Sumco Corporation

Japan Super Quartz Corporation

Tadahiro Sato

Toshiaki Sudo

Ken Kitahara

Eriko Kitahara

Masami Ohara

Makiko Hinooka

Hiroshi Kishi

Masaki Morikawa

Takeshi Fujita

Takuma Yoshioka

Koichi Suzuki

Makiko Kodama

Atsushi Shimazu

Kazushi Ousyuya

Shuji Tobita

Fumie Yoshida

Akihiro Aiba

Takashi Watanabe

Buckling of a vitreous silica crucible or fall of a sidewall into the crucible is effectively suppressed. Furthermore, dislocations in a silicon single crystal are suppressed to enhance the yield of the single crystal. The vitreous silica crucible is used to pull single-crystal silicon and includes the cylindrical sidewall having an upward-opening rim, a mortar-shaped bottom including a curve, and a round portion connecting the sidewall and the bottom. The round portion is provided in such a manner that the curvature of the inner surface thereof is gradually increased from the sidewall toward the bottom in a section passing through the rotation axis of the vitreous silica crucible.

Silica glass crucible and method for producing monocrystalline silicon using same

A vitreous silica crucible used to pull up silicon single crystal includes: a cylindrical straight body portion, a corner portion formed at a lower end of the straight body portion, and a bottom portion connected with the straight body portion via the corner portion, wherein the vitreous silica crucible further comprises: an opaque outer layer enclosing bubbles therein; and a transparent inner layer from which bubbles are removed, wherein the residual distortion's distribution obtained by measuring the silica glass's inner surface in a non-destructed state has an optical path difference which is 130 nm or less, which residual distortion's distribution is measured using a distortion-measuring apparatus which converts a linearly polarized light into circularly polarized light and then irradiates the crucible's wall.

Vitreous silica crucible and evaluation method of the same

A destructive inspection method of a vitreous silica crucible for pulling a silicon single crystal evaluates a crack state of an inner surface of the vitreous silica crucible supported by a graphite susceptor when a load is instantaneously applied to at least one point on the inner surface via an automatic center punch while pushing the tip portion of the automatic center punch against the inner surface. The destructive inspection method can inspect the vitreous silica crucible under conditions as close to the actual conditions of use as possible.

Destructive inspection method and quality determination method for vitreous silica crucible

A vitreous silica crucible includes: a substantially cylindrical straight body portion having an opening on a top end and extending in a vertical direction; a curved bottom portion; and a corner portion connecting the straight body portion with the bottom portion and a curvature of which is greater than that of the bottom portion, wherein an inner surface of the crucible has a concavo-convex structure in which groove-shaped valleys are interposed between ridges, and an average interval of the ridges is 5-100 &#x3bc;m.

Vitreous silica crucible

A method for pulling silicon single crystal includes a process of placing a molded body between a susceptor's inner surface and a crucible's outer surface. The molded body is formed based on three-dimensional data of the inner surface shape of the susceptor which can hold the vitreous silica crucible and three-dimensional data of the crucible so as to make the susceptor's central axis and the crucible's central axis substantially aligned when it is placed between the susceptor's inner surface and the crucible's outer surface.

Method for pulling silicon single crystal

In an embodiment, a vitreous silica crucibleincludes a cylindrical straight body portion, a corner portionformed at lower end of the straight body portion, and a bottom portionconnected with the straight body portionvia the corner portion. Moreover, the vitreous silica crucibleincludes a bubble-containing opaque layerconstituting an outer layer, and a bubble-free transparent layerconstituting an inner layer. A boundary surface, between the opaque layerand the transparent layerin at least the straight body portion, forms a periodic wave surface in a vertical direction. The vitreous silica crucible can suppress deformation under high temperature.

Vitreous silica crucible and method for manufacturing the same

In an embodiment, a distortion-measuring apparatus for measuring a distortion distribution of an entire vitreous silica crucible in a non-destructive way includes: a light source; a first polarizerand a first quarter-wave platedisposed between the light sourceand an outer surface of a vitreous silica crucible wall; a cameradisposed inside of a vitreous silica crucible; a camera control mechanismconfigured to control a photographing direction of the camera; a second polarizerand a second quarter-wave platedisposed between the cameraand an inner surface of the vitreous silica crucible wall. An optical axis of the second quarter-wave plateinclines 90 degrees with respect to the first quarter-wave plate

Vitreous silica crucible and distortion-measuring apparatus for the same

The present invention provides a method for evaluating a vitreous silica crucible which can measure a three-dimensional shape of the inner surface of the crucible in a non-destructive manner. According to the present invention, A method for evaluating a vitreous silica crucible, including the steps of: moving an internal ranging section along an inner surface of the vitreous silica crucible in a contactless manner; measuring a distance between the internal ranging section and the inner surface as a distance from the inner surface, by subjecting the inner surface of the crucible to irradiation with laser light and then detecting a reflected light from the inner surface, the laser light being emitted from the internal ranging section in an oblique direction with respect to the inner surface, and the measurement being conducted at a plurality of measuring points along a course of a movement of the internal ranging section; and obtaining a three-dimensional shape of the inner surface of the crucible, by associating three-dimensional coordinates of each of the measuring points with the distance from the inner surface, is provided.

