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“Assessment of Polysilicon Global Market and it’s Fabrication Technology Landscape” Final Report for Rusnano July 26, 2010

Frost&Sullivan Polysilicon 2010

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Assessment of Polysilicon Global Market and its Fabrication Technology Landscape

Final Report for Rusnano July 26, 2010

Analysis of Polysilicon Value Chain

2

Silicon value chain INearly 10% of the globally produced metallurgic silicon is consumed for high purity silicon for solar and semiconductor industries.

Solar industry

Polysilicon Polysilicon

Ingots or Ingots or Blocks BlocksMono or multicrystalline Monocrystalline

Wafer Wafer

Solar cells Solar cells

PV System

Silica

mg -- Si mg Si

Semiconductor industry

Polysilicon Polysilicon

Ingots Ingots

Wafer Wafer

Chips Chips

Electronic System

Purified silicon is utilized in solar and semiconductor industries. The crucial for those two sector is purity of the silicon and its form. The solar industry uses silicon (mono or multicrystalline) of purity level 99.9999 99.999999% of silicon (6-8 Nines). While semiconductor industry requires much purer material, i.e. 9 11 Nines level. Thus, in the past arising solar industry was using scraps of semiconductor silicon of lower purity (mostly from the caps of the ingot). Now, demand from this market is much higher and silicon producers orient their activities to address this need.3

Silicon value chain IIMajor production steps for a crystalline silicon include:

Silica is transformed into metallurgical grade silicon, which is an abundant and cheap commodity used, for instance, as an alloying element with aluminum.

Metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si) is subsequently refined into ultra pure silicon, so-called polysilicon. This step is both capital and energy intensive. Polysilicon is subsequently remelted and re-deposited to form ingots, which are then sawn and polished into wafers. This first part of the value chain is nearly similar for both of the silicon types, only the purity requirements are less stringent.

Further, the wafers are processed according to the end user needs. In case of solar cells, they are polished and prepared with a number of operations including deposition of various layers, laser grooving, creation of junctions, to form cells. There are two main types of crystalline silicon cells: mono-crystalline (more efficient in the conversion of sunlight into electricity, however with higher manufacturing costs) and multi-crystalline (lower in cost to manufacture, but less efficient than mono-crystalline cells).

In case of semiconductor grade, the purification step is much more demanding than in solar grade silicon. The whole system is remelted and transformed into monocrystalline material.4

Analysis of Polysilicon Value Chain - mg Si

5

Metallurgical grade silicon in aluminum alloysDespite of the high purity polysilicon. Metallurgical silicon is used mostly in aluminum industry. The largest application of pure silicon (metallurgical grade silicon) is in aluminum - silicon alloys, often called "light alloys", to produce cast parts, mainly for the automotive industry (this represents about 50 % of the world consumption of pure silicon). The combination of MG- Si and aluminum offer a decreased melting temperature, increased fluidity of the melt, and decreased contraction associated with solidification of alloy. The use of metallurgical grade silicon is to strengthen and harden the aluminum to make it withstand higher temperatures. Silicon is usually used at the conditions close to the eutectic point, i.e. 11.7 wt% of silicon (typically 12%) and T =577oC. Demand for silicon for aluminum alloys will still be high in future and this market will impact the total demand for silicon.

6

List of Global MG-Si ProducersManufacturer North and Latin America Globe Specialty Metals, Inc Plans to retool an existing MG-Si plant to produce 4,000 tons of solar-grade silicon (via Solsil) per year by 2011 Country Present Capacity (MT per year) Expansion Plans

USA

153,000

90,000 (MG-Si) Dow Corning USA 1000 4000 (solar grade silicon) 50,000 (MG-Si) Becancour Silicon (now Timminco) Rima Industrial S/A Ligas De Aluminio S.A. (LIASA) Minas Ligas Canada 3600 (solar grade silicon) 60,000 46,000 22,000 NA NA

Brazil Brazil Brazil

NA NA NA7

List of Global MG-Si Producers (cont)Manufacturer Europe Ferroatlantica Spain 223,000 100,000 (MG-Si) Elkem Norway 5000 (solar grade silicon) 70,000 55,000 35,000 5000 2000 (solar grade silicon) Total production was expected to reach 10,000 MT by the end of 2010 Plans to reach final capacity at 4500 MT NAPlant 1 has a capacity of 5000 MT. Capacity of Plant 2 is not confirmed, but will produce at least 5000 MT from 2011 onwards.

Country

Present Capacity (MT per year)

Expansion Plans

United Company RUSAL Fesil RW Silicium GmbH Kazsilicon (TSC Group)

Russia Norway Germany Kazakhstan

NA NA

Solarvalue

Germany

8

List of Global MG-Si Producers (cont)Present Capacity (MT per year)

Manufacturer Asia and Oceania

Country

Expansion Plans

No firm expansion plans at present, although the company is in talks to expand

Simcoa Operations

Australia

33,000

capacity with industrial partners, as the new capacity will have to be pre-sold prior to expansion activities.

9

Globe Specialty Metals Inc, USASpecial features: The Company supplies 12% of Silicon materials globally; and have 25% of the global market (apart from China). It is the largest producer of silicon metal in North America. Location of Headquarters: New York Production capacity: It has an installed capacity of 186,000 MT, but produced 156,400 tons in 2009 Expansion plans: Plans to retool an existing metallurgical-grade silicon plant in Niagara Falls to produce solar-grade silicon. The facility is expected to be in full production by 2011, turning out at least 4,000 tons of solar-grade silicon per year, which will be finally upgraded to 30,000 tons. Ownership structure:

Globe's principal operating subsidiaries are:

Globe Metallurgical Inc. Solsil Inc. GlobeMetais Industria e Comercio S.A., Brazil (formerly CCM) GlobeMetales S.A., Argentina (formerly Stein Ferroaleaciones) does not produce MG-Si Norchem Concrete Products Inc. does not produce MG-Si

On February 29, 2008, the Company completed the acquisition of 81% of Solsil, a company engaged in the production of high purity metallurgical silicon for use in silicon-based solar cells. Solsil supplies its silicon to several leading global manufacturers of photovoltaic cells, ingots and wafers

10

Globe Specialty Metals Inc, USA (cont)Silicon sources: Quartzite mine in Billingsley, Alabama Owned by Globe Metallurgical Incs subsidiary, Alabama Sand & Gravel Inc. Quartzite mine in Par, Brazil Globe Metais S.A. Plants:

Beverly, Ohio 32,000 MT MG-Si plant run by Globe Metallurgical Inc. Solsil Inc also has its main plant in Beverly, Ohio, where solar grade silicon metal is produced Alloy, West Virginia 65,000 MT plant run by Globe Metallurgical Incs subsidiary, West Virginia Alloys Selma, Alabama 30,000 MT plant run by Globe Metallurgical Inc. Niagara Falls, New York owned by Globe Metallurgical Inc., but currently idle Tucuru , Breu Branco, Par, Brazil 42,000 MT plant run by Globe Metais S.A.

Significant contracts:

Solsil has a supply agreement that ends in December 2026 for S-1 metallurgical grade for $1,512,000 A contract with Dow Corning which begins in 2006, where Dow Corning will purchase 30 000 metric tons of silicon metal per year by the end of 201011

Globe Specialty Metals Subsidiary - Globe Metais Indstria e Comrcio S.A., BrazilSpecial features: Quartz mines have reserves well in excess of 40 years, at current production capacity. The companys energy comes from the nearby Tucuru hydroelectric plant -- the fifth largest in the world. Plant Location: Rodovia PA 263 KM 3,5, Breu Branco PA Brazil Sales Office: Rua Dr. Renato Paes de Barros, 714 - conjunto 21 Itaim, So Paulo SP Brazil Production capacity: 42,000 44,000 MT per year Silicon source: Quartzite mine in Par, Brazil

12

Dow Corning, USASpecial features: Introduced in Sept 2006 the PV industry's first commercially available solar-grade silicon feedstock derived from metallurgical silicon, which can be blended with polysilicon in PV applications Location: Midland, Michigan, USA Production capacity:

Metallurgical silicon: 40,000 MT plant in Mt. Meigs. Alabama and a 50,000 MT plant in Campinas, Brazil, operated by Companhia Brasileira Carbureto de Calcio (CBCC), a subsidiary of Dow Corning. The MG-Si is assumed to be for Dow Cornings own consumption.

