ISSN 10637745, Crystallography Reports, 2010, Vol. 55, No. 4, pp. 716–719. © Pleiades Publishing, Inc., 2010.
Original Russian Text © G.Kh. Azhdarov, Z.M. Zeynalov, Z.A. Agamaliyev, A.I. Kyazimova, 2010, published in Kristallografiya, 2010, Vol. 55, No. 4, pp. 763–766.
716
INTRODUCTION
Homogeneity is one of the main problems when
growing single crystals of semiconductor solid solu
tions. The Czochralski method is widely used to grow
bulk semiconductor single crystals of high quality.
However, the application of the conventional (conser
vative) Czochralski method to binary solid solutions
yields crystals of graded compositions as a result of the
segregation of the component during melt crystalliza
tion. There are several methods for growing homoge
neous single crystals of solid solutions from the melt at
a significant component segregation. Solid feeding of
the melt [1] is one of the most widespread techniques.
The essence of this method is that the changes in the
volume and composition of the initial melt which
occur during crystal growth are continuously compen
sated for due to the feeding of the melt by a macro
homogeneous polycrystalline ingot of specified com
position. As a result, a homogeneous single crystal
grows whose composition corresponds to that of the
feeding rod. One significant drawback of this method
is the necessity of preliminarily preparing macro
homogeneous polycrystalline rods of different compo
sitions. A number of difficult technological problems
[2] must be solved to prepare such ingots. In addition,
when the feeding rods are prepared, they inevitably
absorb various residual impurities and thus become
contaminated.
In this paper we report the concept and theoretical
basis of growing homogeneous single crystals of solid
solutions by feeding the melt with ingots of its compo
nents. Our purpose is to determine the process param
eters and optimal conditions for growing single crys
tals of semiconductor solid solutions of specified com
positions by double feeding of the melt.
CONCEPT AND THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
The essence of our approach is shown schemati
cally in Fig. 1. When a solid solution begins to grow
from a melt of a specified composition, rods of the first
and second components are simultaneously intro
duced into the melt. Obviously, under these conditions
the composition of the growing single crystal will be
determined by the crystallization and melt feeding
rates and the initial melt composition and volume.
A mathematical description of the concentration
profile of the components in the solid solution crystals
grown with double feeding of the melt is presented
below. The problem was solved in the Pfann approxi
mation under the following standard conditions [1]:
(i) the crystallization front is flat, (ii) the solid and liq
uid phases are in equilibrium at the crystallization
front, (iii) the diffusion of the first and second compo
nents in the melt provide liquid phase homogeneity
throughout the entire volume, and (iv) the diffusion of
the components in the solid phase is negligible.
Let us introduce the following designations: V
0
and
V
i
are the melt volumes in the crucible at the initial and
current instants, respectively; С is the total amount of
the second component in the melt; and are the
atomic fractions of the second component in the melt
at the initial and current instants; is the atomic
fraction of the second component in the crystal; is
the volume of the melt crystallizing per unit time; V
1
and V
2
are the volumes of the feeding rods of the first
0
2l
C
2l
C
2c
C
c
V
Growth of Single Crystals of Semiconductor Solid Solutions
by Double Feeding of the Melt
G. Kh. Azhdarov
a
, Z. M. Zeynalov
b
, Z. A. Agamaliyev
a
, and A. I. Kyazimova
b
a
Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Baku, Azerbaijan
email:zangi@physics.ab.az
b
Ganja State University, Ganja, Azerbaijan
Received December 10, 2009
Abstract—The problem of component distribution in solid solution crystals grown from a melt fed by rods
made of the components of the system, with allowance for the dependence of their segregation coefficients
on the melt composition, has been solved in the Pfann approximation. Examples determining the conditions
for growing homogeneous single crystals of solid solutions with a specified composition and obtaining (in a
unified cycle) crystals composed of several uniform parts of different compositions are presented for the Si–
Ge system. The good prospects of using the method of double feeding the melt for growing single crystals of
semiconductor solid solutions with specified graded and/or uniform compositions are shown.
DOI: 10.1134/S1063774510040309
CRYSTAL
GROWTH