Research: Remelting and purification of silicon kerf for photovoltaic wafers

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Remelting and Purification of Si-Kerf for PV-Wafers

EN
Remelting and Purification of Si-Kerf for PV-Wafers
Type
Academic/Research paper
Publishing Organisation or Company
SINTEF
Author
M. Syvertsen
T. Halvorsen
K. Mørk
A. Nordmark
T. Kaden
A. Ulyashin
Publication Date
September, 2017
Country
Other (Norway)
Language for original content
English
Key Area
Waste management
Sector
Electronics and ICT,
Industrial techniques,
Mining, metals and minerals,
Personal and household goods,
Recycling,
Refuse, Re-think, Reduce,
Research,
Reuse
Scope
EU
Alexander Ulyashin
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Research on Remelting and Purification of Si-kerf for PV wafers is part of CABRISS, a European collaboration aimed to develop a circular economy mainly for the photovoltaic but also other industries such as electronics or metallurgy.

During production of silicon wafers out of silicon (Si) ingots and wafers, about 40–50% of the material is lost due to the cutting technique. The research had kerf from slurry based wafer cuttings undergoing several refining steps and being remelted into ingots for PV-application.

Conclusion: With 10%  refined material, ingots were still directionally solidified, whereas with 100% refined material, they were not. The presented refining method does not allow for ingots with 100% refined material to be used as PV-material.