Preparation of high-purity silicon for solar cells

This article addresses the problems in the preparation of high-purity silicon for solar cells. The growing application field of silicon solar cells requires a substantial reduction in the cost of semiconductor-grade silicon, which is currently produced by the classical trichlorosilane process. Here, we analyze alternative processes for the preparation of solar-grade silicon: the reduction of volatile silicon compounds, refining of metallurgical-grade silicon, reduction of silicon fluorides, and reduction of silicon dioxide. We believe that carbothermal reduction followed by the refining of melted silicon is the most attractive process from the viewpoint of manufacturing cost.