Expansion plans: Solar grade silicon: Under development in the plant at Santos Dumont, Brazil

13

Rima Industrial S/A, Barazil

Special features: Leading Brazilian producer of silicon-based alloy

Location: Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Silicon sources: Owns vast reserves of high purity quartz amounting to more than 5 million tons, mine is located in Olhos DAgua, Brazil

Production Capacity: 60,000 metric tons

Plants: Capitao Eneas, Bocaiuva & Varzea de Palma

14

Ligas De Aluminio S. A. (LIASA), BrazilSales office: Avenida Contorno, 1977 Floresta, 30.110-009 Belo Horizonte Brazil Production capacity: 46,000 MT per year Plant: Av. Dr. Jos Patrus de Sousa, 1000, 39.270-000 Pirapora Brazil Product range: % Si = 98.5 (min), % Fe = 0.10 - 0.40, % Ca = 0.01 - 0.25, % Al = 0.05 - 0.25 Aluminum industry Silicone (chemicals)

End user market:

15

Minas Ligas, BrazilSilicon sources: Mine in Pirapora, Minas Gerais, Brazil Plants: Pirapora, Minas Gerais, Brazil Production capacity: 22,000 MT per year End-user market: Produces metallurgical grade, chemical grade and electronics grade silicon, although other grades can be provided upon customers request.

Aluminum industry Chemical industry silicone, resins, lubricants PV and semiconductor industriesChemical Specifications Elements % Si (min.) % Fe (max.) % Al (max.) % Ca (max.) Standard grade 98.50 0.50 0.50 0.40 Chemical grade 98.50 0.40 0.25 0.03 Electronic grade 98.50 0.50 0.30 0.03 High purity 99.0 0.20 0.02 0.0316

Ferroatlantica Group, SpainSpecial features: Appears to be the largest producer of metallurgical silicon in the world

Production capacity: 223,000 tons Expansion plans: NA Ownership structure: The FerroAtlantica group includes FerroAtlantica and Ferropem. Ferropem was originally known as Pechiney Electromtallurgie (PEM) of France, where PEM was acquired by the Ferroatlantica group in 2006..

Silicon sources: The group owns quartz mines in Spain, Latin America and South Africa.

Quartz mines in Sonia, Conchitina, Esmeralda, Trasmonte, Merln y Cristina in Galicia, Spain are run by Industrial Quartzes, a subsidiary of Ferroatlantica The quartz mine, Serrabal in Galicia, Spain, is run by RAMSA, a subsidiary of Ferroatlantica The mines in Candelaria and El Manteco y El Merey in Bolivar, Venezuela is run by CuarzoVen, a subsidiary of Ferroatlantica The quartz mine in Polokwane, South Africa, is owned by Silicon Smelters, a subsidiary of Ferropem17

Ferroatlantica Group, Spain (cont)Plants belonging to Ferroatlantica: Sabn, Spain 40,000 tons Plants belonging to Ferropem: Anglefort, France 36,000 tons Chteau Feuillet, France 13,000 tons Laudun, France 14,000 tons Les Clavaux, France 35,000 tons Montricher, France 30,000 tons Polokwane, South Africa 55,000 tons. The South African plant is run by Ferropems subsidiary, Silicon Smelters. Product profile: Produces mostly two types of silicon, chemical grade and metallurgical grade, for the following sectors: Silicone Aluminum alloy PV and semiconductor market

18

Elkem Solar A/S, Norway

Production capacity: Metallurgical silicon: Elkem produced approximately 96,000 MT of MG-Si from their plants in Bremanger (27,000 tons), Salten (27,000 tons) and Thamshavn (42,000 tons.

Solar grade silicon: The company is investing NOK 2.7 billion in building a new factory at the Elkem Fiskaa plant in Kristiansand, Norway. Now, the plant has capacity of 6000 MT per year.

Special features: The company is dedicated to converting metallurgical grade silicon to solar grade silicon, and has developed a multi-step Elkem silicon refining process that uses the fluidized bed reactor (FBR) method.

19

United Company RUSAL, RussiaSpecial features: Worlds largest producer of aluminum and alumina Production capacity: estimated as 70,000 metric tons End user sector: Most of the produced silicon is meant for the parent companys aluminum production Ownership structure: Rusal was formed through the merger of RUSAL, SUAL, and the alumina assets of Glencore Plants:

Irkutsk, Russia Ural area, Russia

20

Fesil, Norway (sold to Wacker)Special features: 90 % of FESIL's products is meant for the EU market Location: Holla Metal Kyrksterra, Norway Production Capacity: 48,000 tons Plants: Holla Metall plant, Kyrksterra, Norway Before selling to Wacker, the product profile was : 65 - 70 % of the production goes to the chemical industry. Others go to:

Aluminum alloy PV and semiconductor industries. Silicone oils, silicone rubber, lubricants, sealers, cosmetics and textiles

21

RW Silicium GmbH, GermanySpecial features: Germanys only producer of silicon metal Location: Pocking, Germany Plants: Pocking, lower Bavaria Production Capacity: 35,000 metric tons Product types:% Si Si-Metall 553 Si-Metall 441 Si-Metall 3303 Si-Metall 2202 % Fe min. 98,50 99,00 99,00 99,50 % Al max. 0,50 0,40 0,30 0,20 % Ca max. 0,50 0,40 0,30 0,20 ppm P max. 0,30 0,10 0,03 0,02

Markets: aluminium alloys, chemical, PV and semiconductor industries22

Kazsilicon, KazakhstanSpecial features: The company has plans to enter the solar market Location: Almaty district, Kazakhstan Production capacity: 5000 metric tons Expansion plans: The infrastructure of the plant has been prepared for a total capacity of 10,000 MT/yr (It was expected to reach by the end of 2010)

Silicon sources: Owns the Sarykulsk field with explored silicon reserves of 1.7 million tons Plant: Ushtobe, Kazakhstan

23

Simcoa Operations, AustraliaSilicon sources: Simcoa owns a quartzite mine in Moora, Western Australia. The quarzite deposit contains more than 2 million tons of proven reserves. Plants: Kemerton, Western Australia Production capacity: 30,000 MT per year

Expansion plans: Simcoa Operations' $100 million Furnace Expansion was officially launched on Tuesday 6th April 2010 with a sod-turning / tree planting ceremony to mark commencement of the project. The new furnace will differ in design from the existing furnaces in that it will be designed to facilitate energy recovery from furnace waste heat in future. End-user market: 10% of the companys production is for the Australian market, and the remaining 90% is exported overseas to customers in Japan, United Arab Emirates, USA and other countries. 70% of production is for long-term contractual customers, while 30% is sold using spot pricing.

Aluminum (60% of production) Chemical industry (40% of production)

24

Analysis of metallurgical silicon market Entry barriers; Conclusions

25

Drivers and Challenges for MG-Si Growth

Growth of PV market

Increased demand from aluminum, steel and chemical manufacturers

Development of PV solution utilizing less pure silicon

Development of new processes for material purification

...

