TY - JOUR
T1 - Growth of high-quality multicrystalline Si ingots using noncontact crucible method
AU - Nakajima, Kazuo
AU - Morishita, Kohei
AU - Murai, Ryota
AU - Kutsukake, Kentaro
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan . We thank S. Ochi of Kyoto University, N. Usami of Tohoku University, H. Ito of Dai-Ichi Kiden Corporation, and Mitsubishi Electric for helpful discussions and characterizations.
PY - 2012/9/15
Y1 - 2012/9/15
N2 - Conventional crystal growth methods using silica crucibles cannot control the stress caused by expansion due to the solidification of the Si melt because crucible walls made of silica have insufficient flexibility to reduce the stress. In the case of crystal growth using a silicon nitride crucible, it was reported that an ingot can be more easily released from the crucible. A noncontact crucible method was proposed using conventional silica crucibles that reduces the stress and number of dislocations in Si multicrystalline ingots. We used the present method to grow wafers with only twin boundaries. An ingot with several grains and twin boundaries was realized using a crucible that had not been coated with Si 3N 4 particles. Several important characteristics were reported such as the presence of a low-temperature region in the Si melt, the possibility of growing large ingots with a diameter close to the crucible diameter, the minority carrier lifetime, the distribution of dislocations, the O concentration and the effect of Si 3N 4 particles on the crystal structure. Dislocations were almost undetectable in a large area of the cross section when a necking technique was used for the seed growth. The O concentration in ingots grown using crucibles coated with Si 3N 4 particles was lower than that in an ingot grown using a crucible without a coating of Si 3N 4 particles. A large ingot with a diameter of 25 cm was obtained using a crucible with a diameter of 33 cm.
AB - Conventional crystal growth methods using silica crucibles cannot control the stress caused by expansion due to the solidification of the Si melt because crucible walls made of silica have insufficient flexibility to reduce the stress. In the case of crystal growth using a silicon nitride crucible, it was reported that an ingot can be more easily released from the crucible. A noncontact crucible method was proposed using conventional silica crucibles that reduces the stress and number of dislocations in Si multicrystalline ingots. We used the present method to grow wafers with only twin boundaries. An ingot with several grains and twin boundaries was realized using a crucible that had not been coated with Si 3N 4 particles. Several important characteristics were reported such as the presence of a low-temperature region in the Si melt, the possibility of growing large ingots with a diameter close to the crucible diameter, the minority carrier lifetime, the distribution of dislocations, the O concentration and the effect of Si 3N 4 particles on the crystal structure. Dislocations were almost undetectable in a large area of the cross section when a necking technique was used for the seed growth. The O concentration in ingots grown using crucibles coated with Si 3N 4 particles was lower than that in an ingot grown using a crucible without a coating of Si 3N 4 particles. A large ingot with a diameter of 25 cm was obtained using a crucible with a diameter of 33 cm.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2012.06.034
DO - 10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2012.06.034
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84864037796
VL - 355
SP - 38
EP - 45
JO - Journal of Crystal Growth
JF - Journal of Crystal Growth
SN - 0022-0248
IS - 1
ER -