Large area Czochralski silicon. Final report

Technical Report · Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1977

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5078068· OSTI ID:5078068

Rea, S. N.; Gleim, P. S.

The major purpose was to determine the overall cost effectiveness of the Czochralski process for producing large-area silicon. To this end, the feasibility of growing several 12-cm diameter crystals sequentially at 12 cm/h during a furnace run and the subsequent slicing of the ingot using a multiblade slurry saw were investigated. The goal of the wafering process was a slice thickness of 0.25 mm with minimal kerf. A slice + kerf of 0.56 mm has been achieved on 12-cm crystal using both 400 grit B/sub 4/C and SiC abrasive slurries. Crystal growth experiments were performed at 12-cm diameter in a commercially available puller with both 10 and 12-kg melts. Several modifications to the puller hot zone were required to achieve stable crystal growth over the entire crystal length and to prevent crystallinity loss a few centimeters down the crystal. A nugget polysilicon feeder was fabricated, assembled, and successfully tested on several multicharge runs. A grow yield of 93.5% was achieved in one 12-cm run. A number of 12-cm crystals were sawed in the multiblade slurry saw. A 100% saw yield was obtained with B/sub 4/C abrasive at a slice + kerf of 0.56 mm and an average cutting rate of 6.1 mm/h. Experiments in laser scribing silicon wafers into hexagons showed that a 10-W YAG laser can penetrate 0.2 mm at a scribe rate of 10 cm/s. Czochralski economics were examined using realistic estimates of technical parameters and a sheet cost in the $45/m/sup 2/ area is indicated for a semicontinuous puller in the early 1980 time frame.

• Research Organization: Texas Instruments, Inc., Dallas, TX (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: NAS-7-100-954475
• OSTI ID: 5078068
• Report Number(s): ERDA/JPL/954475-77/4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
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COST
CZOCHRALSKI METHOD
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SILICON SOLAR CELLS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
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