A design of crucible susceptor for the seeds preservation during a seeded directional solidification process

Influence of germanium doping on the performance of high-performance multi-crystalline silicon

“…In the directional solidification (DS) system, the temperature gradient and melting process were well controlled to preserve the silicon seed crystals with an un-melted height of about 10 mm. The temperature gradient near the seed was about 15$ 30 K/mm which was higher than that in the bulk silicon melts (5$ 10 K/mm) by computer simulation [11]. Finally, silicon ingots with a height of 270 mm were obtained.…”

Numerical Study of the Thermal and Flow Fields during the Growth Process of 800 kg and 1600 kg Silicon Feedstock

“…This simplification has been used by many researchers [1][2][3][4][5]8,[13][14][15][16][17]. The simulation results have also been validated by comparison with experimental results [3,16,17]. In this study, the real growth process provided by Sino-American Silicon Products Inc. (SAS, Taiwan) is adopted.…”

“…A slightly higher convexity of the crystal-melt (c-m) interface in the central region is needed during growth to decrease the strength of the melt flow convection around the interface and, hence, to obtain greater uniformity of carbon distribution in the melt. The appearance of two main convection cells in the bulk melt has also been reported [2][3][4]. In one case, an insulation partition block was used in the hot zone of an industrial seeded directional solidification (DS) furnace for solidification of a 430 kg silicon melt [2].…”

“…Moreover, the distribution of streamlines in the melt was beneficial for the growth of good quality crystal. In another study, Ding et al [3] performed a global numerical simulation of the seeded solidification process of a 440 kg silicon ingot with the bottom portion of the side graphite susceptor replaced by an insulating material. They found that the impurity concentration in the central region of the interface could be lowered by reducing the strength and size of the lower cell which was induced by the buoyancy.…”

Optimization of the high-performance multi-crystalline silicon solidification process by insulation partition design using transient global simulations

“…Granular silicon seeds were first paved across the entire bottom of the crucible, the thickness of the seeds was about 20 mm, and then the silicon feedstock was loaded to produce a silicon ingot with a height of 270 mm. The functions of the components of the DS system have been explained in our previous study [13]. The operating conditions of the furnace were: (1) the temperature of the furnace chamber wall was kept at about 300 K via a watercooling system, (2) the pressure of the furnace was 600 mbar, and (3) the argon flow rate was 30 L/min.…”