Purification and deposition of silicon by an iodide disproportionation reaction

Patent · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 UTC 2002

OSTI ID:874826

Wang, Tihu ^[1]; Ciszek, Theodore F ^[2]

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1. Littleton, CO
2. Evergreen, CO

Method and apparatus for producing purified bulk silicon from highly impure metallurgical-grade silicon source material at atmospheric pressure. Method involves: (1) initially reacting iodine and metallurgical-grade silicon to create silicon tetraiodide and impurity iodide byproducts in a cold-wall reactor chamber; (2) isolating silicon tetraiodide from the impurity iodide byproducts and purifying it by distillation in a distillation chamber; and (3) transferring the purified silicon tetraiodide back to the cold-wall reactor chamber, reacting it with additional iodine and metallurgical-grade silicon to produce silicon diiodide and depositing the silicon diiodide onto a substrate within the cold-wall reactor chamber. The two chambers are at atmospheric pressure and the system is open to allow the introduction of additional source material and to remove and replace finished substrates.

• Research Organization: Midwest Research Institute
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-99GO10337
• Assignee: Midwest Research Institute (Kansas City, MO)
• Patent Number(s): US 6468886
• OSTI ID: 874826
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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