Method of controlling a thickness of a sheet formed from a melt
AssigneeVarian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc.
InventorsPeter L. Kellerman, Fredrick Carlson, Frank Sinclair
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for forming a sheet are disclosed. A melt is cooled and a sheet is formed on the melt. This sheet has a first thickness. The sheet is then thinned from the first thickness to a second thickness using, for example, a heater or the melt. The cooling may be configured to allow solutes to be trapped in a region of the sheet and this particular sheet may be thinned and the solutes removed. The melt may be, for example, silicon, silicon and germanium, gallium, or gallium nitride.
Claims14
A method of forming a sheet from a material comprising at least one of silicon, germanium, or gallium, comprising:
- heating said material to form a melt;
- introducing said melt into a channel in a vessel configured to contain said melt;
- forming a sheet of said material on a surface of said melt by controllably cooling said melt in a first region of said channel, said sheet having a first thickness after said forming;
- horizontally transporting said sheet to a second region of said channel downstream of said first region with said sheet floating on said surface of said melt, wherein a temperature of said melt and a speed of said transporting are controlled;
- thinning said sheet from said first thickness to a second thickness while said sheet is on said surface of said melt in said second region, wherein said second thickness is smaller than said first thickness and wherein said thinning occurs after said forming by controllably heating said melt;
- and
- separating said sheet from said melt after said thinning.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.