Design and numerical analysis of a novel argon gas tube to reduce impurities in large size casting crystalline silicon furnace

Abstract

A novel design of argon gas tube within the silicon casting system was developed employing pipe flow and side jet analysis, which facilitates horizontal ejection of argon gas along the silicon melt surface. The aim was to enhance control over gas flow velocity for removing impurities during large size silicon ingot (1400 kg) growth, with special attention on the edge region of ingot. It was found that the diameter of side-facing outlet holes, when oriented along the corner direction, is about 2 times of that along the side center direction, to achieve an extended jet distance reaching corner region. The gas flow and transport of SiO above the silicon melt surface were studied for the proposed gas tube configuration based on 3D numerical simulations. The simulation results reveal the correlation between argon flow rate and resultant gas velocity at the edge of melt surface, which is consistent with the theoretical analysis, particularly for moderate to high argon flow rates. The numerical simulations demonstrated that the proposed gas tube, equipped with eight optimized outlet holes, outperformed the conventional tube in extracting SiO from both central and corner regions above the silicon melt surface.