Preparing crystalline silicon from Si-Sn solvent by zone melting directional solidification method

To develop a low cost and highly effective metallurgical route for solar-grade Si production, we investigated the zone melting directional solidification method. In this method, bulk crystalline Si is successfully produced from Si-Sn solvent; this bulk crystalline Si demonstrates a steady growth interface and excellent compositional uniformity. Moreover, the growth rate of bulk crystalline Si along the axial direction increases because the remaining MG-Si serves as Si source to keep the Si-Sn solution saturated with Si atoms, and it is approximately three times larger than that of Si by using the Si-based alloy directional solidification method without Si source. In this work, the evolution of impurity phases segregated in different regions along the axial direction is extensively discussed. The distribution and amount of impurities, including Ca, Al, B, and P, are effectively controlled by this refining method, further improving the quality of bulk crystalline Si.