Engineering silicon crystals for photovoltaics

Abstract

In this highlight, we review the recent engineering efforts in the state-of-the art industrial production of customized silicon crystals, including quasi-mono and multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si).

Growth of carbon and nitrogen containing precipitates in crystalline solar silicon and their influence on solar cells

“…Furthermore they influence the sawing process due to their hardness and may therefore be detrimental to the production yield of solar wafers. Until today silicon manufacturers have to deal with SiC and Si 3 N 4 precipitates . This review is intended to give an overview about the research on SiC and Si 3 N 4 precipitates in the last decades in Section 2.…”

“…Furthermore they influence the sawing process due to their hardness and may therefore be detrimental to the production yield of solar wafers. Until today silicon manufacturers have to deal with SiC and Si 3 N 4 precipitates [8]. This review is intended to give an overview about the research on SiC and Si 3 N 4 precipitates in the last decades in Sec-The growth mechanisms, structural, mechanical, and electrical properties of silicon carbide and silicon nitride precipitates in solar silicon are reviewed and some new aspects about the distribution of trace elements in these precipitates are reported in this review.…”

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

“…The highest silicon feedstock capacity presented in detail in all the published investigations has been 800 kg [4,5,7,8], although the trend in the PV industry has been to increase the size of the mc-Si ingots. Determining the evolution of the temperature distribution and flow structure with the size of the ingot is useful for growing larger ingots.…”

“…The velocity streamlines are asymmetrically distributed in the bulk melt with a 3D multi-vortex flow pattern under the effect of TMF. Lan et al [7] presented an analysis of the current status of the engineering of silicon crystals for solar photovoltaics. They reviewed the solutions for controlling the growth of nucleation and grain boundaries in DS ingots.…”

Eliminating Light-Induced Degradation in Commercial p-Type Czochralski Silicon Solar Cells

“…As a result, the industry has not adopted this approach to date [45]. An alternative casting method seeds the crystal growth to deliberately reduce the grain size, therefore reducing dislocation densities, to produce "high-performance multi" [46]. This material is rapidly being adopted by the industry to replace conventional cast silicon material [5].…”