Abstract: A method for the contamination-free comminution of semiconductor material cludes an apparatus by which the method is carried out. The method includes creating at least one liquid jet by applying pressure to a liquid and forcing it through a nozzle, and directing the liquid jet against the semiconductor material, so that it impinges on its surface at high velocity. The apparatus includes a container for receiving comminuted semiconductor material, at least one nozzle through which a liquid jet is directed at high velocity against the semiconductor material to be comminuted, a conveyor device for removing the comminuted semiconductor material from the container, means for releasing and interrupting the liquid jet, and means for positioning the nozzle and/or advancing the semiconductor material.

Abstract: A workpiece holder for rotary grinding machines for grinding semiconductor afers has a rotatable work surface which points toward a rotating grinding tool and on which the semiconductor wafer to be machined is laid, and has piezoelectric elements on which the workpiece holder is axially supported. The piezoelectric elements can be operated independently of one another and, when operated, undergo a change in their linear dimension, an operated piezoelectric element axially raising or lowering the workpiece holder at the point at which it supports the workpiece holder. There is also a method for positioning the workpiece holder.

Abstract: The process includes processing a molten phase of semiconductor material ering a solid phase of the material and having a free surface opposite this solid phase, into which, during the crystallization procedure, energy is radiated and material is fed in in granular form, which material floats and is melted. As a result, at the opposite solid/liquid interface, material grows on the solid phase which is drawn downwards in accordance with the growth rate. The process allows mono- or polycrystalline rods or blocks to be obtained. The main advantages of the process are that it can be carried out without melting vessels, it is possible to use granular material, and the energy balance is favorable because of the small amounts of melt.

Abstract: A method for pulling a silicon single crystal has the single crystal being pulled at a speed defined as maximum pulling speed in the vertical direction with respect to a silicon melt held in a crucible. The value of the maximum pulling speed is approximately proportional to the axial temperature gradient in the growing single crystal.

Abstract: A process and an apparatus reduces the oxygen incorporation into a single crystal of silicon which is drawn by the Czochralski method. If a molding is immersed at least temporarily in the melt between the single crystal and the crucible wall during drawing of the single crystal, the oxygen content of the single crystal is reduced compared with the oxygen content of a single crystal which has been drawn without the use of the molding.

Abstract: Bodies of hyperpure semiconductor material can be reduced in size without ntamination by being subjected to shock waves. The method is preferably carried out at room temperature, so that diffusion into the interior of the semiconductor, which is induced and/or accelerated by high temperatures, is largely avoided for superficially adsorbed foreign particles. The shock waves are generated in a focal point of a semiellipsoidal reflector by electrical discharge between two electrodes.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for pulling single crystals from a melt of semicontor material, in which a monocrystalline seed crystal grows to form a single crystal, the seed crystal being dipped into the melt and raised in a controlled manner in the vertical direction with respect to the melt, while the melt forms a molten pool which is held on a support body only by the surface tension and by electromagnetic forces due to an induction coil. This method includes recharging the melt with semiconductor material in solid or liquid form during the growth of the single crystal.

Abstract: A process for the wet-chemical treatment of workpieces, especially of semiconductor wafers, includes exposing the workpieces to a flow of a gassified treatment medium generated by homogeneously dispersing gas bubbles in a liquid.

Abstract: A process for manufacturing semiconductor wafers having deformation ground in a defined way.

Abstract: For the production of high-quality electronic components based on semiconductors, semiconductor wafers are needed which have a substantially lower oxygen concentration in the wafer region near the surface in which the components are integrated than in the other wafer region. This region, known as "denuded zone," was hitherto obtained by prolonged heat treatment of the wafers in a batch reactor as a consequence of partial diffusion of the oxygen out from the substrate. In the process according to the invention, the low-oxygen region is produced by the epitaxial deposition of two differently doped semiconductor layers on the wafer surface in a single-wafer reactor.

Abstract: A process for producing silicon wafers which have a storage-stable surface and which can be thermally oxidized directly, that is to say, without a prior HF immersion bath, and without the addition of halogen-containing gases, it being possible to achieve an equal or better oxidation result than that achieved by including these measures.

Abstract: In the Czochralski crucible pulling of crystal ingots, in particular those of silicon and having particularly large crystal diameters, the degree of filling of the crucible is kept approximately constant during the pulling process by continuously adding solid or liquid recharging material. According to the invention, the known disadvantages of thermal disturbances and the introduction of impurities and particles are overcome by a recharging system with a gas-tight seal, comprising additional crucible, stock container for semiconductor material and dopant having the appropriate feedlines and an exhaust gas line. In addition, the process makes possible a regulatable and separate recharging of dopant via the additional crucible.

