The continuous growth of Bulk Si by temperature gradient zone melting method

Temperature gradient zone melting (TGZM) method was used to obtain bulk Si continuously for the efficient separation and purification of primary Si from the Si-Al alloy in this work. The effects of alloy thickness, temperature gradient and holding time in TGZM purification technology were investigated. Finally, the continuous growth of bulk Si without eutectic inclusions was obtained. The results showed that the growth rate of bulk Si was independent of the liquid zone thickness. When the temperature gradient was changed from 2.48 K/mm to 3.97 K/mm, the growth rate of bulk Si was enhanced from 7.9×10–5 mm/s to 2.47×10–4 mm/s, which was increased by about 3 times. The bulk Si could grow continuously and the growth rate was decreased with the increase of holding time from 1 h to 5 h. Meanwhile, low refining temperature was beneficial to the removal of impurities. With a precipitation temperature of 1460 K and a temperature gradient of 2.48 K/mm, the removal rates of Fe, P and B were 99.8%, 94.0% and 63.6%, respectively.