Solaicx has designed and built a proprietary system to produce Czochralski (CZ), single-crystal silicon ingots for the silicon-based solar manufacturing industry. The system includes a continuous CZ grower that implements several breakthrough technologies, allowing the manufacture of low-cost, high-quality ingots for conversion into silicon wafers.
Solaicx’s grower technology (patents pending) will produce ingots far more rapidly (up to 5 times) than traditional CZ crystal growers, most of which were designed and built to service the semiconductor, rather than the solar, wafer manufacturing industry. The new technology also yields ingots with uniform resistivity throughout their length. The resulting 6 and 8-inch diameter wafers, built to customer specifications, will possess uniquely higher minority carrier lifetimes.
Silicon utilization – one of the most significant cost factors within wafer manufacturing – will be improved by the Solaicx process, thus creating significant efficiencies and competitive advantages in a market severely constrained by near-term supply shortages and raw material price increases.
