CA2449659A1 - Electrolyte and method for manufacturing and/or refining of silicon - Google Patents

Electrolyte and method for manufacturing and/or refining of silicon Download PDF

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Publication number
CA2449659A1
CA2449659A1 CA002449659A CA2449659A CA2449659A1 CA 2449659 A1 CA2449659 A1 CA 2449659A1 CA 002449659 A CA002449659 A CA 002449659A CA 2449659 A CA2449659 A CA 2449659A CA 2449659 A1 CA2449659 A1 CA 2449659A1
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Prior art keywords
silicon
melt
electrolyte
cao
cathode
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Abandoned
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CA002449659A
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French (fr)
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Espen Olsen
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Sintef AS
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Individual
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    • CCHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C25ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25BELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF COMPOUNDS OR NON-METALS; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C25B1/00Electrolytic production of inorganic compounds or non-metals
    • C25B1/01Products
    • C25B1/33Silicon

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Inorganic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
  • Electrochemistry (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Silicon Compounds (AREA)
  • Electrolytic Production Of Metals (AREA)

Abstract

Electrolyte for the manufacture or refinery of silicon at high temperatures, particularly suited for the manufacture of high grade silicon. The electroly te mainly comprises a salt melt of CaC12 and Cao. The invention further concern s a method for the manufacture of silicon in a salt melt at high temperature, in which quartz with a low content of phosphorous and boron is subjected to electrolysis in such a melt. Finally the invention concerns a method for the refinery of silicon, where the silicon to be refined is used as an alloy element for the anode to be used in an electrolytic cell comprising a melt a s defined above.

Description

Electrolyte and method for manufacturing and/or refining of silicon.
The present invention relates to an electrolyte. The invention further relates to a method for the manufacture of or refining of silicon, by which the electrolyte is utilized.
Background Silicon may in terms of quality be divided into three categories, silicon for metallurgical purposes, high-grade silicon for solar cell production (SoG-Si) and extremely high-grade silicon for electronic purposes.
The different quality levels of silicon are manufactured by different methods and varying conditions. With respect to the SoG-Si for solar cells, this quality has predominantly been produced from scrap resulting from the manufacture of the even higher grade silicon for electronic purposes. As long as this source for solar cells is sufficiently large to cover the market need, the price has been at an acceptable level.
This is partly due to the fact that the price tolerance of the silicon for electronic purposes is very high in relation to the silicon for use in solar cells.
The demand for solar cell silicon is increasing, however, and already within 2001 access to raw material in the form of scrap from the electronics industry may be too small to cover demand.
Electrochemical production of Si from quartz dissolved in a cryolite melt is described e.g. in PCT patent publication No. WO 95/ 33870. The cryolite melt has the advantageous property that it dissolves silicon dioxide well and that it is inexpensive. It is thus convenient for the manufacture of metallurgic grade silicon with a typical purity of 99.5 - 99.7%, provided there is no requirement for absence of particular kinds of impurities. This method has, however, severe drawbacks when it comes to the manufacture of high grade silicon. The cryolite melt is extremely corrosive, particularly at high temperatures, as a consequence of its fluoride content. Therefore the range of allowable electrode materials in such a melt is very limited. In practice only carbon electrodes have been able to be utilized for this propose. Carbon electrodes are encumbered with certain disadvantages related to manufacture of very pure silicon as they tend to contaminate the melt, and thus the silicon produced therefrom, with traces of boron and phosphorous. These elements, which are found as trace elements in carbon, are not removable from the product by any known purification method, which renders silicon manufactured this way very difficult to use for the purposes of solar cells.
In addition substantial amounts of the cryolite melt deposits with the product, and this contamination is also very difficult to remove from the silicon by any known refining or purification method.
Objective It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a method for the manufacture of solar cell quality silicon (SoG-Si), i.e. with a maximum allowable content of B and P in the magnitude of 1 ppm.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of this type that is based on electrolysis and where contaminations included in the product are of a kind that are easily removable in a subsequent purification step.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a method of this type that is simple and inexpensive, so that the resulting product may be produced at a reasonable cost.
These and other objects are achieved by means of the electrolyte and the method according to the invention.
The invention The invention thus concerns an electrolyte as defined by claim 1.
The invention also concerns a method for the manufacture of silicon as defined by claim 4.
Finally the invention concerns a method for the refinery of silicon as defined by claim 10.
Preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed by the dependent claims.

