Chemical bulk properties of multicrystalline silicon ingots for solar cells cast in silicon nitride crucibles

State-of-the-art growth of silicon for PV applications

“…Crucible producers have tried to solve this problems by providing crucibles that are pre-coated with non-sticking silicon nitride with low oxygen content, and it has been shown that these crucible can be used to crystallize high quality ingots. Quartz crucibles are consumables since they crack during cooling after solidification and crucibles from silicon nitride, which can be used for multiple castings, are under development [6].…”

Solidification of silicon for electronic and solar applications

“…Quartz crucibles are consumables since they crack during cooling after solidification and crucibles from silicon nitride, which can be used for multiple castings, are under development. 6 High oxygen levels in multicrystalline material will impair its electrical properties, whereas high carbon and nitrogen concentrations will result in precipitation during growth. This is problematic since silicon carbides and nitrides can nucleate silicon crystals ahead of the planar growth front and result in equiaxed crystal zones "grits" in the ingots.…”

Si3N4/fused quartz composite crucible with enhanced thermal conductivity for multicrystalline silicon ingot growth

“…To overcome the drawback of using a fused-SiO 2 crucible, anisotropic SiO 2 crucible with transparent bottom and a pure Si 3 N 4 crucible were proposed and tested by PHOTOSIL project [ 8] and NTNU [9], respectively. M.P.Bellmann from SINTEF compares standard silica crucible with Si 3 N 4 crucible, analyze the influences of thermophysical properties variations on the multicrystalline silicon directional solidification [ 10 ].…”