A silicon sheet casting experiment
Abstract
The casting of silicon blanks for solar cells directly without slicing is an exciting concept. An experiment was performed to investigate the feasibility of developing a machine that casts wafers directly. A Czochralski furnace was modified to accept a graphite ingot-simulating fixture. Silicon was melted in the middle of the ingot simulator in a boron nitride mold. Sample castings showed reasonable crystal size. Solar cells were made from the cast blanks. The performance is reported.
- Publication:
-
14th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
- Pub Date:
- 1980
- Bibcode:
- 1980pvsp.conf...36B
- Keywords:
-
- Casting;
- Machine Tools;
- Production Engineering;
- Silicon Films;
- Solar Cells;
- Boron Nitrides;
- Energy Technology;
- Feasibility Analysis;
- Grain Boundaries;
- Ingots;
- Molds;
- Performance Tests;
- Production Costs;
- Volt-Ampere Characteristics;
- Wafers;
- Engineering (General)