According to phase diagrams a melt of CaCl2 will be able to dissolve Si02 in an amount sufficient for the salt to serve as an electrolyte in a process of the kind mentioned above, and more precisely in the magnitude of 5%. It was, however, discovered during the work leading to the present invention, that said phase diagrams are incorrect.
Pure CaGlz dissolves SiO~ only to a very limited degree, namely in the magnitude of 0.1 %.
CaCl2 is highly hygroscopic, and a possible source of error for the known phase diagrams) may be that the measurements have been conducted with a not completely pure CaClz, which means that oxygen in the form of water may have been included in the melt.
It has been found as part of the present invention that addition of comparatively modest amounts of Ca0 to CaCI, provides a melt that dissolves SiO, to an extent that is fully satisfactory. Already at a 5% content of Ca0 the solubility is in the range of 3-4%, which is more than sufficient for the purpose. Acceptable solubilities were found already at concentrations lower than this. The underlying chemistry is not fully understood for this melt more than for other melts, but there is reason to believe that the Si02 combines with Ca0 in an unknown stoichiometry. Such compounds complicate the deposition of metal from the melt. For the process according to the invention, this has, however, proved in practice to not be a problem.
A possible disadvantage of chloride based melts for electrolysis of dissolved oxides, is that significant amounts of chlorine gas develop at the anode.
Thermodynamically oxygen should form before chloride, but lcinetical relations will in practice decide the relative amounts of these gases. Therefore it is convenient to use an anode material that promotes the development of oxygen and inhibits the development of chloride gas.
Carbon is an example of an anode material that is well suited for this purpose, but as mentioned above it has the disadvantage that it (usually) contains phosphorous and boron that easily transfer to the product. Some carbon sources may, however, be well suited as anode material for the method according to the invention.
In addition to carbon with a particularly low content of phosphorous and boron, modified nickel ferrite, doped tin oxide or'an oxidation resistant metal alloy chosen among the metals, tungsten, silver, gold, platinum and palladium, may be used as anode material. Generally it is convenient to use inert, i.e. non-consumable, anodes.
As cathode material, e.g. silicon or alloys containing silicon are well suited. Silicon alone has, however, an inconveniently low electrical conductivity , which is why some amount of metal, e.g. calcium, is preferably added. The amount of calcium in such an alloy may vary typically from a few per cent to e.g. 30%. The amount need not exceed a few per cent, typically 5% or less. Other materials that by experience may be included in such alloys, are tungsten, nickel and iron. Iron or tungsten have proved to be particularly advantageous, as well as alloys including silicon and said metals, as these metals/ alloys do not react with metals that deposit in the process, particularly calcium.
It is important that contaminations that occur in the silicon deposited on the cathode may easily be removed by simple methods to a comparatively high degree of purity.
The process may - with less purification - be competitive also with production processes of silicon of a lower quality than the solar cell quality.
According to one aspect, the invention may be utilized for refining silicon of an arbitrary degree of purity. According to this embodiment of the invention an alloy of the "impure" silicon together with another metal is used as anode in an electrolyte of said type. Pauicularly preferred is an alloy of copper and silicon. When such a process is run, nearly pure silicon will migrate through the electrolyte from the anode to the cathode and be deposited on the latter electrode as part of the production process. The contaminations will almost exclusively remain in the anode.
Examples Two simple examples were conducted without any particular optimization of the electrodes, in order to get an indication of the electrolyte's suitability for the process.
The test conditions are listed in table 1.

Table 1: Test conditions Parameters Test 1 (a and b) Test 2 Time 11 hours 11 hours Cathode CaSi (ca. 20 % by TiB
weight Ca).
5 Melt CaClz + 10 % by like test 1 weight Ca0 + 6 % by weight SiOz Crucible Quartz (Si02) Quartz (SiO~) Anode . Platinum Carbon Cathodic current 100 mA/cmz 25 mA/cm' density Anodic current density200 mA/cm' S mA/cm'-Silicon manufactured during the test runs were analysed with respect to phosphorus and boron according to test method (Ar-ICP-AE). The measurements were controlled against a pure electronic grade silicon. The results are shown in table 2.
Table 2: Test results Test Blppm (weight) Plppm (weight) 1 a 0.42 54.1 1 b 0.62 66.43 2 71.15 16.00 Control 0.00 0.00 (electronic grade-Si) The results of tests la and 1b indicates a certain content of phosphorous, which mainly origins from the raw materials. Typically the Ca0 would contain some phosphorous.
With respect to boron, the very low levels found in the test runs la and 1b indicate that the method works according to the expectations with platinum anode and CaSi cathode.
Test 2 shows an undesired high content of boron with respect to the use of the material for electronic purposes. This content mainly originates from the electrodes.
In general these tests show that the electrolyte and the method as such work according to expectations, but that the choice of electrodes needs to be adapted and optimized according to the desired purity of the end product.

Claims (14)

