SiC Furnace Tubes

Semicorex SiC Furnace Tubes are advanced thermal processing components produced using advanced, custom, high-purity silicon carbide powder, with an advanced 3D printing process. This approach to forming allows you to manufacture very large, one-piece structures with advanced mechanical strength, chemical purity, and dimensional stability. SiC Furnace Tubes have been designed for the required specifications needed in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells covering high-temperature stages throughout the process. They are expected to provide a long service life, significant reliability, and excellent advantages over conventional furnace tube materials during operation.

In this innovation, we want to focus on additive manufacturing enabling the production of a monolithic structure (without joints or weak points). Conventional large ceramic tube production methods generally include assembly or bonding, and these are structural weaknesses and contamination issues. The SiC Furnace Tubes went through additive manufacturing technology, with a specialized SiC powder formulation, and was produced as a single unit with joints, and gave good uniformity in microstructure, material density, and mechanical properties. This means you have something that can survive the harshest thermal conditions without warping, cracking, or degrading.

The silicon carbide in the furnace tube must be of high purity for photovoltaic applications. Whenever solar cells are manufactured, any minority contamination present in the PV cell can adversely affect cell efficiency and yield. The SiC Furnace Tubes is constructed with ultra-clean material properties suitable for minimizing the introduction of metallic or particulate impurities into the process environment. This makes it highly effective during the high-temperature diffusion, annealing, and oxidation steps used in the manufacture of high-efficiency photovoltaic cells.

Thermal stability is another definitive advantage of the SiC Furnace Tubes. The tubes will continuously operate at temperatures exceeding 1000 °C. The cardinal attributes of thermal stability ensure structure and dimension retention through repeated heating and cooling cycles. The tube's favourable attributes of low thermal expansion and high thermal conductivity permit good and consistent heat distribution across wafers or substrates, minimizing thermal gradients that lead to stress, micro-cracking, or yield loss in photovoltaic manufacture. This ensures improved consistency and reproducibility in the manufacture of PV cells. The SiC Furnace Tubes have outstanding mechanical strength and durability. The design strength of the structure allows demanding furnace operations to be run with minimal bending or sagging or even yield loss during a prolonged extreme temperature operation.

Chemical resistance is also important in furnace tube applications, particularly in solar cell production where there may be aggressive gases (e.g. oxygen, chlorine, and/or fluorine). The SiC Furnace Tubes have dense microstructure and an inert surface chemistry that effectively resist corrosive environments, reducing the risk of degradation and contamination with time. This unique property contributes to reliability for the furnace system and cleanliness within the process chamber, directly contributing to product quality and yield.

The large size capability of 3D-printed SiC Furnace Tubes creates additional design flexibility and process scalability for manufacturers. Whether for standard photovoltaic production lines or next-generation high-capacity systems, the tubes may also be customized in length, diameter and wall thickness to be compatible with specific furnace configurations. The furnace tubes can deliver consistent performance across a wide range of dimensions, providing a versatile alternative for many of today's solar manufacturing facilities. Semicorex SiC Furnace Tubes mark a development in materials engineering and manufacturing technology for photovoltaic application. Its design offers the benefits of a large-scale one piece, high purity, mechanical strength and superior thermal stability, providing truly exceptional performance in high-temperature solar cell processes.