Method and apparatus for the production of crystalline silicon substrates
AssigneeAMG IdealCast Solar Corporation
InventorRoger F. Clark
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method for producing a crystalline ribbon continuously from a melt pool of liquid feed material, e.g. silicon. The silicon is melted and flowed into a growth tray to provide a melt pool of liquid silicon. Heat is passively extracted by allowing heat to flow from the melt pool up through a chimney. Heat is simultaneously applied to the growth tray to keep the silicon in its liquid phase while heat loss is occurring through the chimney. A template is placed in contact with the melt pool as heat is lost through the chimney so that the silicon starts to “freeze” (i.e. solidify) and adheres to the template. The template is then pulled from the melt pool thereby producing a continuous ribbon of crystalline silicon.
Claims11
A method for producing a continuous ribbon of a feed material, said method comprising:
- melting said feed material in a melt chamber;
- flowing said melted feed material from said melt chamber into a growth tray and allowing it to form a level, shallow melt pool in said growth tray;
- allowing heat loss from said melt pool through the radiation of heat from said melt pool up through a chimney which is positioned downstream from said melt chamber;
- regulating said heat loss from said melt pool by adjusting the flow through said chimney;
- positioning a template in contact with said melt pool at a point where said melt pool has experienced said heat loss to thereby cause said template to become attached to said melted feed material at said point;
- and
- pulling said template away from said melt pool to thereby produce said ribbon.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.