Title :
Rice Hulls-To-Silicon Revisited
Author_Institution :
Global PV Specialists, Woodland Hills, CA
Abstract :
In a three-step process, rice hulls were purified and then converted into upgraded metallurgical silicon suitable for ingot production using directional solidification and solar-grade wafers. Pilot production of this new solar cell feedstock has successfully demonstrated solar cell efficiencies comparable to high purity polysilicon produced by conventional means. The design and fabrication of a production-scale operation follows this pilot demonstration
Keywords :
agricultural products; elemental semiconductors; ingots; metallurgy; purification; silicon; solar cells; solidification; Si; directional solidification; ingot production; metallurgical silicon; purification; rice hulls; solar cell feedstock; solar-grade wafers; Boron; Chemical analysis; Fabrication; Furnaces; Impurities; Iron; Photovoltaic cells; Production; Silicon; Surface texture;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Conference Record of the 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on
Conference_Location :
Waikoloa, HI
Print_ISBN :
1-4244-0017-1
Electronic_ISBN :
1-4244-0017-1
DOI :
10.1109/WCPEC.2006.279331
