Continuous Czochralski growth: silicon sheet growth development of Large Area Silicon Sheet Task of the Low-Cost Silicon Solar Array Project. Second quarterly progress report, January 1--March 31, 1978

Technical Report · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6748514· OSTI ID:6748514

This project is directed toward the development of equipment and processes to produce single crystal solar silicon by a continuous Czochralski (CZ) method. ''Continuous'' is defined as the production of at least 100 kilograms of crystal from a single melt container. The approach to be taken is to suitably modify a Hamco CG2000 crystal grower to demonstrate that continuous CZ growth is feasible by the periodic replenishment of the melt container and the removal of grown crystals. The crystal growth facility is now complete with the exception of the poly weight/recharge system. Installation of this device on the grower will require disassembly of the facility to modify the growth chambers. In the meantime, hot filling experiments are being conducted by attaching poly rod material to the seed lift mechanism. The work has progressed to the point where a suitable means of melt replenishment has been demonstrated. A poly-crystalline rod of silicon can be lowered into the crucible and melted at rates of over 14 kg/hr. Using this method of hot filling, a 12'' x 9'' high crucible was charged with 25 kg of silicon and a zero dislocation, 22 kg crystal 11.4 cm diameter, 87 cm long, was grown. This demonstrates that five crystals grown from a 12 inch crucible can satisfy the continuous CZ criterion. A growth rate of 7.3 cm/hr was achieved corresponding to a continuous throughput of 1.1 kg/hr. An economic model using the SAMICS/IPEG guidelines has shown that the add-on cost of CZ crystal growth can meet the 1982 goals without any technical breakthroughs, but an add-on cost reduction of approximately 50% is necessary to meet the 1986 goal, assuming reasonable slicing yields.

• Research Organization: Kayex Corp., Rochester, NY (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: NAS-7-100-954888
• OSTI ID: 6748514
• Report Number(s): DOE/JPL/954888-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360601 -- Other Materials-- Preparation & Manufacture
CRUCIBLES
CRYSTAL DOPING
CRYSTAL GROWTH
CRYSTALS
CUTTING
CZOCHRALSKI METHOD
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ELEMENTS
MACHINING
MANUFACTURING
MONOCRYSTALS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PRODUCTION
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CELLS