Challenges for economical growth of high quality 300 mm CZ Si crystals

The changeover from 200 mm to 300 mm is required by the semiconductor industry due to the necessity for larger chip sizes and demand for decreasing cost. However, the cost for 300 mm crystal growth is likely to rise owing to larger puller, enlargement of hot zone, expensive silica crucibles and longer growth process times caused by lower growth rates and longer cooling rates. Simultaneously, the conditions are more complex and disadvantageous to the required higher qualities in comparison to smaller wafer diameters (e. g. position of OSF ring). This paper gives an overview about the challenges for 300 mm growth and approaches to provide appropriate solutions (e.g. application of magnetic systems, optimization of growth parameters by integration of numerical simulation). (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.