Single crystal manufacturing apparatus and method
AssigneeNovel Crystal Technology, Inc.
InventorKimiyoshi Koshi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A single crystal manufacturing apparatus to grow a single crystal upward from a seed crystal, the apparatus including an insulated space thermally insulated from a space outside the single crystal manufacturing apparatus, an induction heating coil placed outside the insulated space, a thermal insulation plate that divides the insulated space into a first space including a crystal growth region to grow the single crystal and a second space above the first space and includes a hole above the crystal growth region, a heating element that is placed in the second space and generates heat by induction heating using the induction heating coil to heat the inside of the insulated space, and a support shaft to vertically movably support the seed crystal from below.
Claims17
A single crystal manufacturing apparatus for growing a single crystal upward from a seed crystal, the single crystal manufacturing apparatus comprising:
- an insulated space thermally insulated from an external space of the single crystal manufacturing apparatus;
- a thermal insulation plate that divides the insulated space into a first space including a crystal growth region below the thermal insulation plate and a second space above the thermal insulation plate;
- a heating element that is placed in the second space;
- and
- a support shaft that is vertically movable in the crystal growth region in the first space and supports a seed crystal placed in the first space from below,
- wherein the thermal insulation plate has a hole that penetrates the thermal insulation plate directly above the support shaft for communicating the first space with the second space, and
- wherein the hole has a diameter larger than those of the crystal growth region and the seed crystal in the first space.
A method for growing a single crystal upward from a seed crystal, comprising the steps of:
- placing a seed crystal in a first space directly below a hole in a thermal insulation plate that divides a thermal insulation space into the first space and a second space above the first space and has the hole that penetrates the first space and the second space;
- melting an upper surface of the seed crystal by radiation heat of a heating element placed in the second space;
- feeding a melt of a raw material of the single crystal from the second space and through the hole of the thermal insulation plate onto the molten upper surface of the seed crystal;
- moving the seed crystal downward by pulling down a support shaft which supports the seed crystal from below while continuously feeding the melt of the raw material;
- and
- growing the single crystal on the upper surface of the seed crystal by gradually crystallizing the melt from the upper surface of the seed crystal to the upward direction,
- wherein the single crystal is grown upward from the upper surface of seed crystal so as to have a diameter smaller than that of the hole inside a contour of the hole without contacting the thermal insulation plate and larger than that of the seed crystal.
A method for growing a single crystal upward from a seed crystal, comprising the steps of:
- feeding a melt of a raw material of the single crystal onto an upper surface of a single crystal grown on a seed crystal;
- placing an annular member on the melt fed on the single crystal so that an annular bottom surface of the annular member contacts with the melt of an outer peripheral portion of the upper surface of the single crystal;
- and
- growing the single crystal in a region inside an outer edge of the annular bottom surface to have a cross-sectional shape controlled by a planer shape of the outer edge of the annular bottom surface by moving the seed crystal downward while feeding the melt of the raw material,
- wherein the single crystal is grown upward from the upper surface of the seed crystal so as to have a diameter equal to or smaller than that of the outer edge of the annular bottom surface and larger than that of the seed crystal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.