A wafer carrier assembly as described herein improves thermal control across a top surface thereof to maintain highly controlled deposition locations and thicknesses.

A manufacturing method of an epitaxial silicon wafer includes forming an epitaxial film made of silicon on a surface of a silicon wafer in a trichlorosilane gas atmosphere; and setting the nitrogen concentration of the surface of the epitaxial film through inward diffusion from a nitride film on the epitaxial film, the nitride film being formed by subjecting the silicon wafer provided with the epitaxial film to heat treatment in a nitrogen atmosphere.

An epitaxial wafer that includes a silicon wafer and an epitaxial layer on the silicon wafer. The silicon wafer contains hydrogen that has a concentration profile including a first peak and a second peak. A hydrogen peak concentration of the first peak and a hydrogen peak concentration of the second peak are each not less than 1×10.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3.

Mechanically fluidized systems and processes allow for efficient, cost-effective production of silicon coated particles having very low levels of contaminants such as metals and oxygen. These silicon coated particles are produced, conveyed, and formed into crystals in an environment maintained at a low oxygen level or a very low oxygen level and a low contaminant level or very low contaminant level to minimize the formation of silicon oxides and minimize the deposition of contaminants on the coated particles. Such high purity coated silicon particles may not require classification and may be used in whole or in part in the crystal production method. The crystal production method and the resultant high quality of the silicon boules produced are improved by the reduction or elimination of the silicon oxide layer and contaminants on the coated particles.

Provided is a method of manufacturing an epitaxial wafer, which includes vapor-phase growing an epitaxial layer on a substrate W placed on a susceptor 3 in a state where an upper surface 4b1 of a lift pin 4 inserted in a through-hole H of the susceptor 3 retracts or projects with respect to an upper opening H1a of the through-hole H. A level difference D from the upper surface 4b1 of the lift pin 4 to the opening H1a of the through-hole H is measured with laser light, and outputs, during epitaxial growth, of heaters 9 located above and beneath the susceptor 3 are adjusted on the basis of the measured level difference D. Thus, a method of manufacturing an epitaxial wafer, which facilitates adjustment of the outputs of the heat sources during epitaxial growth, is provided.

A method comprises transporting a first stream of a carrier gas to a delivery device that contains a liquid precursor compound. The method further comprises transporting a second stream of the carrier gas to a point downstream of the delivery device. The first stream after emanating from the delivery device and the second stream are combined to form a third stream, such that the dew point of the vapor of the liquid precursor compound in the third stream is lower than the temperature of the plumbing that transports the vapor to a CVD reactor or a plurality of CVD reactors. The flow direction of the first stream, the flow direction of the second stream and the flow direction of the third stream are unidirectional and are not opposed to each other.

Various methods and semiconductor structures for fabricating at least one FET device having textured gate-source-drain contacts of the FET device that reduce or eliminate variability in parasitic resistance between the contacts of the FET device. An example fabrication method includes epitaxially growing a source-drain contact region on an underlying semiconductor substrate of one of a pFET device or an nFET device. The method deposits a Nickel film layer directly on the epitaxially grown source-drain contact region. A first anneal forms a textured Nickel silicide film layer directly on the epitaxially grown source-drain contact region. A second metal film layer is deposited on the textured Nickel silicide film layer. A second anneal forms a textured second metal silicide film layer. The method can be repeated on the other one of the pFET device or the nFET device.

A method for manufacturing a SiC epitaxial wafer according to one aspect of the present invention includes separately introducing, into a reaction space for SiC epitaxial growth, a basic N-based gas composed of molecules containing an N atom within the molecular structure but having neither a double bond nor a triple bond between nitrogen atoms, and a Cl-based gas composed of molecules containing a Cl atom within the molecular structure, and mixing the N-based gas and the Cl-based gas at a temperature equal to or higher than the boiling point or sublimation temperature of a solid product generated by mixing the N-based gas and the Cl-based gas.

The present disclosure provides a DNA-targeting RNA that comprises a targeting sequence and, together with a modifying polypeptide, provides for site-specific modification of a target DNA and/or a polypeptide associated with the target DNA. The present disclosure further provides site-specific modifying polypeptides. The present disclosure further provides methods of site-specific modification of a target DNA and/or a polypeptide associated with the target DNA The present disclosure provides methods of modulating transcription of a target nucleic acid in a target cell, generally involving contacting the target nucleic acid with an enzymatically inactive Cas9 polypeptide and a DNA-targeting RNA. Kits and compositions for carrying out the methods are also provided. The present disclosure provides genetically modified cells that produce Cas9; and Cas9 transgenic non-human multicellular organisms.

Embodiments of the invention provide methods for selective deposition on different materials using a surface treatment. According to one embodiment, the method includes providing a substrate containing a first material layer having a first surface and a second material layer having a second surface, and performing a chemical oxide removal process that terminates that second surface with hydroxyl groups. The method further includes modifying the second surface by exposure to a process gas containing a hydrophobic functional group, the modifying substituting the hydroxyl groups on the second surface with the hydrophobic functional group, and selectively depositing a metal-containing layer on the first surface but not on the modified second surface by exposing the substrate to a deposition gas.