Method of casting silicon into thin sheets

Patent · Tue Oct 26 00:00:00 EDT 1982

OSTI ID:864371

Sanjurjo, Angel ^[1]; Rowcliffe, David J ^[2]; Bartlett, Robert W ^[3]

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1. San Jose, CA
2. Los Altos, CA
3. Tucson, AZ

Silicon (Si) is cast into thin shapes within a flat-bottomed graphite crucible by providing a melt of molten Si along with a relatively small amount of a molten salt, preferably NaF. The Si in the resulting melt forms a spherical pool which sinks into and is wetted by the molten salt. Under these conditions the Si will not react with any graphite to form SiC. The melt in the crucible is pressed to the desired thinness with a graphite tool at which point the tool is held until the mass in the crucible has been cooled to temperatures below the Si melting point, at which point the Si shape can be removed.

• Assignee: SRI International (Menlo Park, CA)
• Patent Number(s): US 4356141
• Application Number: 06/240,918
• OSTI ID: 864371
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

method
casting
silicon
sheets
cast
shapes
flat-bottomed
graphite
crucible
providing
melt
molten
relatively
amount
salt
preferably
naf
resulting
forms
spherical
pool
sinks
wetted
conditions
react
form
sic
pressed
desired
thinness
tool
held
mass
cooled
temperatures
below
melting
shape
removed
temperatures below
molten salt
casting silicon
/264/136/