Methods for crystal growth by replacing a sublimated target source material with a candidate source material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12486595-B2
Application number	US-202418601996-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2024
Priority date	Apr 14, 2020
Publication date	Dec 2, 2025
Grant date	Dec 2, 2025

Abstract

The embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a method and an apparatus for crystal growth. The method for crystal growth may include: placing a seed crystal and a target source material in a growth chamber of an apparatus for crystal growth; executing a growth of a crystal based on the seed crystal and the target source material according to physical vapor transport; determining whether a preset condition is satisfied during the crystal growth process; and in response to determining that the preset condition is satisfied, replacing a sublimated target source material with a candidate source material. In the present disclosure, by replacing the sublimated target source material with the candidate source material, a crystal with large-size and high-quality can be grown.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for crystal growth, comprising:
placing a seed crystal and a target source material in a growth chamber of an apparatus for crystal growth; executing a growth of a crystal based on the seed crystal and the target source material according to physical vapor transport; determining whether a preset condition is satisfied during the growth of the crystal; and in response to determining that the preset condition is satisfied, replacing a sublimated target source material with a candidate source material, wherein the replacing the sublimated target source material with the candidate source material includes: controlling the candidate source material to enter the growth chamber to push the sublimated target source material such that the sublimated target source material leaves the growth chamber.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the target source material or the candidate source material includes a block material.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein a shape of the block material includes a cube, a cuboid, or an irregular block.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein a thickness of the block material is less than a preset thickness threshold.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein a thickness of the block material is 30 millimeters˜40 millimeters.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the target source material and/or the candidate source material are prepared through a processing process, the processing process including:
preparing the target source material and/or the candidate source material by performing at least one of a pressing operation, a sintering operation, a polishing operation, or a purging operation on powder source materials.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein a processing condition of the sintering includes an inert atmosphere condition.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the candidate source material is controlled to enter the growth chamber from a first region.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein a temperature of the first region is lower than a temperature of the growth chamber, and a temperature difference between the first region and the growth chamber is less than a first preset temperature threshold.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the first preset temperature threshold is determined according to a distance between the first region and the growth chamber.

11 . The method of claim 8 , further including:
performing a preheating treatment on the candidate source material in the first region, the preheating treatment including heating the candidate source material to a sublimation temperature of the crystal and keeping the sublimation temperature for a preset time period.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the preset time period is determined according to a size of the candidate source material.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a speed of controlling the candidate source material to push the sublimated target source material is less than a preset speed threshold.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a speed of controlling the candidate source material to push the sublimated target source material is 100 millimeters/hour˜ 150 millimeters/hour.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the speed of controlling the candidate source material to push the sublimated target source material is determined according to a weight of the sublimated target source material.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sublimated target source material is pushed to leave the growth chamber and enter a second region of the apparatus for crystal growth.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein a temperature of the second region is lower than a temperature of the growth chamber, and a temperature difference between the second region and the growth chamber is less than a second preset temperature threshold.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the second preset temperature threshold is determined according to a distance between the second region and the growth chamber.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the crystal includes silicon carbide, aluminum nitride, zinc oxide, or zinc telluride.

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the preset condition includes a crystal growth time length reaching a preset time length.

Assignees

• Meishan Boya Advanced Mat Co Ltd

Inventors

• Wang Yu
• Gu Peng
• Liang Zhenxing
• Li Min

Classifications

• C30B35/005

  Transport systems · CPC title

• C30B29/38

  Nitrides · CPC title

• C30B29/36

  Carbides · CPC title

• C30B29/16

  Oxides · CPC title

• C30B23/066

  Heating of the material to be evaporated · CPC title