Memc Electronic Materials, Inc.

Memc Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Corner Star Limited

Memc Singapore Pte. Ltd. (uen200614794d)

Sunedison Semiconductor Limited

Memc Singapore Ptd. Ltd.

Sunedison, Inc.

Steven Lawrence Kimbel

Richard Joseph Phillips

Harold W Korb

Gang Shi

Lee William Ferry

Zheng Lu

Richard G Schrenker

Aditya Janardan Deshpande

Jeffrey Louis Libbert

Joseph C Holzer

Hariprasad Sreedharamurthy

Mohsen Banan

Benjamin Michael Meyer

Salvador Zepeda

Robert H Fuerhoff

Cynthia F Hall

Jihong (John) Chen

Shailendra B Rathod

Chang Bum Kim

Robert R Wyand, Iii

Robert J Falster

Carissima Marie Hudson

John D Holder

Tirumani N Swaminathan

Stephan Haringer

Kyong-Min Kim

Marco Zardoni

Sadasivam Chandrasekhar

Larry E Drafall

Ying Tao

Christopher Vaughn Luers

Kirk D McCallum

Sunil Grover

Thomas E Doane

Steven John Ferguson

Steve J Ferguson

John David Hilker

Benjamin M Meyer

Javidi Massoud

Jihong Chen

Lee W Ferry

A system for extracting liquid is provided. The system includes a vacuum source and a nozzle having a wettable plunger and a vacuum tube connected in flow communication with the vacuum source. When the plunger is partly submerged in the liquid and the vacuum source is actuated to initiate a flow of gas through the vacuum tube, droplets of the liquid separate from at least a portion of the unsubmerged part of the plunger and become suspended in the gas flow. The system also includes a cooling structure positioned adjacent to the vacuum tube to facilitate solidifying the droplets suspended in the gas flowing through the vacuum tube.

Systems and methods for extracting liquid

Systems and methods for forming an ingot from a melt are disclosed. A system includes a crucible defining a cavity for receiving the melt, and a first and second barrier to inhibit movement of the melt. A first passageway and a second passageway are arranged to allow the melt located within an outer zone to move into and through a transition zone and into an inner zone. Conditioning members are placed in at least one of the zones and arranged to contact the melt to reduce the number of micro-voids in the melt.

System for forming an ingot including crucible and conditioning members

A crystal puller for growing a crystal ingot includes a housing, insulation, a crucible assembly, a heat shield, and a dust barrier. The housing encloses a growth chamber, and has an upper wall with an inner surface and an aperture. The insulation separates an inside of the housing into an upper area and a lower area, and has a central opening. The crucible assembly is within the lower area to contain the melt. The heat shield is adjacent the central opening of the insulation, and forms a labyrinth gas path with the crucible assembly. The dust barrier extends from the inner surface of the upper wall to one of the insulation and the heat shield, and forms a seal with the upper wall around the aperture to inhibit particles from entering the growth chamber through the upper area of the housing.

Crystal puller for inhibiting melt contamination

Silicon nitride coated crucibles for holding melted semiconductor material and for use in preparing multicrystalline silicon ingots by a directional solidification process; methods for coating crucibles; methods for preparing silicon ingots and wafers; compositions for coating crucibles and silicon ingots and wafers with a low oxygen content.

Coated crucibles and methods for applying a coating to a crucible

A directional solidification furnace includes a crucible for holding molten silicon and a lid covering the crucible and forming an enclosure over the molten silicon. The crucible also includes an inlet in the lid for introducing inert gas above the molten silicon to inhibit contamination of the molten silicon.

Directional solidification furnace for reducing melt contamination and reducing wafer contamination

Methods and systems for evaluation of wafers are disclosed. One example method includes illuminating a multi-crystalline wafer according to a plurality of lighting parameters, capturing a plurality of images of the multi-crystalline wafer, stacking and projecting the plurality of images to generate a composite image, analyzing the composite image to identify one or more grains of the multi-crystalline wafer, and generating a report based on the analysis of the composite image. The multi-crystalline wafer is illuminated according to a different one of the plurality of lighting parameters in at least two of the plurality of images.

Methods and systems for grain size evaluation of multi-cystalline solar wafers

Methods for producing muticrystalline silicon ingots by use of a Czochralski-type crystal puller and pulling assemblies that include a plurality of seed crystals for pulling multicrystalline silicon ingots.

Methods for pulling a multicrystalline silicon ingot from a silicon melt

Methods for producing crucibles for holding molten material that contain a reduced amount of gas pockets are disclosed. The methods may involve use of molten silica that may be outgassed prior to or during formation of the crucible. Crucibles produced from such methods and ingots and wafers that are produced from crucibles with a reduced amount of gas pockets are also disclosed.

Methods for producing crucibles with a reduced amount of bubbles

A crystal puller for melting silicon and forming a single crystal ingot and a feed tool for shielding a portion of the crystal puller during charging of the crystal puller are disclosed herein. The crystal puller includes a crucible for containing molten silicon. The feed tool includes a cylinder and a plate. The cylinder has an inner surface and an annular ledge formed in a portion of the inner surface. The cylinder has a diameter at the annular ledge that is less than a diameter of the cylinder at the inner surface. The plate is positioned on the annular ledge and includes a first section separate from a second section. The first section and the second section are operable to move laterally with respect to each other. The plate has a central opening formed in at least one of the first section and the second section.

Feed tool for shielding a portion of a crystal puller

Coating compositions

Methods for producing multicrystalline silicon ingots by use of a Czochralski-type crystal puller and pulling assemblies that include a plurality of seed crystals for pulling multicrystalline silicon ingots.

Pulling assemblies for pulling a multicrystalline silicon ingot from a silicon melt

A method of continuously measuring an elevation and shape of an unmelted polycrystalline silicon island during a silicon meltdown process. The method comprises projecting a focused bright light on the silicon island to produce a bright dot on the silicon island. The method also includes electronically determining an elevation and a shape of the silicon island by tracking the bright dot during the meltdown process.

Method and device for continuously measuring silicon island elevation

Growing community of inventors

St. Charles, MO, United States of America

Steven Lawrence Kimbel