Method for evaluating silica glass crucible, method for producing silicon single crystals

A method for measuring a three-dimensional shape of an inner surface of a vitreous silica crucible which enables the measurement of the three-dimensional shape of the inner surface of the crucible without contaminating the inner surface of the crucible, is provided. According to the present invention, a method for measuring a three-dimensional shape of a vitreous silica crucible, including a fogging step to form a fog onto an inner surface of the vitreous silica crucible, a three-dimensional shape measuring step to measure a three-dimensional shape of the inner surface, by measuring a reflected light from the inner surface irradiated with light, is provided.

Method for measuring three-dimensional shape of silica glass crucible, and method for producing monocrystalline silicon

Buckling of a vitreous silica crucibleor inward fall of a sidewallis effectively suppressed. The vitreous silica crucibleincludes the cylindrical sidewallhaving an upward-opening rim, a mortar-shaped bottomincluding a curve, and a round portionconnecting the sidewalland the bottom. In the vitreous silica cruciblethe per-unit area thermal resistance in the thickness direction of the sidewallis higher than that of the round portion

Silica glass crucible

The present invention provides a vitreous silica crucible which inhibits a deformation even when used under a high temperature condition for a long time, and a method for manufacturing the same. The vitreous silica crucible comprises: a substantially cylindrical straight body portion having an opening on the top end and extending in a vertical direction, a curved bottom portion, and a corner portion connecting the straight body portion with the bottom portion and a curvature of which is greater than that of the bottom portion, wherein, the vitreous silica crucible comprises a transparent layer on the inside and a bubble layer on the outside thereof, a compressive stress layer in which compressive stress remains in the inner surface side of the transparent layer, and a tensile stress layer in which tensile stress remains and is adjacent to the compressive stress layer at a gradual rate of change of stress.

Vitreous silica crucible for pulling of silicon single crystal and method for manufacturing the same

An apparatus for supporting setting of a manufacturing condition of a vitreous silica crucible includes: an improved property parameter setting unit configured to, if the degree of matching between three-dimensional shapes of simulation data obtained based on an initial property parameter and measurement data falls below a predetermined level, set an improved property parameter such that the degree of matching becomes higher than or equal to the predetermined level, and an improved manufacturing condition data setting unit configured to set a manufacturing condition such that simulation data matching the design data to a degree higher than or equal to a predetermined level is obtained. By using the apparatus, it is possible to manufacture a vitreous silica crucible by rotational molding in such a manner that the three-dimensional shape thereof matches the design data to a high degree.

Device for assisting with setting of manufacturing conditions for silica glass crucible, device for assisting with setting of manufacturing conditions for mold for manufacturing silica glass crucible, device for assisting with condition setting for pulling up monocrystalline silicon using silica glass crucible

A quality-evaluated vitreous silica crucible for pulling silicon single crystal is provided, wherein an inner surface of the vitreous silica crucible has regions where surface defects including brown rings are to be generated when pulling silicon single crystal. The regions are distinguished using an infrared absorption spectrum or a Raman shift of the regions, wherein a position of each region and/or a density of the regions are/is specified.

Quality-evaluated vitreous silica crucible

A method of manufacturing a vitreous silica crucible includes an inspection method comprising: a measurement step of measuring an infrared absorption spectrum or a Raman shift of a measurement point on an inner surface of the vitreous silica crucible; a determining step of predicting whether a surface defect region is generated or not in the measurement point based on an obtained spectrum to determine a quality of the vitreous silica crucible.

Inspection method of vitreous silica crucible

An evaluation method of suitable silica powder for forming a bubble-free layer of a vitreous silica crucible for pulling of a silicon single crystal, includes: a process of measuring a porosity between silica particles in the silica powder, a process of melting the silica powder, a process of measuring a bubble content rate of a vitreous silica block obtained by cooling to harden the melted silica powder, and a process of determining whether the silica powder is suitable from the porosity of the silica powder and the bubble content rate of the vitreous silica block.

Growing community of inventors

Akita, Japan

Tadahiro Sato