Formation of silicon sheet on a rotating substrate.

A spin casting process to fabricate polycrystalline silicon sheets for use as solar cell wafers is presented and the parameters that control the sheet thickness are investigated. The computational model for the spin casting is proposed in order to understand the melt flow and solidification behaviors in the mold. The effect of the rotating speed of the mold and substrate morphology on the silicon sheets is studied via computer simulations, and the simulation results are compared with the experimental results. The numerical study of the fluidity and solidification behavior of the silicon predicted that the formation of rectangular sheets via spin casting is feasible, and the subsequent experiment confirmed this prediction. Using a square mold, rectangular silicon sheets can be produced under appropriate experimental conditions. Microstructural analyses verified the presence of long columnar structures on the sheets.