Note: Size of the sphere identifies the impact on the market26

Challenges

Drivers

Political regulations regarding antidumping taxes

Increase in polysilicon production capacity in next few years

Competing materials for PV and electronics industry

Entry barriers for metallurgical silicon producers1 1High capital expenditure ** High capital expenditure

2 2

High energy requirements High energy requirements

3 3

Prefered production close to the quartz mining locations Prefered production close to the quartz mining locations

4 4

Prices fluctuations Prices fluctuations

5 5

Small ROI Small ROI*(~ 150 mln$ for 6000 MT per year facility): Source: Frost & Sullivan27

ConclusionThe high growth of the PV Industry has created a shortage of solar grade silicon. Processing metallurgical silicon toward the solar grade silicon is expected to reduce the shortage of this commodity. The price of silicon metal has increased due to increasing demand. Metallurgical silicon upgraded using metallurgical process is viewed as complementary to Polysilicon and not as a substitute or a threat. Moreover, the metallurgical silicon upgraded has low potential to challenge polysilicon in the PV area. Prices of MG-Si are expected to increase. However, the price level is still much less than in 2008 maximum. In effect, 2nd (such as amorphous thin film silicon, etc..),3rd and in perspective 4th generation solar cells have lower market potential to successfully compete with traditional devices.

28

Analysis of silicon value chain Solar and semiconductor grade silicon markets

29

Regional contribution to the global silicon marketEurope is one of the biggest producer of silicon. However, Asia is the main producer of silicon wafers38.0 [%] 16.4 [%] 10.4 [%]

9.9 [%]

14.7 [%]

27.6 [%] 73.1 [%]

68.5 [%] 33.3 [%]

Wafers' market Wafers' production Silicon production

Source: Sage Concepts, Frost & Sullivan

30

Polysilicon main players production capacitiesPolysilicon capacityOthers LDK OCI GCL-Poly Mitsubishi Tokuyama 6N Silicon MEMC Hemlock REC Wacker0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010E 2011F 2012F 2013F 2014F

Capacity [k Tons]

Polysilicon market is perceived as profitable. Its main players invest continuously in new facilities or upgrade existing ones. The increasing demand for silicon from various markets stimulates the construction of new facilities. This trend is global and in case of well established big players includes aggressive plans for production expansion.31

Analysis of polysilicon value chain Entry barriers.

32

Entry barriers for high purity silicon producers1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7Required technology expertise and know how Required technology expertise and know how

Limited access to efficient and reliable technologies Limited access to efficient and reliable technologies

High capital expenditures High capital expenditures

Increasing requirements of silicons purity level Increasing requirements of silicons purity level

Market brand and customers reception Market brand and customers reception

Standards and regulation deciding about technology type and size.* Standards and regulation deciding about technology type and size.*

Antidumping regulations Antidumping regulations*Some countries like EU or China banned or plan to ban some production techniques

33

Analysis of polysilicon value chain Standards and applications for semiconductor and solar grades.

34

Contamination and solar/semiconductor purity standardsAmong various silicon material and technology standards the most popular are SEMI norms. Contamination level Contamination level Experimental studies proved that Experimental studies proved that some metal impurities affect the some metal impurities affect the devices performance. In this regard, devices performance. In this regard, the iron, chromium, nickel are the iron, chromium, nickel are considered as active elements at the considered as active elements at the concentration level 50, 40 and 40 concentration level 50, 40 and 40 ppm wt, respectively. ppm wt, respectively. The SEMI and JEITA bodies are continuously analyzing and providing guidance The SEMI and JEITA bodies are continuously analyzing and providing guidance for silicon standards devoted to semiconductor and solar industries for silicon standards devoted to semiconductor and solar industries

Semi M6-0707

Specification for silicon wafers for PV solar cells Specification for P-Si for electronic grade purposes Specification for polished mono-c-Si premium wafers Specification for polished single crystal wafers Specification for P-Si for electronic grade purposes

Semi M16-1103

Silicon Standards Silicon Standards In this regard various silicon In this regard various silicon associations have worked out silicon associations have worked out silicon purity standards. Among the most purity standards. Among the most popular are standards of SEMI global popular are standards of SEMI global industry association and JEITA industry association and JEITA (Japanese Electronics and (Japanese Electronics and Information Technologies Information Technologies Association). Association).

Semi M24-0307

Semi M1

Jeita EM-3601

and many other standards devoted to the various steps of silicon processing and production.35

Silicon impurities levelsThe value chain for the silicon starts with the impure metallurgical silicon and ends at the semiconductor (or solar) grade silicon MG-SiThe metallurgical silicon contains at least 98% of silicon in its volume

EG-SiThe electronic grade silicon contains the silicon in concentrations between 99.9999999% and 99.999999999% (9N-11Nines)

Element aluminum boron calcium chromium copper iron magnesium

Concentration (ppm) 1000-4350 40-60 245-500 50-200 15-45 1550-6500 10-50

Element manganese molybdenum nickel phosphorus titanium vanadium zirconium

Concentration (ppm) 50-120

Element

Concentration (ppb)

Element

Concentration (ppb)

arsenic < 20 10-105 20-50 carbon 140-300 chromium 50-250 20 cobalt copper antimony boron

< 0.001 < 0.001 0.1 100-1000 < 0.01 0.001 0.1

gold iron nickel oxygen phosphorus silver zinc

< 0.00001 0.1-1.0 0.1-0.5 100-400 0.3 0.001 < 0.1

36

Polysilicon production technology Technology comparison

37

Manufacturing of polysilicon with Siemens method IPROCESS OF OF TRICHLOROSILANE MANUFACTURING

In this process, gaseous Hydrogen Chloride is generated by passing Hydrogen and Chlorine through the generator, after which the gas is dried. The dry Hydrogen Chloride gas is passed through the bed of Metallurgical Silicon at 300 - 400oC in Hydrochlorination Reactor. Here, the Hydrogen Chloride reacts with Metallurgical Silicon to form Trichlorosilane (SiHCl3) and Silicon Tetrachloride (SiCl4).

Si Si

+ 3HCl -> SiHCl3 + H2 + 4HCl -> SiCl4 + 2H2

The outlet gas stream is cooled. The liquid collected from above contains Trichlorosilane (TCS) and Silicon Tetrachloride (STC). The liquid stream is subjected to fractional distillation to get Pure TCS.38

Gases processing

HCl is produced via a a H2 +Cl2 reaction . The oversupply of hydrogen is used to assure the 100% consumption of chloride in the process. Produced hydrochloride is passed through the absorption, stripper and drying towers. Finally it is introduced into metallurgical silicon fluidized bed reactors at 300 Celsius degrees providing TCS. The reaction gas contains TCS and 10% of STC and is further condensed by cooling down. Impurities such as boron, phosphorus and carbon are removed during product distillation. This step is important, because high levels of purity are required in order to achieve 11 N semiconductor grade silicon. Thus, the distillation columns are designed to be operated with a high reflux ratio and built of many trays. In effect, the whole process consumes a lot of energy per unit weight of product.

39

Manufacturing of polysilicon with Siemens method IIPROCESS OF MANUFACTURE OF POLYSILICON from TCS has two steps

Production of Polysilicon

Recovery of gases, purification, recycling.

Silicon

Trichlorosilane liquid is vaporized. Hydrogen gas is mixed with Trichlorosilane vapor and fed into the water cooled Polysilicon reactor. During the reaction, the Polysilicon gets deposited over the electrically heated filament kept at 1050o C.