Abstract: The precise cutting of thin wafers from blocks or rods of hard and brittle material by means of ribbon or wire saws requires a very high strength of the sawing ribbon material or sawing wire material. In the method according to the invention, seamless metal rings are cold-rolled to form ribbon loops, optionally divided to form narrower ribbon loops or to form wire loops and optionally provided with a cutting coating. In this way, extremely strong cutting tools can be obtained.

Abstract: By means of the process and by means of the apparatus, fused silicon is produced continuously, or in phases, and zonally cast into a mold in which it is caused to solidify zonally. The temperature conditions in the solidification zone are controlled with the aid of a movable heating zone, by means of which the crystallization front is adjusted to the rising level that fills up the mold, this level being in turn controlled by the fusion rate of the silicon. Polycrystalline silicon blocks can be obtained in which, because of the flat shape of the crystallization front, the columnar single-crystal domains within the blocks extend almost vertically and which represent an excellent solar cell base material having high diffusion lengths and lifetimes of the minority charge carriers, from which solar cells of correspondingly high efficiencies can be produced.

Abstract: In the Czochralski crucible pulling of crystal ingots, in particular those of silicon and having particularly large crystal diameters, the degree of filling of the crucible is kept approximately constant during the pulling process by continuously adding solid or liquid recharging material. According to the invention, the known disadvantages of thermal disturbances and the introduction of impurities and particles are overcome by a recharging system with a gas-tight seal, comprising additional crucible, stock container for semiconductor material and dopant having the appropriate feedlines and an exhaust gas line. In addition, the process makes possible a regulatable and separate recharging of dopant via the additional crucible.

Abstract: A magazine is provided for holding disk-type workpieces, in particular seonductor wafers, in the wet-chemical surface treatment in liquid baths. The magazine is particularly useful for etching semiconductor wafers in a liquid bath, which contains an insert (5) which has a diameter of 1.1-1.9 times the diameter of the wafer (6) and which has arrangements of guide strut assemblies (12) held parallel at a spacing of at least twice the wafer thickness by spacing struts (8). The guide strut assemblies (12) comprise main guide struts (9) and subsidiary guide struts (10) which diverge at the linking points (13), which do not lie on the housing axis, in not more than three directions. This etching magazine makes possible a marked reduction in the deterioration in the wafer geometry normally observed in etching treatments.

Abstract: In the annular sawing of bars, in particular of semiconductor material, the ccurate fitting of the saw blade is of great importance. In the case of the conventional clamping systems, in which the saw blade is held on the machine rotary part by clamping forces exerted by means of a holding ring and is subjected to tension by means of an additional clamping ring, inadequate tensioning constancy is usually caused by the tensioning forces acting against the clamping forces. A tensioning behavior which is better in comparison can be achieved according to the invention by the tensioning forces being applied to the clamping ring by clamping elements releasably connected to the machine rotary part and consequently clamping forces and tensioning forces no longer being directed against one another. By the use of such clamping systems, longer saw blade service lives and higher sawing outputs can be achieved.

Abstract: Silicon wafers are first subjected to an oxidative treatment and subsequey to exposure to organosilicon compounds which contain at least one radical in the molecule which is hydrolyzably bound to the silicon and at least one radical in the molecule having hydrophilic properties. Depending on the compound selected, more or less strongly hydrophilic or hydrophobic properties of the silicon surface can consequently be established under mild conditions. The wafers treated in such a manner have a high storage stability and retain their surface nature even under difficult climatic circumstances. The surface nature present after the oxidative treatment can then be restored particularly easily by hydrolysis.

Abstract: The separation of thin disk-type workpieces from a stack has, as a rule, hitherto been carried out by hand. An apparatus and a corresponding method are now provided which make it possible to lift the wafer off the stack without mechanical contact, and also to convey the separated wafers to the tray and to introduce them in an automated way without damage. In this method, a stack of disk-type workpieces is introduced into a wafer magazine with a feed unit which brings the uppermost wafer of the wafer stack into the sphere of action of a fluid medium which emerges under pressure in a preferred direction from a nozzle system. A dam makes it possible to remove a single wafer. The apparatus and the method make possible separation without damage while increasing the yield. In conjunction with a conveying apparatus, an apparatus for tray filling processing lines can be built up for automatically treating disk-type workpieces without damage.

Abstract: A process for the wet-chemical surface treatment of semiconductor wafers in which aqueous phases containing one or more chemically active substances in solution act on the wafer surfaces, consisting of spraying a water mist over the wafer surfaces and then introducing chemically active substances in the gaseous state so that these gaseous substances combine with the water mist so that there is an interaction of the gas phase and the liquid phase taking place on the surface of the semiconductor wafer. Gases such as hydrogen fluoride, chlorine and ozonized oxygen or other halogen gases act on the wafer surfaces between rinsing steps so that when the wafers are dried, the surfaces achieve extremely high cleanliness levels.