Komatsu Electronic Metals Co., Ltd.

Sumco Techxiv Kabushiki Kaisha

Koichi Shimomura

Yoshinobu Hiraishi

Mitsunori Kawabata

Kentaro Nakamura

Shigeki Nakamura

Hiroyuki Ohta

Teruhiko Uchiyama

Ayumi Suda

Eiichirou Kotoura

Taizou Miyamoto

The crucible and the side heater are held in the respective initial positions, and the raw material is put into the crucible. These initial positions are positions where the crucible side surface is mainly heated by the side heater. When the side heater heats the crucible side surface, the raw material is melted to form melt. When a part or all of the raw material is melted, the crucible is raised from the initial position or the side heater is lowered from the initial position. At this time, the position of the crucible or the side heater is adjusted such that the amount of heat applied to the lower side curved portion of the crucible side surface is greater than that in the initial relative position between the crucible and the side heater. And, if the crucible bottom part is heated by the side heater while the relative positions of the crucible and the side heater is maintained, the amount of heat applied to the crucible bottom part is increased as compared to the amount of heat applied to the crucible side surface, and the convection in the melt that makes the gas bubbles spatter to the outside. In this way, the gas bubbles are eliminated from the melt. As a result, the amount of gas bubbles in the melt can be reduced without deforming the crucible, and occurrence of pinhole defects in the wafer can be suppressed.

Method for melting semiconductor wafer raw material and crystal growing method for semiconductor wafer

In the process of forming-the shoulder in which the diameter of a crystal is gradually extended from a small seed crystal to a predetermined value, the largest width of a bright ring, which is formed in a boundary between the melt and the crystal pulled up from the melt, is measured, and an arc width of an arbitrary portion of the bright ring located before the largest width portion is measured. When the largest width of the bright ring has reached a predetermined value, a measured value of the arc width at the arbitrary position of the bright ring is used as a reference value, and after that, automatic control is conducted so that the measured value of the arc width can be close to the reference value.

Method of pulling up a single crystal semiconductor

In this invention, three equally spaced and 'L' shaped hooks 6B are rotatably supported on the upper peripheral wall of the body 6A of the seed holder 6 at pivots 6E. A radiation screen 7 is hung at the front ends of the hooks 6B via three engaging fixtures 6C affixed on its upper rim. The radiation screen 7 shaped like a hollow trancated cone, is used to surround the lower end of the single-crystal being lifted from the quartz crucible 3 which is disposed within the main chamber 1. According to the apparatus for manufacturing a single-crystal which can perform the descending or ascending movements of the radiation screen, the setting operation, and the lifting operation consecutively and automatically. Therefor the apparatus can enhance the productivity and avoid any problems with process automation, furthermore, it is compatible with conventional equipment.

Apparatus for manufacturing a single-crystal and method of manufacturing

A semiconductor single crystal lift device which comprises a crucible for melting materials for forming semiconductor single crystals and a radiation screen disposed at an upper portion of the crucible and formed of a reversed-cone-shaped adiabatic tube surrounding a lift zone, the apparatus being adopted for lifting up the semiconductor single crystal from a melt in the crucible, in which the radiation screen is divided into more than three adiabatic members, at least part of the adiabatic members being configured in a detachable fashion so that an adiabatic nature of the radiation screen can be partly altered.

Semiconductor single-crystal lift device

An apparatus for holding a single-crystal semiconductor ingot which is stored in a pulling chamber of a single-crystal semiconductor pulling apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes a spindle; a base installed on the spindle and movable along the spindle; a pair of arms for holding the single-crystal semiconductor ingot; means for driving the arms; a pair of sensors for detecting the distance between the ingot and the arms; and a controller for driving the arms to the ingot according to the sensors; when each of the arms is detected to have a predetermined distance from the ingot, the controller stopping the movement of the arm; when both the arms have the predetermined distance to the ingot, the controller driving simultaneously both the arms to the ingot surface, thereby holding the ingot.

Apparatus with movable arms for holding a single-crystal semiconductor

A single-crystal semiconductor pulling apparatus improves the crystallization rate by reinforcing the physical strength of the Dash's neck portion, and eliminate the process time difference depending on the experiences of operators. The single-crystal semiconductor pulling apparatus, which is according to the Czochralski method, includes controller for automatically controlling the pulling rate of a seed crystal and a melt temperature. The controller modifies a target value of a diameter of a crystal grown from the seed which is immersed from a first value to a second value. The first value is for ensuring dislocation-free state, while the second value is for retaining physical strength of the crystal. Furthermore, the controller is provided with the function of judging the crystal to be in dislocation-free state. That is, the controller measures a length of each portion of the crystal whose diameter is smaller than the first value, and accumulates the length, and judges the crystal to be in dislocation-free state when the accumulate value is a value determined according to a reference length.

Single-crystal semiconductor pulling apparatus

An apparatus for fabricating a semiconductor single crystal, which make it possible to reduce the oxygen concentration of a pulling single crystal, to steadily dissolve the polysilicon material received in a crucible, and to minimize the cost and installation space, is provided. The hollow cylindrical resistance heater of the apparatus, which co-axially surrounds a crucible, is provided with a ring-shaped slit excluding the location where at least two electrodes are formed, in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axial direction so as to divide the heater into an upper heating portion and a lower heating portion, and is provided with a plurality of vertical slits formed on the upper heating portion and the lower heating portion respectively, in a direction substantially parallel to the axial direction, wherein each vertical slit formed on the upper heating portion does not align with each vertical slit formed on the lower heating portion. The vertical slits formed on the upper heating portion and the slits formed on the lower heating portion have different pitches. The thickness or length of the upper heating portion is different from that of the lower heating portion.

Growing community of inventors

Omura, Japan

Koichi Shimomura