Optimization of the Czochralski silicon

growth process by means of

configured magnetic fields

F. Bioul, N. Van Goethem, L. Wu,

B. Delsaute, R. Rolinsky,
N. Van den Bogaert, V. Regnier, F. Dupret
Universit catholique de Louvain

Bulk growth from the melt : basic

techniques
Czochralski
Czochralski (Cz),
(Cz),
Liquid
Liquid Encapsulated
Encapsulated
Czochralski
Czochralski (LEC)
(LEC)
Floating
Floating Zone
Zone (FZ)
(FZ)

Vertical
Vertical Bridgman
Bridgman

Czochralski process

Factors affecting crystal quality

Cylindrical shape
(technological requirement)

Regularity of the lattice

(reduction of defects : point defects, dislocations, twins)

Impurities
(oxygen in Si growth)

Crystal stoichiometry/dopant concentration

(reduction of axial and radial segregation)

Numerical modeling goals

Better understanding of the factors affecting crystal quality
Prediction of :

crystal and melt temperature evolution

solid-liquid interface shape
melt flow
residual stresses
dopant and impurity concentrations
defects and dislocations

Process design improvement

Process control and optimization

Principal aspects of the problem

Coupled, global

interaction between heat transfer in crystal and

melt, solidification front deformation and overall
radiation transfer

Non-linear

physics of radiation, melt convection and

solidification

Dynamic

critical growth stages: seeding, shouldering, tailend, crystal detachment, post-growth

Inverse

natural output is prescribed (crystal shape), while

natural input is calculated (heater power or pull rate)

Melt convection
= Significant heat transfer mechanism
defect and dislocation densities
growth striations
interface shape

= Dominant mechanism for dopant and

impurity transfer
dopant and impurity (oxygen) distributions

Typical flow pattern

Melt convection is due to
Buoyancy (1)
Forced convection
- Coriolis (2)
- Centrifugal pumping (3)
Marangoni effect (4)
Gas flow (5)

s
crystal

2
melt
c

crucible

Quasi-steady axisymmetric models

Objective
Coupling with quasi-steady and dynamic
global heat transfer models

Difficulties
Structured temporal and azimuthal oscillations
(3D unsteady effects) + superposed chaotic
oscillations (turbulence)
average modeling required

Melt flow model

Hypotheses
Hypotheses :: Incompressible
Incompressible Newtonian
Newtonian fluid
fluid

Boussinesq
Boussinesq approximation
approximation
Quasi-steady,
Quasi-steady,turbulent
turbulent or
or laminar
laminar flow
flow

Reynolds
Reynolds equations
equations ::

AA,, kkAA :: additional

additional viscosity
viscosity and
and conductivity
conductivity

General dynamic strategy

Quasi-steady
Quasi-steady simulations
simulations
with
with melt
melt flow
flow
t0 t1

Cone
growth

t2

t3

t4

Body
growth

t5

Time-dependent
Time-dependent
simulation
simulation can
can provide
provide
quasi-steady
quasi-steady source
source
terms
terms equivalent
equivalent to
to
transient
transient terms
terms

t6 t7

Tail-end
stage

time
TimeTimedependent
dependent
simulation
simulation
with
with
interpolated
interpolated
flow
flow effect
effect

Melt convection
How to modify the flow?
Large electrical conductivity of semiconductor melts
Use of magnetic fields to control the flow

Available magnetic fields

DC or AC
Axisymmetric : vertical or configured
Transverse (horizontal)
Rotating

Difficulties
Horizontal fields (3D effects)
Numerical problems (Hartmann layers)
2D turbulence (?)

