Fundamental study on production process of solar-grade silicon utilizing metal hydrides

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24760615
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Metal making engineering
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: YASUDA Kouji 京都大学, エネルギー科学研究科, 助教 (20533665)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: シリコン / 還元 / カルシウム / マグネシウム / 水素化物 / 酸化物

Outline of Final Research Achievements

With the recent progress of photovoltaics and solar cell industries, new production process of solar-grade silicon with high productivity is required. In this work, a silicon production process based on a thermite reaction of silicon oxide, which includes simultaneous reduction and refining reactions, was investigated. Through the observation of the silicon products and analysis on in-situ temperature measurement using a thermocouple and a pyrometer, it was found that the produced silicon was melting during the reduction and the temperature was higher than its melting point. The distribution of the impurity elements between the silicon and the oxide byproduct phases was analyzed.

Free Research Field

工学