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Silicon Ingot
Silicon Ingot Production: Czochralski- and Float-Zone Technique
Production

Czochralski-Technique:

Basics
The Czochralski-technique is a method to
pull a monocrystal with the same
crystallographic orientation of a small
monocrystalline seed crystal out of
melted silicon.First, electronic-grade
polysilicon nuggets (e. g. from the
Siemens-process) optionally together
with dopants are melted in a quartz
crucible at a  temperature > 1400°C in an
inert gas atmosphere (e. g. argon). The
quartz crucible sits inside a graphite
container which – due to its high heat
conductivity – homogeneously transfers
the heat from the surrounding heater to
the quartz crucible. The silicon melt
temperature is kept constant roughly
above the silicon melting point.A
monocrystalline silicon seed crystal with
the desired crystal orientation (e.
g.<100>, <110> or <111>) is immersed
into the melt and acts as a starting point
for the crystal formation supported by
the heat transfer from the melt to the
already grown crystal. The seed crystal is
slowly (few cm/hour) pulled out of the
melt, where the pull speed determines
the crystal diameter. During crystal
growth, the crystal as well as the crucible
counter-rotate in order to improve the
The different process steps of Czochralski crystal growth: Melting of polysilicon with homogeneity of the crystal and its dopant
dopants, immersion of the seed crystal, crystal growth. concentration.

Before the crystal growth is finished, a continuous increase of the pull speed reduces the crystal diameter towards zero. This helps prevent
thermal stress in the ingot which could happen by an abrupt lifting out of the melt and could destroy the crystal.
 Czochralski-Technique:

Advantages and Disadvantages

Photoresists, Ancillaries, Etchants,  Solvents, and Technical
Support for all Stages of MicroStructuring and Lithography
The Czochralski-technique allows big crystal diameters (state of the art: 18 inch = 46 cm) and – compared to the float-zone technique
described in the following section – lower production cost per wafer.One disadvantage of the Czochralski-technique is impurities such as
oxygen (typ. 1018 cm-3) and carbon (typ. 1017 cm-3) from the quartz and graphite crucible which lower the minority carrier diffusion length in
the finished silicon wafer.Another disadvantage is a comparably low homogeneity of the axial and radial dopant concentration in the crystal
caused by oscillations in the melt during crystal growth. This makes it difficult to attain high-ohmic CZ-wafers with a resistivity exceeding
100 Ohm cm). A magnetic field (“Magnetic Czochralski”, MCZ) can retard these oscillations and improve the dopant homogeneity in the
ingot.

Float-Zone Technique:

Basics
A monocrystalline silicon seed crystal is
brought into contact with one end of a
polycrystalline silicon ingot. Starting from
here, an RF coil melts a small region of
the polysilicon which, after cooling down,
forms monocrystalline silicon with the
crystallographic orientation of the seed
crystal (e. g. <100>, <110> or <111>).The
RF coil and the melted zone move along
the entire ingot. Since most  impurities
are less soluble in the crystal than in the
melted silicon, the molten zone carries
the impurities away with it. The
impurities concentrate near the end of
the crystal where finally they can simply
be cut away. This procedure can be
repeated one or more times in order to
further reduce the remaining impurity
concentration.Doping is realized during
crystal growth by adding dopant gases
such as phosphine (PH3), arsine (AsH3
diborane (B2H6) to the inert gas 
atmosphere.

Schema of the float-zone technique: A seed crystal is attached to the end of a polysilicon
ingot (top) which is the starting point for the crystallization of the entire ingot.

Float-Zone Technique:

Advantages and Disadvantages

The main advantage of the float-zone technique is the very low impurity concentration in the silicon crystal. In particular the oxygen and
carbon  concentration are much lower as compared to CZ silicon, since the melt does not come into contact with a quartz crucible, and no
hot graphite container is used. Additionally, the dopant concentration in the final crystal is rather homogeneous and manageable which
allows very high-ohmic (1 - 10 KOhm cm) wafers as well as wafers with a narrow specified electrical resistivity.
However, FZ silicon is more expensive than CZ silicon, and the crystal diameter is limited to eight inches (state of the art).

Our Float-Zone Wafers

• Available 2 inch float-zone wafers: 2 inch FZ wafers

• Available 4 inch float-zone wafers: 4 inch FZ wafers

Our Technical Wafer Brochure

Our technical wafer brochure with information on the production and specification of silicon, quartz, fused silica and borosilicate glass
wafers can be downloaded or ordered (for free) here.

Imprint Microchemicals GmbH | Nicolaus-Otto-Str. 39 | 89079 Ulm | Tel.: +49 (0) 731 977 343-0 | E-Mail: info@microchemicals.com