Crystallization of pure silicon platelets

Claim 1

A CONTINUOUS PROCESS FOR PREPARING AT LEAST 99.9 PERCENT PURE SILICON WHICH COMPRISES DISSOLVING AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURE CRUDE SILICON IN MOLTEN ALUMINUM TO FORM A LIQUID MIXTURE OF SILICON AND ALUMINUM TO HAVING A SOLIDIFICATION TEMPERATURE NOT BELOW 577*C. AND CONTAINING AT LEAST 11 ATOMIC PERCENT SILICON; LOWERING THE TEMPERATURE OF THE LIQUID MIXTURE TO A VALUE NOT BELOW THE SOLIDIFICATION TEMPERATURE OF THE LIQUID MIXTURE BUT SUFFICIENT TO CRYSTALLIZE OUT PLATELETS OF RELATIVELY PURE SILICON; RECOVERING SAID PLATELETS FROM SAID LIQUID MIXTURE; REMOVING A SOLIDIFIED SILICON-ALUMINUM COATING FROM SAID PLATELETS, RETAINED THEREON UPON REMOVAL OF SAID PLATELETS FROM SAID SOLUTION AND UPON SUBSEQUENT COOLING; AND WASHING THE RELATIVELY PURE SILICON PLATELETS.