SiHCl3 + SiHCl3 +

H2 HCl

-> Si + 3HCl -> SiCl4 + H2

40

Trichlorosilane processingHydrogenH2

TCS Metallurgical SiliconSiHCl3 The produced trichlorosilane includes small amounts of contaminants and byproducts such as STC. For each mole Si converted to polysilicon, 3-4 moles of STC are produced. Thus, the reduction of STC generation is important for process efficiency. The produced STC is further conversed to provide TCS and direct it back to the silicon production. The final process of reduction of TCS is performed with hydrogen at temperatures near 1000 C, depositing a 99.99% (in eleven 9s) pure polycrystalline silicon in rod form (semiconductor grade).

m-Si

distributor HCl

Gaseous hydrochloric acid

Si3SiCl42H24SiHCl341

Manufacturing of polysilicon with Siemens method IIIPurification and recovery are important stages of silicon production deciding about material properties and overall cost.RECOVERY STAGE

The reactor outlet gas stream containing Hydrogen, Trichlorosilane (TCS), Silicon Tetrachloride and Hydrogen Chloride is compressed and passed through metallurgical silicon bed to convert all Hydrogen Chloride gas into TCS. Then the gas stream is cooled and all TCS and Silicon Tetrachloride are condensed as liquid and recovered.PURIFICATION AND RECYCLE

The gas stream mainly hydrogen from the scrubbing system is passed through drying system to remove the moisture. The pure hydrogen is recycled as feed. The recovered liquid stream containing TCS and Silicon Tetrachloride is subjected to fractional distillation to get Pure TCS. Pure TCS is recycled as the reactor feed. Silicon Tetrachloride obtained from distillation is converted into Trichlorosilane by passing Silicon Tetrachloride vapor along with hydrogen through a bed of metallurgical silicon in Hydrogenation reactor.

3SiCl4 + Si + 2H2

-> 4Si HCl3

The outlet stream is cooled to condense TCS and un-reacted Silicon Tetrachloride. The liquid stream containing TCS and Silicon Tetrachloride collected is sent for fractional distillation to get Pure TCS and the gas stream is recycled.42

Polysilicon production technology Fluidized Bed Reactor

43

Fluidized Bed Reactor (FBR) method The raw material for FBR is silane, which can be prepared by the reaction of magnesium silicide (Mg2Si) with acids or by boiling TCS - tricholorosilane (SiCl3H) with catalyst (metal halides like AlCl3). In effect, the silane and silicon tetrachloride (STC) is produced. According to the reaction: 4SiHCl3 SiH4 + 3 SiCl4

The FBR method utilizes the silane (SiH4) or TCS as a starting material. The main reaction that took place within reactor is: SiH4 Si + 2 H2

Fluidized bed reactor enables very good mixing of decomposed material and very efficient heat transfer that is stimulating system conversion. Both factors influence the process overall efficacy and cost.44

Fluidized Bed reactor silicon processing Reduced silane produces silicon, which precipitates and generates kernel of deposition for its vapors. The growth of the particle is controlled by systems flows. In effect, during the process granulated form of silicon is produced, which is further utilized for production of polysilicon chunks. Despite of the silane, the FBR process utilizes also TCS (trichlorosilane) SiCl3H via the process: 4SiCl3H Si + 2H2 + 3 SiCl4 Silane deposition occurs at 750C compared to 1100C for TCS. Thus, Compared to the other methods FBR comes with lower energy consumption. For each mole Si converted to polysilicon even 3 or 4 moles (for Siemens method) of STC is produced binding large amounts of chlorine and valuable silicon. The FBR process yields STC (silicon tetrachloride), TCS, DCS (dichlorosilane), and other by-products, which are separated and purified in a process primarily consisting of distillation. A properly designed distillation process yields pure TCS for either solar or electronic grade polysilicon. The by-products DCS, together with STC, can be converted back to TCS. Where MGSi is reacted with STC and hydrogen to yield TCS in a FBR operating typically at elevated pressures and temperature in the range of 500C. This is an endothermic reaction, the TCS yield is 18 to 25% depending on the technology used.45

Fluidized Bed reactor Peak Sun Silicon has developed technology utilizing tribromosilane (SiHBr3) instead of chloride based chemicals. Their technology utilizes an open-loop, batch, high temperature process, to a closed-loop (environmentally friendly), continuous, low temperature process. In this case, the innovation is accomplished by changing the silicon chemistry from a chlorine base to a bromine base (tribromosilane or "TBS"), and use of a "fluid bed" ("FB") deposition reactor with continuous recycle of by-products. The produced silicon will be of 10 N purity level. This process compared to the chloride based requires lower temperatures and consumes less energy.

46

Polysilicon production technology Byproducts processing.

47

TCS productionThe TCS and STC have been produced from direct chlorination process mostly in old type installations. During this process, the metallurgical silicon reacts with HCl gas at about 300 Celsius degrees and 2-4 bars and is usually carried in fluidized bed reactors. In next step the TCS is purified in distillation columns. Chlorination advantages Chlorination disadvantages

Low pressure High TCS efficiency (~ 70-80%) Low energy purification process STC from CVD process is processed in additional small system

Higher temperature than for CVD process High energy losses on cooling High yield of STC by product Energetically expensive

Production of TCS comes with the fabrication of STC, which oversupply affect the economic of the whole process. Thus, two dominant technologies were developed to deal with STC: STC converters Hydrochlorination Redistribution of STC and DCS48

STC convertersSTC converters are getting less popular nowadays. However, there are still plenty of working installations of this type. The STC converter (hydrogenation) is based on a process described by reaction: H2 + SiCl4 HSiCl3 + HClHydrogenation advantages

Hydrogenation disadvantages

Low pressure High purity of produced TCS Well developed equipment and process methodology

High energy consumption Poor reliability of heating system (expensive failures)

Since the beginning of the STC converters these devices have been modernized with regard to the thermal efficiency and corrosion. However, the heating elements still are a sensitive part of the whole system and affect the overall efficiency of this system. For STC operating continuously over years, interruption of the STC supply can create the need to replace these elements. In effect, this can cost company up to $150000 per occurrence.49

HydrochlorinationHydrochlorination is a process for reduction of STC with hydrogen and metallurgical silicon according to the following reaction: 3 SiCl4 + Si + 2 H2 4HSiCl3

This process takes place in Fluidized Bed Reactor and at temperatures above 500 Celsius degrees and pressures higher than 20 bars. The process is continuous and can operate without the shutdowns for years. During Hydrochlorination a metallurgical silicon can be used as silicon source. The impurities from the process are fluidized and removed from reaction chamber. This is one of the biggest advantage of the process comparing to the chlorination, which requires bed dumps every 6-10 weeks.

Hydrochlorination advantages High scaling potential (fluid bed systems can reach even more than 5000MT per year) Lower costs of Off Gas recovery than in case of STC converter Lower operating temperatures than for converters (i.e. lower electricity consumption)

Hydrochlorination disadvantages Higher temperature and pressures require more reliable materials and construction of equipment. This implies higher capital cost. Poor reliability of heating system (expensive failures)

50

Analysis of polysilicon value chain Silicon processing

51

Wafer productionProduction of wafer depends on the specificity of product. Silicon producers are challenged by high operating costs of this process.

Processing of silicon into wafer Monocrystalline Float Zone method Czochralski method Multicrystalline Directional solidification Ribbon / sheet techniques

The silicon processing and recrystallization depends on the end product requirements. The solar industry accepts silicon in form of monocrystalline and multicrystalline, while semiconductor industry is mostly interested in single crystals due to the lower electric performance of multicrystalline structures. This production step requires significant amounts of energy, which cost is influencing the final price of produced wafer.52

Purification (crystallization) methodsCzochralski methodCzochralski method for crystal growing starts with melting the silicon. Next, a rod with a silicon seed is dipped into the molten silicon and as it is drawn up. In effect, a molten silicon is depositing on the solid rod and expands its volume while solidifying. This method is one of the oldest and simplest in the industry and provides one of the purest grades of silicon. However, despite of these benefits, Czochralski method comes with few technical problems such as long times of operations and high cost.

