Abstract Gas bubbles in crucibles for Czochralski (Cz) silicon growth are both necessary and detrimental: In the outer, bubble-containing (BC) layer of the crucible, they are required for mechanical stability, while in the inner, bubble-free (BF) layer, bubbles can cause the release of particles from the crucible into the melt which may disrupt the single-crystalline growth. In this work, a vacuum bake-out test (VBT) procedure was set up for unused crucible parts and a microscopic characterization routine was developed to systematically investigate bubble formation and growth. Longer process time, higher temperature, and lower atmospheric pressure lead to an increased bubble growth in both, the BC and BF layer. During the VBT, no new bubbles form in the BF layer, while existing bubbles grow. The comparison to experimental data from crucibles used in an industrial Cz process indicates that VBTs can simulate this process. This allows the prediction of the gas-bubble formation in Cz crucibles using a cost-effective and less time-consuming analyzation method.

中文翻译：

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用于硅直拉晶体生长的熔融石英坩埚中气泡生长的研究

摘要 用于直拉 (Cz) 硅生长的坩埚中的气泡既是必要的也是有害的：在坩埚的外层、含气泡 (BC) 层中，它们是机械稳定性所必需的，而在坩埚内层中，无气泡 (BF) ) 层，气泡会导致坩埚中的颗粒释放到熔体中，这可能会破坏单晶生长。在这项工作中，为未使用的坩埚部件设置了真空烘烤测试 (VBT) 程序，并开发了微观表征程序来系统地研究气泡的形成和生长。更长的处理时间、更高的温度和更低的大气压导致 BC 和 BF 层中气泡的增长。在 VBT 期间，BF 层中没有新气泡形成，而现有气泡会增长。与工业 Cz 过程中使用的坩埚的实验数据的比较表明 VBT 可以模拟该过程。这允许使用具有成本效益且耗时较少的分析方法来预测 Cz 坩埚中的气泡形成。