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US 4,102,765 AGranted
Arc heater production of silicon involving alkali or alkaline-earth metals
AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.
InventorsMaurice G. Fey, Francis J. Harvey, II, Jack McDonald
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Abstract
A process for producing high purity silicon characterized by the employment of an electric arc heater into which a silicon halide is injected together with a metal reductant such as an alkali metal or an alkaline-earth metal which are reacted together by projecting them tangentially into a reaction chamber to cause the formation of liquid silicon and a gaseous metal halide salt which are separated in a suitable manner such as centrifugally or by condensation.
Claims10
A process for producing the high purity silicon comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing an arc heater having spaced electrodes and forming an arc chamber communicating with a reaction chamber,
- (b) striking an electric arc in an axial gap between the electrodes,
- (c) introducing an arc gas selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and a mixture of hydrogen and an inert gas through the gap to provide an elongated arc stream extending into the reaction chamber,
- (d) feeding into the arc stream a quantity of a metal reductant selected from the group consisting of an alkali metal and an alkaline-earth metal,
- (e) feeding into the arc stream a quantity of silicon halide to react with the metal reductant to produce reaction products including liquid silicon and a salt of the metal reductant,
- (f) projecting the reaction products into the reaction chamber tangentially to cause the liquid silicon to separate centrifugally from the gaseous co-product salt, and
- (g) depositing the liquid silicon on a downwardly extending surface to permit the liquid silicon to flow into an associated receptacle.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.