Polycrystalline silicon and method of casting the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9546436-B2
Application number	US-201314387728-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2013
Priority date	Mar 26, 2012
Publication date	Jan 17, 2017
Grant date	Jan 17, 2017

Abstract

Casting polycrystalline silicon includes placing a bottomless cooling crucible divided at least partially in the axis direction into a plurality of parts in the peripheral direction and having an inner surface coated with a release agent containing nitrogen, in an induction coil of a chamber charged with an inert gas; melting a raw material of polycrystalline silicon in the bottomless cooling crucible by electromagnetic induction heating using the induction coil; and pulling out the molten silicon downward while cooling and solidifying it. Pullout of the solidified molten silicon is performed through adjusting the carbon concentration of the molten silicon to 4.0×10 17 atoms/cm 3 or more to 6.0×10 17 atoms/cm 3 or less, the oxygen concentration thereof to 0.3×10 17 atoms/cm 3 or more to 5.0×10 17 atoms/cm 3 or less, and the nitrogen concentration to 8.0×10 13 atoms/cm 3 or more to 1.0×10 18 atoms/cm 3 or less.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of casting polycrystalline silicon, comprising the steps of:
placing a bottomless cooling crucible divided at least partially in the axis direction into a plurality of parts in the peripheral direction and having an inner surface coated with a release agent containing nitrogen, in an induction coil of a chamber charged with an inert gas;
melting a raw material of polycrystalline silicon introduced into the bottomless cooling crucible by electromagnetic induction heating using the induction coil; and
pulling out the molten silicon downward while sequentially cooling and solidifying it,
wherein the carbon concentration of the molten silicon is adjusted to 4.0×10 17 atoms/cm 3 or more to 6.0×10 17 atoms/cm 3 or less, the oxygen concentration thereof to 0.3×10 17 atoms/cm 3 or more to 5.0×10 17 atoms/cm 3 or less, and the nitrogen concentration to 8.0×10 13 atoms/cm 3 or more to 1.0×10 18 atoms/cm 3 or less.

2. The method of casting polycrystalline silicon, according to claim 1 , wherein the adjustment of the carbon concentration is performed by supplying into the chamber a carbon monoxide gas having a partial pressure controlled with respect to the inert gas.

3. The method of casting polycrystalline silicon, according to claim 1 , wherein the adjustment of the carbon concentration is performed by adding carbon powder to the raw material of the polycrystalline silicon.

4. The method of casting polycrystalline silicon, according to claim 1 , wherein the adjustment of the oxygen concentration is performed by supplying into the chamber an oxygen gas having a partial pressure controlled with respect to the inert gas.

5. The method of casting polycrystalline silicon, according to claim 1 , wherein the adjustment of the carbon and oxygen concentrations is performed by supplying into the chamber a carbon dioxide gas having a partial pressure controlled with respect to the inert gas.

6. The method of casting polycrystalline silicon, according to claim 1 , wherein the adjustment of the nitrogen concentration is performed by controlling the area of a top surface of the support base, coated with the release agent containing nitrogen.

7. The method of casting polycrystalline silicon, according to claim 1 , wherein the adjustment of the nitrogen concentration is performed by supplying into the chamber a nitrogen gas having a partial pressure controlled with respect to the inert gas.

8. The method of casting polycrystalline silicon, according to claim 1 , wherein the release agent containing nitrogen comprises silicon nitride, ethyl silicate, purified water, and hydrochloric acid.

Assignees

• Sumco Corp

Inventors

• Yagi Daichi
• Abe Takahiro

Classifications

• H01L31/182

  Electricity · mapped topic

• C30B30/04

  using magnetic fields · CPC title

• C30B29/06

  Silicon · CPC title

• Y02E10/546

  Polycrystalline silicon PV cells · CPC title

• C30B28/10 Primary

  by pulling from a melt · CPC title