Numerical parameter studies of 3D melt flow and interface shape for directional solidification of silicon in a traveling magnetic field

The role of various growth and process conditions (Lorentz force, temperature gradients in the melt and the crystal, steady-state crystallization velocity) in directional solidification of multicrystalline silicon in a traveling magnetic field is analyzed for a research-scale furnace (melt size of 22×22×11 cm3). The influence on the melt flow pattern, the typical melt flow velocity, the oscillation amplitude of the velocity and the temperature, the shape of the crystallization interface is determined using three-dimensional (3D) numerical calculations with the STHAMAS3D software and a local quasi steady-state model. It was found that both the interface shape and the melt flow are sensitive to the variation of the considered growth and process parameters.