Float Zone methodProcess for float zone ingot formation is used for producing even more pure wafers. The biggest advantage of this method is a fact that the float zone ingot has fewer impurities than a ingot from Czochralski technique. Comparing to this last method, as with CZ crystal pulling, a seed crystal is exposed to molten silicon, here, instead of being dipped into a crucible with a silicon melt, a heating coil passes along an ingot, effectively separating the newly crystallized monocrystalline ingot from the input silicon. In effect, the crystallization process occurs between the solid and molten regions referred to as the float zone

53

Purification (crystallization) methods IIDirectional SolidificationIn production of multicrystalline silicon directional solidification technique in used. In this method the multicrystalline blocks are formed via casting or directional solidification. This process consumes less time than monocrystalline production, but the structure of the resultant material is built of variously oriented crystals (domains) and impurities that influence properties of silicon wafer. The process takes place in one crucible, which is heated with silicon. Once the silicon is melted the entire crucible is moved down, away from the heating element and the silicon solidifies as it cools.

Ribbon / Sheet TechniqueIn order to reduce the amount of slicing there are various methods that limits wastes from silicon processing. One of them - the ribbon technique (Evergreen Solar), utilizes two ribbons of silicon that are pulled up out of the crucible with molten material. Once the ribbons are approximately 2m long, they are removed and sliced into wafers. Other technique from Schott Solar exploits octagonal hollow tube that is pulled up from a silicon melt. After 6 m growth, the tube is removed from the machine and sliced into wafer. This approach was further modified by introduction of 12-sided (dodecagonal) tube with better wafer thickness homogeneity than in octagonal form.54

Polysilicon technology Other methods

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Metallurgical Route: Elkem Route (Norway)

Metallurgical grade silicon production: Carbon-thermal reduction of quartz in arc furnace Slag treatment : High temperature reaction with calcium oxide to remove quartz Low temperature two-step leaching: (1) FeCl3 and HCl (2) HF and HNO3. Directional Solidification: The upper part is concentrated with impurity and the lower part is concentrated with highly pure silicon. Post treatment: The upper part concentrated with impurity is trimmed.

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Metallurgical Route: Elkem Route

Solar grade: 99.9999% Solar cell efficiency: 15%-16.5% Year 2005 to 2008: pilot scale operation Year 2009: nominal capacity of 5000 ton/yearSiemens Route Production Cost Energy Payback Time Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emission 15-20 USD/kg 1.6 year 30 gCO2eq/KWh Elkem Route 5-15 USD/kg 1.1 year 23 gCO2eq/KWh

Elkem Route does not involve any energy intensive gas route process step. This gives a clear advantage of low production cost, low energy cost, and low greenhouse gas emission. Elkem Route cannot yield higher silicon purity than solar grade.

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Direct Metallurgical Route Sintef (Norway) developed SOLSILC Route: 1. Quartz reacts with carbon black (high purity) in plasma furnace: SiO2 + 2C -> SiC + CO2 2. SiC reacts with quartz in electric arc furnace to yield liquid silicon: SiC + SiO2 -> 2Si (liquid)+ CO2 3. The residue carbon in the liquid silicon is removed by water vapor in Argon: C+H2O -> CO + H2 Wacker Heliotronic (Germany) developed Thermit Reaction Route: 1. With a CaO-SiO2 flux, quartz reacts with aluminum at high temperature: 3SiO2 + 4Al -> 3Si+ 2Al2O3 2. The flux dissolves Al2O3 and silicon can be separated from the flux by gravity. Bottleneck of Direct Metallurgical Route: (1)No cost advantage: 20 USD/kg, compared to Siemens Route 15-20 USD/kg. (2)High purity grade carbon black or aluminum is difficult to obtain. (3)The silicon product often contains boron, phosphorous and carbon impurities. In the past the Sintef pilot scale was able to produce silicon at capacity 50-100 ton/year58

Metallurgical Route: Kawasaki Steel Route (Japan)

MG-Si

Directional Directional Solidification Solidification

P Removal P Removal

B Removal B Removal

C Removal C Removal

Directional Directional Solidification Solidification

SG-Si

Advantage: simple process, no by-product. Disadvantage: energy intensive because of the usage of electron beam guns and plasma torches . In the past, this route enabled KSR to produce 400 ton Si per year.

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Fluidized Bed reactor Peak Sun Silicon has developed technology utilizing tribromosilane (SiHBr3) instead of chloride based chemicals. Their technology utilizes an open-loop, batch, high temperature process, to a closed-loop (environmentally friendly), continuous, low temperature process. In this case, the innovation is accomplished by changing the silicon chemistry from a chlorine base to a bromine base (tribromosilane or "TBS"), and use of a "fluid bed" ("FB") deposition reactor with continuous recycle of by-products. The produced silicon will be of 10 N purity level. This process compared to the chloride based requires lower temperatures and consumes less energy.

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Analysis of various polysilicon technologies

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Influence of the Siemens CVD configuration on systems productivity Kinetic of silicon production on the silicon rods is directly proportional to the accessible surface of its deposition and to the square of diameter rod. Silicon production yield depends on the concentration of reacting gases expressed in reactant pressures. Thus, with this value increase, the silicon deposition rate also growth.CVD productivity in various reactor types Increase in the production yield [-/-]100Pressure 1 bar Pressure 6 bars Expon. (Pressure 6 bars)

80

60

Expon. (Pressure 1 bar)

40

20

0 2 4 6 8 12 16 20 30

Number of rods [-]

Production of polysilicon has started in 1950 and the size of the CVD reactor has increased from 2 rods (1 hair pin) to over 100 for low pressure reactors.Source: GT Solar, Frost & Sullivan

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Electricity consumption for various CVD reactorsAnalysis of the production yield of various CVD reactors provides conclusions that it takes more than twice the energy for the atmospheric reactors to make the same amount of silicon as reactors at 6 bars. Increasing size of the reactors allows for reduction of the electricity consumption due to the fact that heat loss per mass of silicon is reduced. (In Siemens method through the walls of cooled reactors and its base part.) However, the savings at some scale are not meaningful.Electricity consumption during CVD process100

Relative energy consumption per product mass [kWh/kg / kWh/kg]

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 5 10 15 20

Pressure 1 bar Pressure 6 bars

25

30

35

Number of rods [-]

The optimal size of a polysilicon CVD reactor does not depends proportionally on the number of rods. It is a optimal balance between maximizing throughput, reducing energy consumption, and minimizing capital cost for the entire plant.63

Investment cost for CVD facilityProduction of polysilicon made from small reactors could be less economic than from fewer number of large reactors The pressure (concentrations) of the reagents is an important factor influencing material production costs. This parameter decides on facility performance at its various sizes.

Investment cost for CVD facility230

90 MT per year (Low pressure system) 225 MT per year (Low pressure system) 100 MT per year (High pressure system)

210 190 170 $ per kg 150 130 110 90 70 50 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000

200 MT per year (High pressure system) 300 MT per year (High pressure system) 400 MT per year (High pressure system)

6000

7000

8000

9000

MT per year

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Hydrochlorination and STC converters cost comparison in polysilicon productionThe economy of scale apply to TCS treatment for both production methods. However, the scaling up is more beneficial for hydrochlorination plant than for converters system. Scaling up the converters system results in capital cost savings. However, the hydrochlorination plant is less costly even at the 750 MT per year converters system.Capital cost for various installations110 100 Average capital cost [$ per kg] 90 80 750 MT converters 70 60 50 40 30 20 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 Installed capacity [per year] 2 FBR units (Hydrochlorination) 250 MT converters 500 MT converters

Cost modeling includes the hydrochlorination FBR, purification of TCS and intermediate tanks. In case of converters the system includes direct chlorination FBRs, converters and purification step.Source: GT Solar, Frost & Sullivan

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Cost of solar silicon production with various technologiesDirect chlorination technology is now being continuously replaced by hydrochlorination that affects the production cost less. Fluidized bed technology comes with various cost savings mostly in energy. The Siemens method could be made more advantageous by application of efficient heat management system. The heat form the CVD reactor can be recovered for distillation of TCS, while FBR does not include this step. FBR provides granulated PSi, while outcome from Siemens must be crushed to processable form.

