Methods of making an unsupported article of pure or doped semiconducting material
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsGlen Bennett Cook, Prantik Mazumder, Kamal Kishore Soni, Balram Suman, Christopher Scott Thomas, Natesan Venkataraman
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Abstract
The invention relates to methods of making articles of semiconducting material and semiconducting material articles formed thereby, such as articles of semiconducting material that may be useful in making photovoltaic cells.
Claims41
A method of making an unsupported article of a semiconducting material, comprising:
- providing a mold at a temperature TMold;
- providing a molten semiconducting material at a temperature TS, wherein TS>TMold;
- coating an external surface of the mold with particles;
- immersing the mold in the molten semiconducting material for a period of time sufficient to form a solid layer of the semiconducting material over the external surface of the mold;
- withdrawing the mold with the solid layer of semiconducting material from the molten semiconducting material;
- separating the solid layer of semiconducting material from the mold to form the unsupported article of the semiconducting material.
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A method of making an unsupported article of a semiconducting material, comprising:
- providing a mold at a temperature TMold,
- providing a molten semiconducting material at a temperature TS, wherein TS>TMold;
- immersing the mold in the molten semiconducting material for a period of time sufficient to form a solid layer of the semiconducting material over an external surface of the mold, wherein the temperature of the mold is altered only by the temperature of the molten semiconducting material;
- withdrawing the mold with the solid layer of semiconducting material from the molten semiconducting material;
- and
- separating the solid layer of semiconducting material from the mold to form the unsupported article of the semiconducting material.
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24-27. (canceled)
A method of controlling the thickness of an unsupported article of a semiconducting material during formation of the unsupported article, comprising:
- providing a mold at a temperature TMold;
- providing a molten semiconducting material at a temperature TS, wherein TS>TMold,
- immersing the mold in the molten semiconducting material for a period of time sufficient for a solid layer of semiconducting material to form over an external surface of the mold and begin to remelt;
- withdrawing the mold with the solid layer of semiconducting material from the molten semiconducting material;
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- separating the solid layer of semiconducting material from the mold to form the unsupported article of the semiconducting material.
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37-39. (canceled)
An unsupported article of semiconducting material formed by a method comprising:
- providing a mold at a temperature TMold;
- providing a molten semiconducting material at a temperature TS, wherein TS>TMold;
- immersing the mold in the molten semiconducting material for a period of time sufficient for a solid layer of the semiconducting material over an external surface of the mold;
- withdrawing the mold with the solid layer of semiconducting material from the molten semiconducting material at a rate sufficient to form a secondary layer on a surface of the solid layer of semiconducting material;
- and
- separating the layers of semiconducting material from the mold to form the unsupported article of the semiconducting material.
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A mold for forming an unsupported article of semiconducting material, comprising:
- an external surface;
- and
- particles on the external surface;
- wherein the mold comprises a material chosen from vitreous silica, graphite, silicon nitride, and combinations thereof.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.