Abstract: A silicon single crystal which, over an ingot length of over 10 percent of the total ingot length, has a uniform defect picture and narrow radial dopant and oxygen variations. The process in accordance with the Czochralski method involves bringing about a temperature distribution in the melt in the region of the solidification interface which deviates from rotational symmetry.

Abstract: A process for producing a silicon single crystal which is doped with highly volatile foreign substance by pulling the single crystal from a melt which is held under predetermined process conditions in a crucible. A quantity of the foreign substance N0 is added in order to achieve a desired resistance of the melt, and the melt, after a time t, is after-doped at least once with a quantity &Dgr;N(t) of the foreign substance, in order to compensate for losses caused by the foreign substance evaporating out of the melt.

Abstract: A process for machining a wafer-like workpiece between two plates, in which material is abraded from the workpiece under the influence of an auxiliary substance supplied and of a weight acting on the workpiece. In this process, the load on the workpiece from the weight is significantly reduced and then increased again at least once during the machining of the workpiece, and the supply of the auxiliary substance is reduced as the weight is increased.

Abstract: A doped semiconductor wafer of float zone-pulled semiconductor material contains a dopant added to a molten material and has a radial macroscopic resistance distribution of less than 12% and striations of −10% to +10%. There is also a process for producing a doped semiconductor wafer by float zone pulling of a single crystal and dividing up the single crystal, in which process, during the float zone pulling, a molten material which is produced using an induction coil is doped with a dopant. It is exposed to at least one rotating magnetic field and is solidified. The single crystal which is formed during the solidification of the molten material is rotated. The single crystal and the magnetic field are rotated with opposite directions of rotation and the magnetic field has a frequency of 400 to 700 Hz.

Abstract: A process for the heat treatment of a silicon wafer, during which the silicon wafer is at least temporarily exposed to an oxygen-containing atmosphere, the heat treatment taking place at a temperature which is selected in such a way that the inequality 1 [ Oi ] < [ Oi ] eq ⁢ ( T ) ⁢ exp ⁢ ( 2 ⁢ σ SiO 2 ⁢ Ω rkT )

Abstract: A method and a device for regulating a pressure in an epitaxy reactor, wherein the epitaxy reactor has a wafer handling chamber WHC, a process chamber PC, and a gate valve GV connecting the two chambers. The wafer handling chamber is continuously purged with inert gas. The pressure difference between the wafer handling chamber and the process chamber is measured, and the resulting measurement signal is used in a control circuit to regulate the pressure in the wafer handling chamber. In this case the pressure in the wafer handling chamber is reduced if the pressure difference is above a predetermined value and the pressure in the wafer handling chamber is increased if the pressure difference is below a predetermined value. The predetermined pressure difference is defined as a pressure being between 5 and 500 PA. The WHC and the PC each have a gas discharge line and a gas input line.

Abstract: A single crystal production method based on the Czochralski method comprises controlling a number of crucible rotations and crystal rotations so that a number of vibrations for driving a melt, determined on the basis of the number of crucible and crystal rotations during a single crystal growing procedure, is outside a range from 95% to 105% of a number of sloshing resonance vibrations of the melt. In another embodiment, the method comprises controlling a number of rotations of a crystal and crucible, so that when a number of vibrations for driving a melt, determined by the number of crucible and crystal rotations during a single crystal growing procedure, is within a range from 95% to 105% of a number of sloshing resonance vibrations of the melt, the number of vibrations of the melt due to sloshing does not exceed 2000 times during a period when the number of vibrations is within that range.

Abstract: A fracture-proof container for wafer discs including two half-shells having a substantially rectangular cross-section and each including a plurality of substantially rectangular chambers, a substantially rectangular opening formed in a bottom of each chamber, limiting walls surrounding the chambers, and a plurality of substantially rectangular ribs formed on an outer side of each half-shell.