Rigid magnetic fields

Rigid
Rigid magnetic
magnetic field
field approximation
approximation ::
induced
induced magnetic
magnetic field
field is
is negligible
negligible
Imposed
Imposed steady
steady axisymmetric
axisymmetric magnetic
magnetic field
field ::

Ohms
Ohmslaw
law ::
Conservation
Conservation of
of charge
charge ::

Analytical solutions
From Hjellming & Walker, 1993

Hypotheses
Hypotheses ::
High
HighHartmann
Hartmannnumber
number::
Inertialess
Inertialess approximation
approximation(valid
(valid ififB0.2T)
B0.2T)::

Existence of a free shear layer :

plays an important role in oxygen and
impurity transfer

Analytical solution
Case I :

Case II :

Crystal

Crystal

Free shear layer

B
B

Melt

Melt
Crucible

No magnetic field lines in

contact with neither the
crystal nor the crucible

Crucible

Magnetic field lines in

contact with both the crystal
and the crucible

Quasi-steady numerical results

FEMAG
FEMAG Software
Software
Material
Material and
and geometrical
geometrical parameters
parameters ::
Silicon
Silicon crystal
crystal diameter
diameter :: 100
100 mm
mm
Crucible
Crucible diameter
diameter :: 300
300 mm
mm
Molecular
Molecular dynamic
dynamic viscosity
viscosity :: 8.22e-4
8.22e-4 kg/m.s
kg/m.s
Process
Process parameters
parameters ::
Crystal
Crystal rotational
rotational rate
rate :: -- 20
20 rpm
rpm (-(- 2.09
2.09 rad/s)
rad/s)
Crucible
Crucible rotational
rotational rate
rate :: ++ 55 rpm
rpm (+
(+ 0.523
0.523 rad/s)
rad/s)
Pull
Pull rate
rate :: 1.8
1.8 cm/h
cm/h (5.0e-6
(5.0e-6 m/s)
m/s)

Magnetic field generated by

2 coils with same radius
(600 mm)

Turbulence Model :
Adapted Mixing Length
Magnetic field lines

B=0T

Bmax=0.03T
Stokes stream function

Bmax=0.7T

Magnetic field generated by 2

coils with different radii
(600 mm and 75 mm)

Turbulence model :
Adapted Mixing Length
Magnetic field lines

B=0T

Bmax=0.2T
Stokes stream function

Bmax=0.9T

Inverse dynamic simulations of silicon growth

FEMAG-2
FEMAG-2 software
software
Run
Run A
A

Run
Run BB

Opposite
Opposite crystal
crystal and
and crucible
crucible
rotation
rotation senses
senses

Same
Same as
asAAwith
with aa vertical
vertical
magnetic
magnetic field
field

Silicon
Silicon

BB == 0.32
0.32Tesla
Tesla

Mixing
Mixing length
length model
model
-4
== 8.225
8.225 10
10-4 kg/m.s
kg/m.s
-1-1

cc== 0.52
0.52ss
-1

ss== -2.O9
-2.O9 ss-1
-6-6
VVpul
=
5.
10
m/s
=
5.
10
m/s
pul

Stream
Stream function
function for
for runs
runs A
Aand
and B
B

A
A

BB

Temperature
Temperature field
field for
for runs
runs A
Aand
and B
B

A
A

BB

Off-line Control
Objective
To determine the best evolution of the process
parameters in order to optimize selected process
variables characterizing crystal shape and quality
Long-term

time scales are considered (instead of

short-term time scales for on-line control)

Methodology
Dynamic simulations are performed under supervision
of a controller

Off-line Control
Time-dependent
Time-dependent
simulator
simulator
Start
new time step with
updated process
parameters

Do
process variables
satisfy the control
objectives ?

Off-line
Off-line
controller
controller

Conclusions
Accurate quasi-steady and dynamic simulation models
are available using FEMAG-2 software
Simulations are in agreement with theoretical predictions
Turbulence modeling must be validated and improved if
necessary
Numerical scheme should be able to control mesh
refinement along boundary and internal layers
Off-line control is a promising technique for optimizing
the magnetic field design

k-l turbulence model

Additional viscosity :

How to modify the flow?

Additional conductivity :

Turbulent kinetic energy equation

where

: mean turbulent kinetic energy

: parameters of the model

: additional Prandtl number

From Th. Wetzel

Dimensionless parameters
crucible
crucible Reynolds
Reynolds number
number
(related
(related to
to Coriolis
Coriolis force)
force)
crystal
crystal rotation
rotation Reynolds
Reynolds
number
number

(related
(related to
to centrifugal
centrifugal force)
force)
Grashoff
Grashoffnumber
number
(related
(related to
to natural
natural convection)
convection)
Prandtl
Prandtl number
number
Hartmann
Hartmann number
number