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Numerical Modeling of Thermal and Flow Field in Directional Solidification Silicon under Vertical Magnetic Field

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Abstract

One of the key issues in the directional solidification (DS) process of multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) is to control the melt flow in order to achieve a higher quality of silicon ingot. A steady global model is developed to investigate the effects of vertical magnetic field (VMF) variation in industrial G5 DS furnace. The Solid/Liquid (S/L) interface, thermal and flow field during directional solidification of mc-Si have been simulated. The results show that, with B0 increases, the deflection of S/L interface decreases and melt flow rate is greatly inhibited. Through the analysis of the flow structure, it is found that two small vortexes in melt without B0 become a large vortex as B0 increases. The melt flow distribution is more uniform which is beneficial to obtain a homogeneous distribution of impurities. These results show the VMF can be adjusted to successfully obtain a more uniform flow distribution and a flatter S/L interface shape.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Acknowledgements

The Project is supported by Key Research and Development Program of Jiangsu Province of China (Grant No.BE2019009-003), Industry-University-Research Project (Wuxi Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd. Grant No.8421130025). The National Natural Science Foundation for Young Scholars of China (Grant No. 51206069).

Funding

The Project is supported by Key Research and Development Program of Jiangsu Province of China (Grant No. BE2019009–003), Industry-University-Research Project (Wuxi Suntech Solar Power Co., Ltd. Grant No. 8421130025). The National Natural Science Foundation for Young Scholars of China (Grant No. 51206069).

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Wenjia Su contributed to the conception of the study.

Wei Yang performed the simulation and contributed significantly to analysis and manuscript written.

Jiulong Li and Chen Li performed the data analyses and modified the manuscript.

Junfeng Wang helped perform the analysis with constructive discussion.

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Correspondence to Wenjia Su or Junfeng Wang.

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Su, W., Yang, W., Li, J. et al. Numerical Modeling of Thermal and Flow Field in Directional Solidification Silicon under Vertical Magnetic Field. Silicon 14, 99–105 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-020-00843-1

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