Cost analysis for various PSi production methods1.2 Overheads 1 Maintenance and other Labor Energy Raw materials

C o st co n trib u tio n

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0 TCS Siemens (HC) TCS Siemens (DC) Method FBR Silane Silane Siemens

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Cost of solar and semiconductor grade silicon production using various techniquesProduction of solar grade silicon can be done using relatively new FBR silane technique. However semiconductor grade silicon requirements can now be met only with Siemens method and its derivatives. The Hemlock process utilizes DCS conversion, what puts it in more advantaged position.$ per kg of Silicon 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Conventional Siemens Siemens with hydrochlorination Hemlock DCS process FBR silane method Semiconductor grade Overheads, expenses Depreciation, interests Labor Steam Electricity Raw materials Solar grade

Siemens method is perceived as reliable source of semiconductor silicon in near future. It must be noted that requirements for solar grade silicon with regard to purity are increasing and would approach the SEG level.67

Past Polysilicon production methodology and its future perspectiveSince 70ies polysilicon production evolved toward bigger capacities and compact processes70ies 90ies Plant capacity ~ 750 MT per year CVD reactor ~ 75 MT per year 90ies 10ies Plant capacity ~ 2500 MT per year CVD reactor ~ 150 MT per year 10ies-20ies Plant capacity ~ 6500 MT per year CVD reactor ~ 350 MT per year Size of the polysilicon Size of the polysilicon plant was increasing in plant was increasing in time since 70ies and this time since 70ies and this trend will continue in trend will continue in future. future. Direct Chlorination Direct Chlorination approach due to the poor approach due to the poor economic and economic and environmental issues isis environmental issues currently being replaced currently being replaced by hydrochlorination by hydrochlorination Implementation of Implementation of hydrochlorination hydrochlorination technology eliminates the technology eliminates the need of STC converters need of STC converters application. application.

Plant size

TCS treatment

Direct Chlorination

Direct Chlorination Hydrochlorination

Hydrochlorination

STC treatment

Non available

STC Converters

Hydrochlorination

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Polysilicon production technology. Profiles of Technology providers (owners) and Producers.

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North America Main Polysilicon Technology Providers

Technology Providers GT Solar Dynamic Engineering SRI KMPS RMT

Owners Technology Hemlock Semiconductor MEMC Corporation 6N Silicon Wacker Chemie Mitsubishi Materials (SUMCO) REC Group

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Wacker ChemieWacker has five business segments: semiconductors (Siltronic), silicones, polymers, fine chemicals, and polysilicon. The company has 20 production plants, 14,400 employees, and over 100 Wacker sales offices worldwide. The polysilicon facilities are located in Burghausen and Stetten. Company is using traditional Siemens method and FBR to produce PSi. As a starting source they use TCS. Company claims that TCS is better because it is possible to get higher yields and they can track this onto their existing supply of TCS which they have at the plant. At Wacker the fluidized bed reactor are exploited to produce granular high-purity silicon for high-efficiency solar cells. Company is doing well and have noticed the 50% of EBITDA in Q1 2010 and the EBITDA for whole 2010 would be in the range of 40-50%. Company has tighten its contract policy and now signs agreements for short term silicon supply (1, 1.5, 2 years). Its activity is mostly concentrated on the contract sell instead of the spot market. Their clients are interested on stable source of silicon and seek material of reproducible quality as from Wacker. So far, the ramp of their 10000 ton expansion Poly 8 facility is well on its way and they expect to finalize the ramp half a year ahead of schedule in the second quarter. This should result in overall more than 24,000 tons of polysilicon production in 2010, (product mix between semi and solar). Construction on Poly 9 is progressing as planned, leading towards a beginning of the ramp of that 10,000 ton expansion in the end of 2011. In 2009 company has reported sales of 18,100 tons of hyper pure polysilicon.

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Wacker Chemie

The details of the Wackers production are not disclosed and company keeps the stringent internal policy with respect to know how securing. Usually, no patenting is applied in the IP securing. Developed internally technology is applicable for semi and solar silicon production. It characterizes with high purity level and mature stage of technology development. However it requires large investments and comes with high opex. Rods from siemens method require further crushing, etching and packaging as well.

The FBR of Wacker is relatively new technology and details of it are not disclosed. As in the Siemens case, the substrate for reaction is TCS. The ares of silicon deposition is two orders higher than in case of Siemens approach and in effect the production yields are bigger. However, this technology still come with technical problems and Wacker is one of the few companies that sort them out. The price target is approximately US$25/kg, based on 500 tonnes/year production, with potential for further price reduction. Company has patented its technology for silicon packaging and transportation.

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REC groupRenewable Energy Corporation's (REC) silicon plant at Moses Lake was started in 2002 by REC Solar Grade Silicon (REC Silicon). The REC Solar Grade Silicon was a joint venture between REC group and Advanced Silicon Materials LLC (ASiMl, a subsidiary of the Japanese industrial group Komatsu Ltd). In this joint venture the ASiMl provided silicon production plant, which REC Silicon converted into a dedicated plant for solar-grade silicon production The company has started production has started 3 production facilities in Butte and Moses Lake. The Silicon III was aimed to allow company to double its polysilicon production from 5300MT (2005 production) to approximately 13000MT with capability of producing 9000MT of silane gass Company is hiring 500 people and plan to hire more due to the expansion. REC is producing monocrystalline wafers in its new facility in Glomfjord. Company has also opened production facility in Singapore, which produces 36% of the solar grade silicon from REC. REC Silicon is incorporating its proprietary fluidised bed reactor (FBR) technology developed for granular polysilicon production into the plant. Developed at REC Advanced Silicon Material LLC, the new reactor technology was further developed and commercialized at REC Silicon, and carries proprietary intellectual property rights. The proprietary production technology has been claimed to significantly reduce the current capital and operating costs of the plant. They are using both (Siemens and FBR) silicon manufacturing routes and plan to continue this approach. The Siemens method is the cost effective solution for semiconductor grade silicon. On the other hand, company has found the FBR technology appropriate for solar silicon market. Its high volume demand can be fulfilled with the FBR technology. Recently, REC has faced a problem of lawsuit that seeks to halt the construction and start-up of the $688 million "Silicon IV" chemical plant. The basis of this lawsuit is the failure of this facility located at Moses Lake to comply with safety and environmental requirements under the federal Clean Air Act. In addition, the lawsuit alleges a pervasive history of permit violations, chemical releases, fires, and accidents at the industrial complex owned and operated by Rec Silicon Inc. In the past, the REC struck a deal with Washington State regulators to expand its industrial complex in Moses Lake without the required environmental permits. The circumstances of this deal are suspicious and became a subject of the present lawsuit as well.

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REC groupIn the first stage of the manufacturing process, 98% pure metallurgical-grade silicon is first distilled into silane gas using several distillation processes. REC has patented (only some aspects) close loop silane manufacturing process that allows for conversion of mg-Si into TCS and redistribution/distillation into silane. Their process is continuous and recycles all hydrogen and chloride materials back to the initial reactors, while continuous destillation steps purify the gas. Part of the silane gas produced is sold to the manufacturers of thin film solar cells, flat panel displays and semiconductors, while most of it is used by REC Silicon for in-house production of solar-grade silicon. Company is providing the silane through the distributors such as Praxair, Air Liquide, Air products. The cost of the silane varies between 80 to 120 $ per kg depending on the shipment. Company perceives this product as optional source of incomes to its budget.

