Abstract: This invention provides a melt receiver for a semiconductor single-crystal manufacturing device, which is capable of protecting the main chamber from being damaged by the outflow of the melt or dropping of the debris of the broken crucibles and therefore preventing steam explosion. The melt receiver 1 is consisted of an adiabatic member 3 made of carbon fibers; a cover 2 made of high strength C/C material which shelters the surface of the adiabatic member 3; and a bottom plate 4. A groove 2a is formed on the upper surface of the cover 2. The groove 2a has a size capable of accommodating all of the melt stored in the quartz crucible 7. The melt flown out or articles dropped down due to damage of the crucible are received by the melt receiver 1, and the melt flown out can not reach the bottom of the main chamber 9. The melt receiver can also be consisted of a melt absorption layer made of adiabatic material, and a melt isolation layer made of graphite or high strength C/C material.

Abstract: Using a thin plate seed crystal 10 having a different material from a bulk crystal to be grown and having a great diameter, before crystal growth is started, a temperature in the lower portion of a solution 12s in which material is solved into a solvent (or a melt 12m) is set to a higher temperature than the upper portion to cause convection so that the surface of seed crystal 10 is rinsed by the convection by keeping in the state for a predetermined period. Then, the crystal growth is started by the Bridgman method or gradient freezing method.

Abstract: A method of producing a silicon single crystal thin film having a smooth surface in a stable manner in vapor-phase growth. A silicon single crystal thin film is grown by mixing silicon chloride raw material with hydrogen gas to form a process gas and supplying the process gas to a semiconductor single crystal substrate at a growth temperature, wherein the thin film is grown at a growth rate equal to or higher than 80% of the maximum growth rate at the growth temperature.

Abstract: 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.

Abstract: The disclosure describes a method of manufacturing a Group II-VI compound semiconductor thin film by a vapor-phase epitaxy using an organic metal compound of Group II element and a hydride or an organic metal compound of Group VI element as the raw material, which comprises repeating alternate introduction of an organic metal compound of Group II element and a halide gas, a halogen gas or a mixture thereof; or adding a halide gas, a halogen gas or a mixture thereof to a gas for vapor-phase epitaxy.

Abstract: A chamber for depositing a film layer on a substrate includes a support member on which the substrate is positioned for processing in the chamber, and a clamp ring suspended in the chamber on a chamber shield. The support member is positionable in the chamber to receive a substrate thereon, and further positionable to pass the substrate through the shield and thereby lift the clamp ring off the shield. After deposition is complete, the support member retracts through the shield, to reposition the clamp on the shield. In the event that a deposition material layer has formed between the substrate and the clamp ring, the clamp ring includes a plurality of actuators thereon which force the substrate out of the clamp ring as the clamp ring is repositioned on the shield.

Abstract: A recharger system including a feeder and a feed conduit recharge polycrystalline silicon granules into a crucible after a run or operation of growing a single crystal silicon rod by the Czochralski method, thereby to prepare for a next run of crystal growing. The amount of holdup or backed-up supply of the silicon granules in the feed conduit is detected by a sensor provided on the feed conduit. A smooth and high-rate feed of the silicon granules is ensured by controlling the feed rate of the silicon granules from the feeder to the feed conduit and/or a descending velocity of the crucible by signals generated in the sensor as a function of the amount of the holdup or backed-up supply in the feed conduit.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for growing large diameter silicon crystals using the Czochralski (Cz) method, wherein the neck section of the crystal is significantly strengthened to eliminate the risk of breakage in the neck section, by providing a heat shield assembly which is located adjacent to the neck section and ascends in conjunction therewith to force the cooling gas directly onto the neck section of the silicon ingot.

Abstract: Atomic hydrogen is mixed with a raw material gas such as disilane in the selective growth of epitaxial silicon using insulating film masks, so as to control facet formation at the end portion of the selectively grown film where the silicon film comes in contact with the insulating film sidewall. Adsorption of atomic hydrogen leads to hydrogen termination of the silicon surface which remarkably reduces the surface free energy, thereby eliminating anisotropy of surface free energy and forming a facet-free selective silicon epitaxial film. A selective epitaxial film sufficiently thick for shallow junction source/drain regions of MOSFETs can be formed under the selective silicon epitaxial growth condition, i.e., high substrate temperature (700.degree. C. or higher) and low disilane flow rate, with the flow rate of hydrogen set to 4 sccm or more, and at least 5% of said hydrogen gas being dissociated into atomic hydrogen.

Abstract: Bulk, low impurity aluminum nitride (AlN) single crystals are grown by sublimation or similar deposition techniques at growth rates greater than 0.5 mm/hr.

Abstract: The principal construction of a single crystal pulling apparatus involves a chamber (gas tight chamber) inside of which is a double crucible 3 for storing a semiconductor melt 21, comprising an outer crucible 11 and an inner crucible 12 communicated with each other, and a source material supply tube 5 suspended from an upper portion of the chamber, and positioned so that granular source material 8 can be introduced from a lower end opening 5a thereof into the semiconductor melt 21 between the outer crucible 11 and the inner crucible 12. An incline portion 13 is provided at a lower end of the source material supply tube 5 on the inner crucible 12 side, for introducing source material 8 discharging from the lower end opening 5a to the semiconductor melt 21 in the vicinity of the side wall of the outer crucible 11.

Abstract: A method of growing crystals from solution is described which includes growing crystals from a solution comprising ions under the combined effect of gravity and an applied magnetic field, in which the magnetic field in the range of about 1 to 10 times the strength of the Earth's magnetic field.

