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Investigation of DS Furnace Heat Exchange Block Thickness for the Improvement mc-Si Ingot Quality

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Abstract

Numerical investigation was performed for analyzing the distribution of von Mises stress in the growing multi-crystalline silicon ingot during the directional solidification process. In order to minimize the generation of the dislocation density, it is important to grow the mc-Si ingot with lower von Mises stress by maintaining 600 mbr pressure and Ar gas is inlet 20 LPM throughout the growth process. The important features for the generation of von Mises stress in the growing mc-Si ingot is axial and radial temperature gradient. The axial and radial temperature distributions play vital role for the generation of von Mises stress. By varying the thickness of the heat exchanger block the axial temperature distribution got altered. Directional Solidification furnace with various thickness of heat exchanger block (50 mm—250 mm) has been simulated and their response to solidification process has been analyzed. The distribution of axial and radial temperature, maximum principal stress and shear stress studies have been carried out for analyzing the distribution of von Mises stress in the mc-Si ingot. The growth rate of the mc-Si ingot has been altered by varying the thickness of the heat exchanger block. Since we maintained the growth rate within the optimal range, the optimal stress distribution has been observed for all the cases due to the lower growth rate. The recommended thickness of the heat exchanger block thickness is 250 mm.

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CGSim – a commercial software was used.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the Government of India (Order no: 31/58/2013-2014/PVSE & 15-01-2015). G Aravindan acknowledges Human Resource Development Group, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) for Senior Research Fellowship, Government of India (Sanction letter no/file no: 08/542(0010)2K19 EMR-I).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Sri Sivasuramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Chennai, 603110, India

    Anbu Gopalakrishnan, Thiyagarajan Madhu, Aravindan Gurusamy, Srinivasan Manickam & Ramasamy Perumalsamy

  2. Division of Physics, School of Advance Science, Vellore Institute of technology, Chennai, 600127, India

    Thiyagarajan Madhu

Authors
  1. Anbu Gopalakrishnan
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  2. Thiyagarajan Madhu
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  3. Aravindan Gurusamy
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  4. Srinivasan Manickam
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  5. Ramasamy Perumalsamy
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Contributions

Authors

Contribution

Anbu Gopalakrishnan

Software, Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review & Editing

Thiyagarajan Madhu

Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation

Aravindan Gurusamy

Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation

Srinivasan Manikkam

Supervision

Ramasamy Perumalsamy

Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anbu Gopalakrishnan.

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Gopalakrishnan, A., Madhu, T., Gurusamy, A. et al. Investigation of DS Furnace Heat Exchange Block Thickness for the Improvement mc-Si Ingot Quality. Silicon 15, 2185–2197 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-022-02162-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-022-02162-z

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