Si + 3 SiCl4 3 SiCl2H2

4SiCl3H SiH4 + 2SiCl3H

6 SiCl3H 3 SiCl2H2 + 3 SiCl4 SiH4 Si + 2H2

In this approach, REC has avoided the off gas recovery system and increase the purity of product through using silane to feed their CVD reactors rather than TCS. Silane can be produced from TCS through a series of redistribution reactors. This process is ideally coupled with the hydrochlorination process which converts any by-product STC (from hydrochlorination or redistribution) back to TCS. The decomposition reaction in the Silane FBR CVD reactor is an endothermic reaction and takes place at a much lower temperature than required for the Siemens TCS CVD. Silane deposition occurs at 750C compared to 1100C for TCS. Thus,The Silane FBRdeposition process saves substantial energy and reduces electric consumption by approximately 70 kWh per kilogram of polysilicon produced. Further energy savings are realized since there is no need for the large off gas recovery system that is required for TCS deposition. Any unconverted silane and hydrogen are recycled directly back to the inlet of the silane FBR CV

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Mitsubishi Materials CorporationEstablished in 1950, Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (MMC) is one of the worlds largest diversified materials companies headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MMC is a major supplier of cement, copper, high-tech materials, metal processing, and electrical materials and components to domestic and global markets including Asia Pacific, China, Europe, and USA. MMC comprises 221 subsidiaries and affiliates in 25 countries, employing 21,224 people worldwide. In companys opinion, after the crisis it will take time to see a complete recovery in the demand for semiconductors such as 300mm silicon wafers, but the demand for solar cell-related products remains strong. Furthermore, since the photovoltaic industry competes for higher energy conversion efficiency, the supply and demand conditions of high-quality polycrystalline silicon is expected to intensify. According to MMC, they just increased their capacity in last year by 1000 ton/year. The current total polysilicon capacity of MMC is 2800 ton/year, among which 2400 ton is semi-grade, and 400 ton is solar grade. MMC will also promote technical development for a more efficient production process. The polysilicon production site of MMC is located in Yokkaichi near Nagoya. MMC will purchase a new building site and build a new facility near the existing plant with aim of enhancing the production semiconductor grade polysilicon up to 3000-4000 ton/year.

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Mitsubishi Materials CorporationIn the Electronic Materials & Components business, Mitsubishi Materials seeks to turn its silicon operations into a pillar to secure high profit using a vertical value chain approach. These operations will focus on polycrystalline silicon, a key material in the production of silicon wafers and solar cells. The Company is also attracting recognition from makers of semiconductors and high-grade solar cells. MMC also adopts Siemens methods.

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Mitsubishi Polysilicon USA

MMC also owns a polysilicon company in USA. Based in Mobile, Alabama, the plant has an annual capacity of 1800 ton/year, among which 1600 ton is semi-grade and 200 ton is solar grade.

The plant adopts advanced Siemens methods. CH2M Hill was selected to provide the engineering package to basically replicate their Yokkaichi plant. The process includes HCl compression, fluidized bed chlorination, multistage cryogenic condensation, vapor purification by absorption and stripping, multiple distillation steps, hydrogen gas purification, and electrolytic vapor phase chemical deposition. Subsequent solid phase product processing, including grinding, and high purity water washing, drying, and packaging are carried out in a clean room facility. Process equipment, instruments, and piping required extreme cleaning measures, including solvent and acid cleaning prior to erection. Process materials include metallic silicon, chlorine, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen, trichlorosilane, silicon tetrachloride, nitric acid and hydrofluoric acid.

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SUMCO CorporationSumitomo Mitsubishi Silicon Corporation (SUMCO) is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1999, SUMCO operates 12 manufacturing facilities located in Asia, Europe and the United States, with 9700 consolidated employees. The major plant in Japan is in Imari, Saga prefecture. SUMCO experienced a major downturn in 2009 and is steadily recovering in 2010. Today, the market for silicon wafers for semiconductors is undergoing a major shift from 200 mm wafers to 300 mm wafers. In response to this development, SUMCO is reducing the output capacity of 200 mm and smaller wafers by 20-30%. For 300 mm wafers, production is being concentrated at the Imari Plant in a bid to create the most competitive manufacturing framework possible. The current capacity of 300 mm wafers is 14.4 million pieces/year. SUMCO provides two types of silicon wafers: PV wafer and Semiconductor wafer. The main manufacturing stages of silicon wafers include the monocrystalline silicon process ,wafer process, and epitaxial growth process. All these process are carried out in an ultraclean room environment with absolute, ensured cleanness. Wafer diameter ranges from 100 mm to 450 mm.

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Hemlock SemiconductorHemlock has two main business segments: high quality semiconductor and solar wafer manufacturing. The company has a production plant located in Saginaw, Michigan and another under construction in Clarksville, Tennessee, USA, over 1000 direct and contract employees, and 3 Dow Corning sales offices located in Germany, Japan and Korea. The Hemlock Semiconductor Group (Hemlock Semiconductor) is comprised of two joint ventures: Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation and Hemlock Semiconductor, L.L.C. The companies are joint ventures of Dow Corning Corporation, Shin-Etsu Handotai and Mitsubishi Material Corporation. Hemlock Semiconductor began its Michigan operations in 1961 and its Tennessee location in 2009. The total manufacturing capacity will reach 36,000 metric tons once Tennessee location was at completely finished by 2012. Company is using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor technology process to produce PSi up to 99.999999999% purity level . The polycrystalline silicon manufacturing process begins with the silicon-based chemical trichlorosilane, where high-purity, semiconductor-grade dichlorosilane (H2SiCl2) and trichlorosilane (HSiCl3) are produced. These materials are captured and separated with a large percentage recycled. Additional quantities are sold to manufacturers for use in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of thin films in electronics applications.

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Hemlock SemiconductorHemlock Semiconductor IP is correlated with 17 issued US Patents: 7080742, 6605149, 6251182, 5906799, 5851303, 5529935, 5436164, 5422088, 5401872, 5361128, 5232602, 5165548, 5126112, 5118486, 5118485, 5108720 and 5108512, involving improvements in the whole production chain. Among the enhancements it could be mentioned a process for contacting hydrogen gas and TCS in a reactor comprising a pressurizable shell having located therein a reaction vessel forming a substantially closed inner chamber for reacting the hydrogen gas with the TCS. The development comprises feeding to an outer chamber between the pressurizable shell and the reaction vessel a gas or gaseous mixture having a chlorine to silicon molar ratio greater than about 3.5. The process reduces the concentration of hydrogen and TCS in the outer chamber that results from leakage of these gases from the substantially closed inner chamber and the detrimental reactions associated with such leakage on structural elements and performance of the reactor.

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Hemlock processThe high cost of Siemens method effects mostly from high power consumption during TCS reduction. Hemlock used DCS instead of TCS as material, which may lead to a lower power requirement for the reduction and to higher productivity. This process is characterized by; 1) DCS synthesis by TCS redistribution, 2 SiHCl3 SiH2Cl2 + SiCl4

2) Polysilicon formation by DCS reduction in an improved Siemens reactor, 3) Hydrogenation of byproduct STC in FBR. Conversion efficiency of DCS into silicon is higher than that of TCS, therefore the less amount of DCS is required. Moreover, the same capacity is required for TCS distillation as in the conventional Siemens process and additionally to purify DCS for high purity levels (like for semiconductor silicon). The boiling point of DCS is quite low ( 8.2 C degrees). Thus, distillation columns should be very efficient.

