Single metal crystals

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10435814-B2
Application number	US-201615339466-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2016
Priority date	Oct 30, 2015
Publication date	Oct 8, 2019
Grant date	Oct 8, 2019

Abstract

A single-crystalline metal is created on a substrate by liquefying a metal material contained within a crucible while in contact with a surface of the substrate, cooling the metal material by causing a temperature gradient effected in the substrate in a direction that is neutral along the surface of the substrate and, therein, growing the single-crystalline metal in the crucible.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for creating a single-crystalline metal on a substrate, the method comprising:
depositing a metal material and a seed material on a surface of a substrate;
encapsulating the metal material and seed material within an insulating material to form a crucible, wherein the seed material is located at an end of crucible;
liquefying the metal material contained within the crucible; and
cooling the metal material by causing a temperature gradient effected in the substrate in a direction that is neutral along the surface of the substrate and, therein, growing the single-crystalline metal in the crucible based on an orientation of the seed material, the above steps facilitating independence, by lack of correlation, of a defined orientation of the single-crystalline metal on latching lattice matching of the metal material with the substrate.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the growing the single-crystalline metal in the crucible further includes seeding the single-crystalline metal from a seed material located at an end of the crucible.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising directing a crystalline orientation of the single-crystalline metal to align with a physical orientation of the crucible.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein depositing the seed material includes depositing an amorphous or poly-crystalline material that does not include a taper and the single-crystalline metal aligns with a physical orientation of the crucible.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the temperature gradient is effected by heating and cooling through application of uniform temperatures across the surface of the substrate.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein liquefying the metal material contained within the crucible includes heating the substrate to a temperature that is at or above a melting point of the metal material and below a melting point of the seed material, resulting in formation a diffused solid formed by a portion of the metal material and the seed material, the diffused solid having a higher melting point than the metal material and which forms a metal-insulator interface from which crystal growth propagates.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the seed material is a metal that is a different type of metal and has a different melting point than the metal material contained within the crucible.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein depositing the metal and the seed material on the substrate further includes sequentially patterning the seed material and the metal, wherein the seed material and the metal include different melting points.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein liquefying the metal material contained within the crucible further includes forming a solid from the metal material and the seed material, wherein the solid exhibits a higher melting point than the metal material.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single-crystalline metal is configured with an orientation in a z direction.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single-crystalline metal is a noble metal and a portion of the substrate is in contact with the single-crystalline metal.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the portion of the substrate is an insulator made from oxide of a semiconductor material, and the metal material contained within the crucible is in contact with the portion of the substrate while liquefying the metal material.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein liquefying the metal material contained within the crucible further includes diffusing the metal material with the seed material to form a diffused solid in response to heating the substrate, crucible, seed material, and metal material to a temperature below a melting point of the metal material, and wherein the single-crystalline metal growth propagates from the diffused solid in response to the cooling.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein depositing the seed material includes depositing an amorphous material that does not include a taper.

15. A method for creating a single-crystalline metal on a substrate, the method comprising:
liquefying a metal material contained within a crucible while in contact with a surface of the substrate; and
cooling the metal material by causing a temperature gradient effected in the substrate in a direction that is neutral along the surface of the substrate and, therein, growing the single-crystalline metal in the crucible; and
roughing the surface of the substrate prior to the metal material being in contact with the surface of the substrate, wherein the single-crystalline metal is configured with an orientation in a z direction.

Assignees

• Univ Leland Stanford Junior

Inventors

• Plummer James D
• Zhang Kai
• Bai Pitner Xue
• Fan Jonathan A

Classifications

• C30B29/02 Primary

  Elements · CPC title

• C30B29/60

  characterised by shape · CPC title

• C30B11/002

  Crucibles or containers for supporting the melt · CPC title

• C30B11/00

  Single-crystal growth by normal freezing or freezing under temperature gradient, e.g. Bridgman-Stockbarger method (C30B13/00, C30B15/00, C30B17/00, C30B19/00 take precedence; under a protective fluid C30B27/00) · CPC title

• C30B11/14

  characterised by the seed, e.g. its crystallographic orientation · CPC title