Kyocera Corporation

Youhei Sakai

Shigeru Gotoh

Kentaro Okushima

Yoshiyuki Amano

A method for forming a mold comprises forming a body by kneading a ceramic powder comprising a silicon nitride powder and a first binder solution; forming a slurry by adding a second binder solution to the body; and forming a release layer by attaching the slurry to a surface of a mold base. A method for manufacturing a solar cell element comprises forming a silicon ingot by solidifying a silicon melt in the mold obtained by the above-described method for forming a mold; slicing the silicon ingot into substrates each having a predetermined thickness; forming a diffusion layer on each of the substrates; and forming an electrode on a surface of the diffusion layer.

Ingot mold for silicon ingot and method for making the same

Disclosed is a mold wherein one bottom surface member () and four lateral surface members () are assembled. The sides of each lateral surface member () are respectively provided with a projection () and a recess () for combining the lateral surface members together, and the projection () of one lateral surface member () is engaged with the recess () of the adjacent lateral surface member (). By using the one bottom surface member () and four lateral surface members (), a mold can be assembled or disassembled without using screw or bolts. Consequently, the assembly or disassembly work of the mold is dramatically simplified, thereby improving work efficiency significantly.

Mold, method of forming the same, and method of producing polycrystalline silicon substrate using the mold

A silicon casting apparatus for producing polycrystal silicon ingot by heating a silicon melt () held in a mold () from above by a heater () and cooling it from below while changing the heat exchange area of a heat exchange region (HE), defined between a pedestal () having the mold () placed thereon and a bottom cooling member (), in such a manner as to keep pace with the rise of the solid-liquid interface of the silicon melt (), thereby causing unidirectional solidification upward along the mold (); and a method of producing polycrystal silicon ingot using such apparatus. According to this production method, the temperature gradient given to the silicon melt () can be maintained at constant by adjusting the heat exchange area, so that polycrystal silicon ingot having good characteristics can be produced with good reproducibility.

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Higashiomi, Japan

Youhei Sakai