Growth and properties of [100] and [111] dislocation-free silicon crystals from a cold crucible

Dislocation-free silicon crystals, approximately 15 mm in diameter, were grown from a RF-heated cold crucible at pulling speeds of 1 to 2.8 mm/min. Both [111] and [100] orientations were grown without using auxiliary heating. X-ray topography, spreading resistance, Hall mobility, minority carrier diffusion length, and other techniques were used to characterize the crystals. Solar cells fabricated on wafers from cold crucible grown ingots had 4% to 8% higher conversion efficiencies than cells on conventional Czochralski-grown wafers.