silicon for the chemical and solar industry XIII

Conclusion

By minimising mechanical contact for breaking the silicon with up to 200 000 Volt,

the high voltage fragmentation provides less contamination for higher and more

consistent quality silicon. The lower risk of contamination means that less or no

etching of the silicon is required to remove any compromised surface material. This

helps to speed up the silicon sizing process but also decreases the volume of

potentially environmentally-hazardous chemicals required. The controllable and

accurate size distribution reduces waste and off-spec material.

The implementation of the HV-crushing process to the industry has already started

with installations at key market players during 2015. Under current development is

the recycling process of off-spec monocrystalline silicon material.

Literature

1. Bluhm, H., Frey, W., Giese, H., Hoppé, P., Schultheiß, C. and Sträßner, R. 2000. Application

of Pulses HV Discharges to Material Fragmentation and Recycling. IEEE Transactions on

Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation 7 (5), 625 –636