Abstract: A system for growing high-quality, low-carbon-concentration single crystals which have an excellent gas-flow guiding function near the melt, containing 1) an inverted conical, flow-guide cover placed above and coaxially with a double-walled crucible, with its lower end located immediately above the surface of the melt and in the space between the outer surface of the single crystal to be grown and the inner surface of the sidewall of the inner crucible; 2) a short passage comprising a hole passing through the sidewall of the inner crucible at a position higher than the level of the melt; and 3) a flow guide cylinder placed above and coaxially with the double-walled crucible, with its lower end located immediately above the surface of the melt and in the space between the outer surface of the sidewall of the inner crucible and the inner surface of the sidewall of the outer crucible, all arranged in a furnace.

Abstract: There is disclosed a method of producing, in large volumes and at low cost, Ta, Nb, Zr and Hf carbide, nitride or carbonitride whiskers, preferably submicron, having excellent reinforcing properties, suitable as reinforcement in a wide range of materials, including metals, intermetallics, plastics, ceramics and metallic bonded hard material. Oxides of Ta, Nb, Zr and Hf or alkali compounds thereof in an amount to satisfy the stoichiometric requirements of the desired carbide or nitride are mixed with the carbon source along with an alkali and/or alkali earth metal halogenide as a volatilization agent for the metal and a catalyst for the whisker growth such as Ni and/or Co. The reactant powders are blended in some typical manner using a high speed blender so as to intimately mix them. Finally, the starting material is subjected to nitriding, carbonizing or carbonitriding heat treatments in order to produce the desired whiskers.

Abstract: An image of the meniscus ring (21) between the crystal (20) and the melt (4) is formed by optical means (12, 24) on a sensor, the signals of which yield the actual value for the diameter of the crystal. Two optical measuring devices are provided, the optical paths of which are defined by base points on the meniscus ring (21) and two planes which are offset by 90.degree. to each other and which are parallel to the main axis of the crystal and in tangential contact with the meniscus ring (21). The two optical paths are preferably set up to intersect, their intersection being in the viewing window.

Abstract: A crystal pulling apparatus is disclosed which employs the Czochralski method. The crystal pulling apparatus is operated while a heater for heating a material melt in a crucible is controlled by the main controller of a main system. When maintenance of a heating state is disabled for some reason, a relay of a signal changeover circuit is switched so as to maintain the heating state under control of the backup controller of a backup system, thereby maintaining the material melt in a molten state. Thus, even when it becomes impossible for the main system to heat the material melt within the crucible, the material melt can be prevented from becoming solidified.

Abstract: According to the process of the present invention for producing a garnet single crystal fiber, a crystal is grown while the direction of a seed crystal, corresponding to the direction of growth, is set in a direction having angles of at least 10.degree. from a direction equivalent to the <100> orientation, at least 20.degree. from a direction equivalent to the <110> orientation and at least 20.degree. from a direction equivalent from the <211> orientation. The resulting garnet single crystal fiber does not include a core, which is formed due to facet formation, and has an excellent optical homogeneity necessary for use in an optical device such as a laser device or an isolator.

Abstract: A seed crystal holder is used to grow a single crystal in an intended direction. In order to grow a single crystal in an intended direction by a crystal pulling method, a seed crystal is accurately cut out along a crystal orientation, and this seed crystal is accurately held in a predetermined attitude by the seed crystal holder. A seed crystal insertion bore having a rectangular cross-section is formed in the body of the seed crystal holder. A seed crystal having a taper surface at one edge is inserted into the seed crystal insertion bore. The inserted seed crystal is pressed at its taper surface by a taper surface of a block, so that two surfaces of the seed crystal are fixedly pressed against two inner surfaces of the seed crystal insertion bore. The other end of the block is covered with a block-retaining ring, so that the block does not come off the seed crystal holder.

Abstract: A single crystal production apparatus based on an HMCZ method for production a large-diametered single crystal having a uniform microscopic oxygen concentration distribution in its crystal growth direction to thereby provide a wafer having a high in-plane uniformity of oxygen concentration distribution. In the single crystal production apparatus based on the HMCZ method, when B denotes a vertical position of the bottom surface of a melt within a crucible and L denotes the depth of the melt at the time of starting crystal pulling operation, a vertical position of the coil central axis Cc of superconducting electromagnets 12 and 15 is controlled to be a proper value included in a range from a position below the position B by {(1/3).times.L} to a position above the position B by {(1/3).times.L} to pull the single crystal.

Abstract: There is disclosed a method of producing whiskers in large volumes and at low cost to be used as reinforcing material. The whiskers are solid solutions between two or more transition metal carbides, nitrides and carbonitrides, (Me.sub.1-X-Y.sub.Me'.sub.X+Y)C.sub.1-Z N.sub.Z, having preferably submicron diameters, where Me' is one or more transition metals other than Me. The whiskers are suitable for use as a reinforcement material in a wide range of materials, including metals, intermetallics, plastics, ceramics and metallic bonded hard material. Transition metal oxides, hydroxides or alkali compounds thereof are mixed with carbon powder. The carbon source is added in an amount to satisfy the stoichiometric requirements of the carbide or nitride. A halogenide salt is used as a volatilization agent for the transition metals and a catalyst such as Ni or Co that is able to dissolve transition metals plus C and/or N. The reactant powders are blended so as to intimately mix them.