• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.115-120
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• 2022

A brown ring (hereinafter referred to as BR) on the inner surface of a quartz glass crucible used in the manufacturing process of a silicon ingot for semiconductor wafers was studied. BR is 20~30 ㎛ in size and has an asymmetric brown ring shape. The size and distribution of BR were different depending on the crucible location, and the size and distribution of BR were the largest and most abundant in the round part with the highest crucible temperature during Si ingot growth. BR contains cristobalite, which has a higher coefficient of thermal expansion than quartz glass, so it is considered that surface cracks appear. The color development of BR and pin holes are presumed to be due to oxygen vacancies.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.189-194
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• 2011

Metallurgical grade silicon was recovered from slurry waste for ingot sawing process by acid leaching and thermal treatment. SiC abrasive was removed by gravity concentration and centrifugation. Metal impurities were removed by the acid leaching using HF/HCl. The remaining SiC was separated by the thermal treatment at $1600^{\circ}C$ in an inert atmosphere by the difference in melting points. The purity of the obtained silicon was found to be around 99.7%.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.13-17
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• 2014

Since the semiconductor manufacturing requires the silicon wafers with extraordinary degree of surface flatness, the surface polishing of wafers from ingot cutting is an important process for deciding surface quality of wafers. The present study introduces the development of wafer polishing equipment and, especially, the wafer polishing head that employs the forced self-driving of installed silicon wafer as well as the wax wafer mounting technique. A series of wafer polishing tests have been carried out to investigate the effects of self-driving function in wafer polishing head. The test results for wafer planarization showed that the LLS counts and SBIR of polished wafer surfaces were generally improved by adopting the self-driven polishing head in wafer polishing stations.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.369-380
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• 2020

Most mono-crystalline silicon ingots are manufactured by the Czochralski (Cz) process. But If there are oxygen impurities, These Si-ingot tends to show low-efficiency when it is processed to be solar cell substrate. For making single-crystal Si- ingot, We need Czochralski (Cz) process which melts molten Si and then crystallizing it with seed of single-crystal Si. For melts poly Si-chunk and forming of single-crystalline Si-ingot, the heat transfer plays a main role in the structure of Cz-process. In this study to obtain high-quality Si ingot, the Cz-process was modified with the process design. The crystal growth simulation was employed with pulling rate and rotation speed optimization. Studies for modified Cz-process and the corresponding results have been discussed. The results revealed that using crystal growth simulation, we optimized the oxygen concentration of single crystal silicon by the optimal design of the pulling rate, rotation speed and melt charge level of Cz-process.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 1994

Metallurgical-grade polycrystalline silicon was directionally solidified at growth rates of $0.2{\sim}1.0mm/min$ by using split type, reusable graphite molds which were coated with $Si_3N_4$ powder. The resultant grain sizes of the silicon ingots and the shapes of the solid/liquid(S/L) interfaces were investigated. X-ray diffraction was used to determine the preferred orientation in each of the silicon ingots. The impurity content of the silicon was analyzed and the resistivities of the ingots were measured. During the growth of an ingot, the shape of the S/L interface was concave to the silicon melt, and the resistivity decreased. The presence of Al which can be acting as a carrier, is thought to be the main factor causing such a decrease in resistivity. When a growth rate of 0.2㎜/min was used, the preferred orientation was found to be (111).

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.24-33
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• 2013

Renewable energy industries, including sola cell plants, has been ever increasing ones for reducing fossil fuel consumption and strengthening national energy policy. In this paper we tried to identify occupational health hazards in solar cell-related industries operated in Korea. Poly silicon, silicon ingot and wafer, solar cell and module are major processes for producing solar cells. Poly silicon operations may cause hazards to workers from metal silicon, silanes, silicon, hydro fluoric acid and nitric acid. Solar cells could not be constructed without using metals such as aluminum and silver, acids such as hydrofluoric acid and nitric acid, bases such as sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide, and solvent and phosphorus chloride oxide. Workers in module assembly process may exposed to isopropanol, flux, solders that contain lead, tin and/or copper. To prevent occupational exposure to these hazards, it is essential to identify the hazards in each process and educate workers in industries with proper engineering and administrative control measures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Resources Recycling Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.186-190
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• 2004

실리콘 잉곳의 절단공정에서 발생하는 폐슬러지는 실리콘과 실리콘카바이드 등의 유가자원이 함유되어 있으며, 이를 효과적으로 분리, 회수하는 방법에 대해 검토하였다. 폐슬러지에 함유된 오일은 유기 용매에 의해 용해되어 효과적으로 분리되었고, 불순물인 철분은 자력선별에 의해 제거할 수가 있었다. 또한 실리콘과 실리콘카바이드의 혼합 분말은 중액선별을 통하여 고순도의 실리콘과 실리콘카바이드로 분리할 수가 있었다.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.149-156
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• 1993

Polycrystalline silicon was produced from metallurgical-grade Si by unidirectional solidification. Variations of impurity concentration and resistivity in the ingots have been investigated. X-ray diffraction analysis has also been performed to examine the crystal orientation. According to the X-ray diffraction analysis on the polycrystalline silicon, preferential orientation was changed from ( 220) into ( III ) with decreasing growth rate. Also, with increasing growth rate and fraction solidified, the resistivity tends to decrease.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.50-52
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• 2022

Brownish rings (BRs) with white interiors are formed during the manufacture of silicon ingots in quartz glass crucibles. These BRs inhibit the yield of silicon ingots. However, the composition and mechanism of the formation of these BRs remain unclear thus far. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed the color and shape of these BRs. Raman analysis revealed that the brown and white colors appear owing to oxygen deficiency rather than crystallization from excess oxygen supply as previously assumed. Moreover, the dark shade of the brown areas depends on the degree of oxygen deficiency and the asymmetrical width of the brown areas is attributed to the direction of the molten silicon flow, which is influenced by the rotation and heat of the ingot crucible.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.299.2-299.2
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• 2013

We investigated the potassium remaining on a crystalline silicon solar cell after potassium hydroxide (KOH) etching and its effect on the lifetime of the solar cell. KOH etching is generally used to remove the saw damage caused by cutting a Si ingot; it can also be used to etch the rear side of a textured crystalline silicon solar cell before atomic layer-deposited Al2O3 growth. However, the potassium remaining after KOH etching is known to be detrimental to the efficiency of Si solar cells. In this study, we etched a crystalline silicon solar cell in three ways in order to determine the effect of the potassium remnant on the efficiency of Si solar cells. After KOH etching, KOH and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) were used to etch the rear side of a crystalline silicon solar cell. To passivate the rear side, an Al2O3 layer was deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD). After ALD Al2O3 growth on the KOH-etched Si surface, we measured the lifetime of the solar cell by quasi steady-state photoconductance (QSSPC, Sinton WCT-120) to analyze how effectively the Al2O3 layer passivated the interface of the Al2O3 layer and the Si surface. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) was also used to measure how much potassium remained on the surface of the Si wafer and at the interface of the Al2O3 layer and the Si surface after KOH etching and wet cleaning.