese firm’s gallium doping technology used in silicon wafers for solar cell applications.

Gallium doping is a method for preventing light induced degradation (LID), particularly in PERC cells. JA Solar explained that this technology can effectively mitigate the LID effect on PV modules assembled with p-type silicon wafers.

"Using Ga-doped silicon wafers for solar cell application definitely results in better performance of solar cells and PV modules, as well as the improvement of their long-term reliability,” said chairman and board of directors Jin Baofang.

According to the press statement, Shin-Etsu Chemical holds several patents on gallium doping in silicon crystals and on using gallium-doped p-type crystalline silicon wafers in the production of photovoltaic (PV) cells.