Claims
1. Electrolyte for the manufacture of or refinery of silicon at high temperatures, characterized in that it mainly comprises a salt melt of CaCl2 and CaO.
2. Electrolyte as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the CaO constitutes 0,5-15% calculated on the basis of the entire melt, while the rest of the melt is preferably CaCl2.
3. Electrolyte as claimed m claim 1, characterized in that the CaO constitutes 2-5% calculated on the basis of the entire melt, while the rest of the melt is preferably CaCl2.
4. Method for the manufacture of silicon in a salt melt at high temperatures, characterized in that quartz with a low content of phosphorous and boron is subjected to electrolysis in a melt of CaCl2 and CaO.
5. Method as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that the electrodes used in the process are substantially inert.
6. Method as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that silicon or silicon-containing alloys are used as cathode material.
7. Method as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that an alloy of silicon with some amounts of calcium is used as cathode material.
8. Method as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that iron and/ or tungsten or alloys of these materials are used as cathode material.
9. Method as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that nickel ferrite, doped tin oxide, carbon or an oxidation resistant alloy of metals chosen from tungsten, silver or the noble metals platinum and palladium is used as anode material.
10. Method as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that nickel ferrite cermet containing copper and nickel or antimony-doped tin oxide is used as anode material.
11. Method for the refinery of silicon at a high temperature, characterized in that the silicon to be refined is used as an alloy element in the anode in an electrolytic cell comprising a melt of CaCl2 and CaO.
12. Method as claimed in claim 11, characterized in that a substantially inert material is used for the cathode.
13. Method as claimed in claim 12, characterized in that silicon or silicon-containing alloys are used as cathode.
14. Method as claimed in claim 12 or 13, characterized in that that an alloy of silicon with some calcium is used as cathode.
CA002449659A 2001-06-05 2002-06-03 Electrolyte and method for manufacturing and/or refining of silicon Abandoned CA2449659A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
NO20012749A NO317073B1 (en) 2001-06-05 2001-06-05 Electrolyte and process for the manufacture or refining of silicon
NO20012749 2001-06-05
PCT/NO2002/000195 WO2002099166A1 (en) 2001-06-05 2002-06-03 Electrolyte and method for manufacturing and/or refining of silicon

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US (1) US20040238372A1 (en)
EP (1) EP1402086A1 (en)
JP (1) JP2004532933A (en)
CA (1) CA2449659A1 (en)
NO (1) NO317073B1 (en)
WO (1) WO2002099166A1 (en)

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NO333319B1 (en) * 2003-12-29 2013-05-06 Elkem As Silicon material for the production of solar cells
JP4765066B2 (en) * 2005-05-19 2011-09-07 国立大学法人京都大学 Method for producing silicon
EP1999286B1 (en) * 2006-03-10 2017-04-19 Elkem AS Method for electrolytic production and refining of silicon
NL1031734C2 (en) * 2006-05-03 2007-11-06 Girasolar B V Process for purifying a semiconductor material using an oxidation-reduction reaction.
EP2142477A1 (en) * 2007-04-05 2010-01-13 SOLVAY (Société Anonyme) High-purity calcium compounds
WO2008156372A2 (en) 2007-06-18 2008-12-24 Rec Scanwafer As Method for recovering elemental silicon from cutting remains
US7872676B2 (en) * 2007-07-13 2011-01-18 Micron Technology, Inc. Methods, systems, and devices for offset compensation in CMOC imagers
CN101736354B (en) * 2008-11-06 2011-11-16 北京有色金属研究总院 Method for preparing one or more of silicon nano power, silicon nanowires and silicon nanotubes by electrochemical method
CN101967649A (en) * 2010-09-09 2011-02-09 昆明理工大学 Method for preparing silicon from composite molten salt electrolyte
CN101979712A (en) * 2010-12-01 2011-02-23 武汉大学 Method for preparing elemental silicon
US10147836B2 (en) 2012-05-31 2018-12-04 Board Of Regents Of The University Of Texas System Production of thin film solar grade silicon on metals by electrodeposition from silicon dioxide in a molten salt
CN103173780B (en) * 2013-03-01 2015-06-03 中南大学 Method and device for preparing solar polycrystalline silicon material by semi-continuous molten salt electrolysis
US20180291513A1 (en) * 2017-04-11 2018-10-11 Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Low temperature electrochemical production of silicon
CN110629241B (en) * 2019-09-16 2021-06-22 上海大学 Silicon material manufacturing method

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GB833767A (en) * 1956-10-19 1960-04-27 Timax Corp Continuous electrolytic production of titanium
US3003934A (en) * 1959-01-08 1961-10-10 Timax Associates Process for the electrolytic production of metals
NL7605625A (en) * 1975-05-27 1976-11-30 Univ Bruxelles PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF MANGANESE CHLORIDE AND PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF MANGANESE BY ELECTROLYSIS IN THE MELT OF THE OBTAINED MANGANESE CHLORIDE.
FR2480796A1 (en) * 1980-04-21 1981-10-23 Extramet Sarl High purity silicon deposit formation - by electrolytic deposition from alkali (ne earth) metal halide melt contg. dissolved silicon
US4738759A (en) * 1984-10-05 1988-04-19 Extramet S.A. Zone Industrielle Method for producing calcium or calcium alloys and silicon of high purity
JPS61186489A (en) * 1985-02-13 1986-08-20 Hiroshi Ishizuka Device for electrolyzing molten chloride of alkali metal or alkaline earth metal
AU1560097A (en) * 1996-01-22 1997-08-20 Jan Reidar Stubergh Production of high purity silicon metal, aluminium, their alloys, silicon carbide and aluminium oxide from alkali alkaline earth alumino silicates

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Publication number Publication date
WO2002099166A1 (en) 2002-12-12
NO20012749D0 (en) 2001-06-05
EP1402086A1 (en) 2004-03-31
US20040238372A1 (en) 2004-12-02
JP2004532933A (en) 2004-10-28
NO317073B1 (en) 2004-08-02
NO20012749L (en) 2002-12-06

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