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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2005.04.024 Byline: Geun Hee Lee (a), Chang Kyu Rhee (a), Koeng Su Lim (b) Keywords: Silicon wafer; Direct casting; BN coating; Si solar cell Abstract: Si-wafers for solar cells were cast in a size of 50x46x0.5mm.sup.3 by a direct casting method. A graphite mold coated by boron nitride (BN) powder was used in order to prevent the reaction between carbon and the molten silicon. Without any coating, the reaction of the Si melt to the graphite mold was very severe. In the case of BN coating, SiC was formed in the shape of tiny islands on the surface of the Si wafer by the reaction between the Si-melt and the carbon of the graphite mold at high temperature. The grain size was about 1mm. The efficiency of the Si solar cell was about 0.5% under AM1.5 conditions. It was lower than that of a Si solar cell fabricated with a common single- (sc, 3.0%) and poly-crystalline (pc, 1.0%) Si wafer, which showed much lower efficiency than that of other commercial pc- or sc-Si solar cell (10-15%). Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Nuclear Materials Development and Technology, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), P.O. Box 105, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon 305-353, Republic of Korea (b) Department of Electric and Electronic Engineering, KAIST, 373-1 Kusungdong, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea Article History: Received 25 October 2004; Revised 15 February 2005; Accepted 13 April 2005 Article Note: (miscellaneous) Communicated by: Associate Editor T.M. Razykov