Wacker to build new type of polysilicon plant

Munich-based polysilicon giant Wacker Chemie today said it plans to build a new granular-type polysilicon production facility at its Burghausen site in Germany.

With an annual nominal capacity of 650 metric tons, the new facility is expected to come online by the end of 2008.

It is to manufacture granular solar-grade polysilicon from trichlorosilane using fluidized-bed technology—a new technique.

Polysilicon is the raw material from which most solar cells are made today. 

Wacker says granular polysilicon offers processing advantages to solar wafer manufacturers that employ certain production techniques.

The company says it has been testing its new method in pilot reactors for 2½ years, and is now initiating commercial-scale production.

“Tests by customers who manufacture solar wafers (the starting material for solar cells) via continuous crystallization show that processing granular polysilicon is far more efficient than conventional techniques using polysilicon chunks,” said Ewald Schindlbeck, president of Wacker Polysilicon.

“Moreover, the comparatively low energy consumption vis-à-vis conventional deposition positively impacts the energy balance of solar cells.”

For over 50 years, Wacker's Burghausen site has been producing polycrystalline silicon for the semiconductor industry.

The division is currently the world’s second-largest polysilicon producer.