Silicon Metal

Dow Corning Solar Solutions Introduces Breakthrough Solar Material

 A commercially viable solar-grade silicon derived from metallurgical silicon purification will increase the availability of feedstock to the photovoltaic industry, providing new options to ingot, wafer and cell producers.

The Dow Corning Solar Solutions Group has achieved a milestone in solar energy technology: a solar-grade (SoG) silicon derived from metallurgical silicon that exhibits good solar cell performance characteristics when blended with traditional polysilicon feedstock. This new silicon feedstock material, Dow Corning^® PV 1101 SoG Silicon, is the first commercially available feedstock produced from such technology using large scale manufacturing processes dedicated to the photovoltaic industry.

For several years, the primary obstacle to the growth of solar energy has been the constrained availability of silicon, the key raw material used in the production of solar cells. Until now, the solar industry has relied on the supply of polycrystalline silicon, a high-grade purity product, originally developed for the semiconductor industry. This has meant that the solar industry has in turn been subject to resource restraint. The launch of PV 1101, produced from a very different route, will alleviate that restraint and offer a new source of supply as well as new technical and business options for the solar industry.

Dow Corning's PV 1101 SoG Silicon is offering new choices and new perspectives for the photovoltaic (PV) industry.

The PV 1101 blend material has already been tested in independent institutes and at several Dow Corning Solar Solutions’ customer production sites worldwide. The testing showed that the blended feedstock material exhibits performance characteristics similar to polysilicon in terms of solar cell manufacturing and efficiency.

PV 1101 SoG Silicon is a new milestone for the Solar Solutions Group at Dow Corning. It is the first product manufactured at Dow Corning Solar Solutions Group’s new production facility in Brazil.

While Dow Corning has been providing materials to the photovoltaic industry throughout the company’s history, it created the Solar Solutions Group in 2001 to focus on development and commercialization of material solutions that will improve cost effectiveness, material availability, durability and performance of photovoltaic devices.

Dow Corning Solar Solutions Group provides materials and services for the entire photovoltaic supply chain, from sand to sun™: from the basic building blocks of silicon feedstock for ingots and wafers production to solar module frame assembly and sealing materials. It is leveraging its unique position and global leadership in the silicon value chain to deliver solutions that will make a difference in the photovoltaic industry and help photovoltaic producers fulfill the mid- and long-term promises of solar energy.