A system for extracting liquid is provided. The system includes a vacuum source and a nozzle having a wettable plunger and a vacuum tube connected in flow communication with the vacuum source. When the plunger is partly submerged in the liquid and the vacuum source is actuated to initiate a flow of gas through the vacuum tube, droplets of the liquid separate from at least a portion of the unsubmerged part of the plunger and become suspended in the gas flow. The system also includes a cooling structure positioned adjacent to the vacuum tube to facilitate solidifying the droplets suspended in the gas flowing through the vacuum tube.

Semiconductor wafers useful for NAND circuitry and having a front side, a rear side, a middle and a periphery, have an Nv region which extends from the middle to the periphery; a denuded zone which extends from the front side to a depth of not less than 20 m into the interior of the semiconductor wafer, where the density of vacancies in the denuded zone, determined by means of platinum diffusion and DLTS is not more than 110.sup.13 vacancies/cm.sup.3; a concentration of oxygen of not less than 4.510.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 and not more than 5.510.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3; a region in the interior of the semiconductor wafer which adjoins the denuded zone and has nuclei which can be developed by means of a heat treatment into BMDs having a peak density of not less than 6.010.sup.9/cm.sup.3, where the heat treatment comprises heating the semiconductor wafer to a temperature of 800 C. over a period of four hours and to a temperature of 1000 C. over a period of 16 hours. The wafers are produced by a unique RTA treatment of Nv wafers.

Semiconductor wafers useful for NAND circuitry and having a front side, a rear side, a middle and a periphery, have an Nv region which extends from the middle to the periphery; a denuded zone which extends from the front side to a depth of not less than 20 m into the interior of the semiconductor wafer, where the density of vacancies in the denuded zone, determined by means of platinum diffusion and DLTS is not more than 110.sup.13 vacancies/cm.sup.3; a concentration of oxygen of not less than 4.510.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 and not more than 5.510.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3; a region in the interior of the semiconductor wafer which adjoins the denuded zone and has nuclei which can be developed by means of a heat treatment into BMDs having a peak density of not less than 6.010.sup.9/cm.sup.3, where the heat treatment comprises heating the semiconductor wafer to a temperature of 800 C. over a period of four hours and to a temperature of 1000 C. over a period of 16 hours. The wafers are produced by a unique RTA treatment of Nv wafers.

A method of evaluating metal contamination by measuring the amount of metal contaminants to a silicon wafer in a rapid thermal processing apparatus includes steps of obtaining a Si single crystal grown by the Czochralski method at a pulling rate of 1.0 mm/min or lower, the crystal having oxygen concentration of 1.310.sup.18 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less, slicing silicon wafers from the Si single crystal except regions of 40 mm toward the central portion from the head of the single crystal and 40 mm toward the central portion from the tail, heat-treating the silicon wafer with a rapid thermal processing apparatus and transferring contaminants from members in a furnace of the rapid thermal processing apparatus to the silicon wafer, and measuring a lifetime of the silicon wafer to which contaminants are transferred.

The present invention provides polycrystalline silicon suitably used as a raw material for producing single crystal silicon. The polycrystalline silicon rod of the present invention is a polycrystalline silicon rod grown by chemical vapor deposition performed under a pressure of 0.3 MPaG or more, wherein when a plate-shaped sample piece collected from an arbitrary portion of the polycrystalline silicon rod is observed with a microscope with a temperature increased from a temperature lower than a melting point of silicon up to a temperature exceeding the melting point of silicon, a heterogeneous crystal region, which is a crystal region including a plurality of crystal grains heterogeneously assembled and including no needle-like crystal, having a diameter exceeding 10 m is not observed.

Methods for forming single crystal silicon ingots in which plural sample rods are grown from the melt are disclosed. A parameter related to the impurity concentration of the melt or ingot is measured. In some embodiments, the sample rods each have a diameter less than the diameter of the product ingot.

A method may include bonding a deformable bounding element to a structural support element in which the deformable bounding element and a cavity-adjacent side of the structural support element define a cavity. The method may further include filling the cavity with a deformable medium by injecting the deformable medium past a cavity-opposite side of the structural support element and toward the cavity-adjacent side of the structural support element. The method may additionally include sealing an entry point of the injection of the deformable medium into the cavity. Various other apparatuses, systems, and methods are also disclosed.

The present disclosure discloses a method for growing a crystal without annealing. The method may include compensating a weight of a reactant, introducing a flowing gas, improving a volume ratio of oxygen during a cooling process, providing a heater in a temperature field, and optimizing parameters. According to the method, problems may be solved, for example, cracking and component deviation of the crystal during a crystal growth process, and without oxygen-free vacancy. The method for growing the crystal may have excellent repeatability and crystal performance consistency.

An apparatus having an asymmetric adjustable lens with a deformable optical element. The apparatus may also include one or more actuators coupled to a deformable element of the asymmetric adjustable lens in a direct-drive configuration such that (1) mechanical action of the one or more actuators applies force to the deformable optical element and (2) the force applied by the mechanical action of the one or more actuators changes an optical property of the asymmetric adjustable lens by deforming the deformable optical element. Various other devices, systems, and methods are also disclosed.

The present disclosure discloses a method for growing a crystal for detecting neutrons, gamma rays, and/or x rays. The method may include weighting reactants based on a molar ratio of the reactants according to a reaction equation (1-x-z)X.sub.2O.sub.3+SiO.sub.2+2xCeO.sub.2+zZ.sub.2O.sub.3.fwdarw.X.sub.2(1-x-z)Ce.sub.2xZ.sub.2zSiO.sub.5+x/2O.sub.2 or (1-x-y-z)X.sub.2O.sub.3+yY.sub.2O.sub.3+SiO.sub.2+2xCeO.sub.2+zZ.sub.2O.sub.3.fwdarw.X.sub.2(1-x-y-z)Y.sub.2yCe.sub.2xZ.sub.2zSiO.sub.5+x/2O.sub.2; placing the reactants on which a second preprocessing operation has been performed into a crystal growth device after an assembly processing operation is performed on at least one component of the crystal growth device; introducing a flowing gas into the crystal growth device after sealing the crystal growth device; and activating the crystal growth device to grow the crystal based on the Czochralski technique.