Influence of furnace design on the thermal stress during directional solidification of multicrystalline silicon

Directional solidification is one of the most popular techniques for massive production of multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si). Dislocation is one of the major defects that significantly affect the photovoltaic performance. For the analysis and optimization of stress-induced dislocation, a computational tool has been developed to investigate thermal stress distribution during directional solidification process of multicrystalline silicon. Temperature distribution in the furnace, S/L interface shape and melt flow are simulated. Parametric studies are further conducted to evaluate the effect of furnace design on the interface shape and on the maximum von Mises stress in the growing ingot. To consider the effects of the crucible geometry qualitatively, three-dimensional modeling of the thermal stress is performed with or without the constraint of the crucible. The regions of dislocation multiplication are evaluated by comparing von Mises stress to critical resolved shear stress (CRSS). The results imply that the dislocation in the growing ingot can be reduced by optimizing the design of the directional solidification furnace. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.