The effect of radiative heat transfer characteristics on vacuum directional solidification process of multicrystalline silicon in the vertical Bridgman system

In the vertical Bridgman system for multicrystalline silicon vacuum directional solidification process, the radiation heat transfer characteristics have a significant impact on the quality of crystal growth. In this paper, the effect of heat transfer characteristics under different pulling-down rates on the vacuum directional solidification process was investigated. Simplified radiation view factor dependent on pulling-down rate in pilot-scale vertical Bridgman system was derived. Combined with the transient simulation results, we obtained the heat transfer characteristics inside the furnace, and proposed the optimization scheme by using a rate of slowly first and then faster to pull down the crucible, which can not only satisfy thermal conditions of crystal growth, but also shorten the solidification time and effectively reduce the energy consumption. In addition, according to the characteristics of the radiative heat transfer under vacuum condition and the change of view factor, it was found that an improved design by widening the cold zone of the furnace can narrow the temperature gradient in the silicon ingot, and greatly decrease the thermal stresses, which in turn can aid in the design of future industrial equipment and process improvements.