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MEMC CorporationMEMC has seven business segments: Polished, EPI, Multicrystalline Solar Wafers, Perfect Silicon, Magic Denuded Zone, SOI and Advanced Materials. Those products, in turn, are the building blocks for the $1 trillion electronics market (cell phones, computers, PDAs, CD/DVD players, satellite and automotive electronics, etc.) and the $18 billion solar cell/module market (rooftop, solar farms, consumer lighting, etc.). MEMC has been a pioneer in the design and development of wafer technologies over the past 50 years, and operates facilities in the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific. MEMCs common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYSE: WFR and is included in S&P 500 Index. MEMC have 10 manufacturing facilities located in St. Peters (Missouri), Sherman and Pasadena (Texas), Merano and Novara (Italy), Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Hsinchu (Taiwan), Chonan (South Korea), and Utsunomiya (Japan). In addition, MEMC have 12 sales office in Hillsboro (Oregon), St. Peters (Missouri), Sherman (Texas), Paris (France), Munich (Germany), Novara (Italy), Singapore, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Shanghai (China), Hsinchu (Taiwan), Seoul (Korea) and, Tokyo (Japan). MEMC have a Market Capitalization of $4.4 billion, an Average Daily Volume of 7,137,175, and Revenues of 21% CAGR, at Q1 2010. Company has stable contract policies with signs agreements for short and medium term silicon supply. Clients are interested in its international representation, flexibility and high quality products.82

MEMC Corporation

MEMC Corporation have 20 issued US Patents: 7559825, 7137874, 6712673, 6649883, 6515742, 6514423, 6479386, 6214704, 6200908, 6189546, 6135863, 6114245, 5980629, 5976247, 5837662, 5770522, 5632666, 5605487, 5439523 and 5340437, 5 issued European Patents: EP0748885B1, EP0753605B1, EP0673545B1, EP0753605A1 and EP0748885A1, 5 US Patent Applications: US20090199836, US20080153391, US20060005761, US20040038544 and US20030064902, and 17 WIPO Patent Applications: WO/2009/102630A1, WO/2003/028951A1, WO/2002/069391A1, WO/2002/066967A1, WO/2002/042033A1, WO/2002/011947A2, WO/2001/063656A1, WO/2001/060567A1, WO/2001/049450A1, WO/2001/011671A1, WO/2000/062977A1, WO/2000/047369A1, WO/2000/036637A1, WO/1999/031724A1, WO/1999/009588A1, WO/1995/031309A1 and WO/1995/010850A1, involving improvements in polysilicon manufacturing.

It must be noted that the MEMC production utilizes the Czochralski method of growing singlecrystal silicon ingots. In broad terms, a seed crystal is dipped into molten silicon, and then slowly pulled out while the temperatures and speeds are accurately monitored and controlled. The resulting ingot is a single, uniform crystal of silicon with minor impurities included (the dopant). However, the silicon single crystals grown by the Czochralski process can contain microdefects formed by the agglomeration of vacancies and self-interstitials. In this regard, company have developed various own techniques in order to solve this and other silicon related problems.

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MEMC CorporationBelow: companys materials presenting silicon processing.

Crystal Growth

Wafer Slicing

Wafer Polishing

Wafer Cleaning

Epitaxial Deposition

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Dynamic EngineeringDEI engineers proprietary equipment and plant design for the production of silane, trichlorosilane (TCS), STC and polysilicon for the solar, semiconductor and electronics industries. The company have three main segments: solar, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. It is located in Houston (TX). DEI processes look for low-costs with the highest possible conversion of mgSi to high purity polysilicon, and rapid time between mechanical completion and production product to meet the required specifications. The provided technologies include: Distillation and Purification: final purification of solar and electronics grade TCS by removing impurities below the ppb level, through multiple distillation columns. TCS Fluidized Bed Reactor Design: FBR performs in a pressurized and kept to a uniform temperature distribution that maximize the yields of TCS. By Product Catalysts: redistribution catalyst to minimize the production of DCS and STC and maximize the yield of TCS. Silane Option: a unit operation for the production of silane can be used by specifying different operating conditions and reactor design for the redistribution catalyst. Electronics grade silane can be produced for approximately $25/kg. Polysilicon Plant Integration: integration of different units from all process providers, including Metallurgical Grade silicon grinding, HCl preparation CVD Reaction, STC Converters and Gas recovery, Utilities, Overall control It should be treated also as EPC company85

Dynamic EngineeringDEI has 10 patents in the United States pertaining to the processes for preparing high purity trichlorosilanes from the by-products of the primary reaction in the refinement of polysilicon. This proprietary process increases the product recovery and is estimated to be worth a minimum of $15,000,000 US Dollars per year from a 3,000 ton per year polysilicon plant. Some of them are: 7754175, WO/2009/029794A1, WO/2009/029791A1, EP0601527B1, EP0299436B1. Optimization for final purification of TCS & STC to insure contaminants can be reduced to the parts-per trillion level. Dynamic process model considers over 300 chemical species in the purification process, allowing for the highest purity TCS without significant loss of chlorosilanes. Fluidized Bed Reactor design incorporates over 100 combined years of experience in design and operation of FBRs in TCS production facilities to provide highest conversion to TCS with minimal loss and reduced maintenance. Redistribution Reactor design allows for elimination of waste Dichlorosilane through reaction with STC to produce TCS, both improving process yield and reducing the cost of converting STC to TCS in the Hydrogenation Converters. mgSi grinding technology which allows for use of lower cost lump silicon, reduces bulk contaminants, and produces a particle size optimized for the chlorination reaction. The optimized particle size allows for reduction in byproducts and waste. Other solutions of DE : Process for reactive distillation of Silanes. Zero Heat Burder Fluidized Bed Reactor for Hydrochlorination of STC and MgSi.86

KPMSKMPS is located in Paramus, New Jersey, and the pilot plant facility is located in Houston, Texas. KMPS has over 50 employees. It is a joint venture with Koch Industries global company, and parent company of Koch-Glitsch LP, one of the worlds most prominent suppliers of mass transfer equipment.

Koch Modular Process Systems, LLC. (KMPS) specializes in ten business segments for the design and supply of modular mass transfer systems: Chemical, Photovoltaic & Polysilicon, Alternative Energy, Pharmaceutical, Petrochemical, Biotech, Biochemical, Food and Flavor & Fragrance. KMPS used to partnering with customers to implement new and developing technologies to take them from concept to commercialization. It offers services in such areas: STC to TCS Conversion Polysilicon Production (including fluidized beds) Waste STC Hydrolysis Low Energy Purification Techniques They have industrial experience with various players globally.

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RMTRMT is a leading Technology License provider that supplies a complete polysilicon plant design for solar grade and electronics grade silicon. An RMT designed polysilicon plant is comprised of the following technologies that generate, store, and react TCS and STC. RMT provides the polysilicon plant technology license how to as a basic design package (BDP). RMT recommends a feasibility study to determine the best approach to the project. Their services include :Low Pressure Chlorination (optional) uses the reaction of hydrogen chloride and metallurgical grade silicon to generate TCS. Hydrochlorination uses the reaction of STC, hydrogen and metallurgical grade silicon to generate TCS. Distillation separates the impurities such as boron, arsenic, carbon, iron, and phosphorous to produce high purity TCS. DCS Conversion (optional) Disproportionation technology to convert the byproduct DCS stream to TCS. Tank Farm chemical storage. Reduction uses Siemens reactors fed with purified TCS to produce high-purity silicon rods for use in the solar and electronics industries. Hydrogen Recycle recovers hydrogen from the Siemens reactor exhaust gases and returns it to the CVD reactors. The chlorosilanes are sent to distillation and the HCl goes to chlorination. Finishing prepares the silicon rods for packaging and shipment. Laboratory analyzes process and silicon samples to verify purity specifications and process stream conditions.

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SRISRI International is an independent research and technology development organization with headquarter located in Silicon Valley. The nonprofit institute performs sponsored research and development for government agencies, businesses, and foundations. SRI also licenses its technologies, forms strategic alliances, and creates spin-off companies. In 2008, SRIs consolidated revenues, including its wholly owned for-profit subsidiary, Sarnoff Corporation, were approximately $490 million. SRI International claims that developed a novel production process for manufacturing solar-grade silicon that works at a half the cost of Si produced using Siemens Process, with