Method of growing germanium crystals
AssigneeSouth Dakota Board of Regents
InventorsGuojian Wang, Dongming Mei
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In accordance with the present invention, taught is a high purity germanium crystal growth method utilizing a quartz shield inside a steel furnace. The quartz shield is adapted for not only guiding the flow of an inert gas but also preventing the germanium melt from contamination by insulation materials, graphite crucible, induction coil and stainless steel chamber. A load cell provides automatic control of crystal diameter and helps to ensure exhaustion of the germanium melt. The method is both convenient and effective at producing high purity germanium crystals by relatively low skilled operators.
Claims7
A method of growing high purity germanium crystals, comprising the steps of:
- (a) isolating a first crucible containing molten germanium inside a melt container comprising a quartz shield having a removable lid;
- (b) locating said melt container inside a furnace for controlling the temperature of said germanium;
- (c) passing an inert gas through said melt container;
- (d) controlling the diameter of a crystal of germanium drawn from said first crucible at a rate controlled by a load scale that monitors the weight of the crystal;
- and
- (f) removing the lid from the quartz shield to permit withdrawl of the germanium crystal from the melt container.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.