Metallurgical refining study for production of solar grade (SoG) silicon by synthetic slag

태양전지용 실리콘 제조를 위한 슬래그 이용 야금학적 정련연구

In this study, metallurgical grade (MG) silicon with 99% purity produced by arc furnace process was systematically investigated for slag refining. The most problematic impurities to remove from MG silicon are boron (B) and phosphorus (P). To remove B and P from MG-silicon, we used synthetic slag in the molten state. MG-silicon with synthetic slag of CaO, $SiO_2$, and $CaF_2$ was melted using by high-frequency induction furnace with electrical output of 50kW. Specimens prepared by various refining process conditions(holding time, mixture ratio) were inspected by combined analysis of ICP-MS and XRF. With this approach, B has been reduced to <5ppm, P to <1ppm and other impurities to 0.1~0.2% except for Calcium. Calcium has been increased from 17ppm to 1500ppm. Problem of calcium contamination will be resolved by additional refining processes.