A crucible assembly for growing a crystal ingot using a Czochralski process includes an outer crucible and an inner crucible. The inner crucible is disposed within the outer crucible and has a channel configured for fluid communication between the outer crucible and the inner crucible. The inner crucible is an arc-fused crucible and the outer crucible is a cast crucible.

Systems and methods for forming an ingot from a melt are disclosed. A system includes a crucible defining a cavity for receiving the melt, and a first and second barrier to inhibit movement of the melt. A first passageway and a second passageway are arranged to allow the melt located within an outer zone to move into and through a transition zone and into an inner zone. Conditioning members are placed in at least one of the zones and arranged to contact the melt to reduce the number of micro-voids in the melt.

A Czochralski growth system is disclosed comprising a crucible, a silicon delivery system comprising a feeder having a delivery point overhanging the crucible and delivering a controllable amount of silicon into the crucible, and at least one doping mechanism controllably delivering at least one dopant material to the feeder. The system can comprise two or more doping mechanisms each loaded with a different dopant material and can therefore be used to prepare silicon ingots having multiple dopants. The resulting ingots have substantially constant dopant concentrations along their axes. Also disclosed is a method of Czochralski growth of at least one silicon ingot comprising at least one dopant material, which is preferably a continuous Czochralski method.

A Czochralski growth system is described comprising a growth chamber, a feed port, and a feed chamber comprising a container for feedstock and a feeder. The feed port is disposed in at least one side wall of the growth chamber, and the feed chamber is attached to the growth chamber at the feed port. The feeder is insertable into the growth chamber through the feed port and supplies the feedstock into the growth chamber. Preferably this system can be used for producing silicon ingots using a continuous Czochralski method.

Methods for forming a unitized crucible assembly for holding a melt of silicon for forming a silicon ingot are disclosed. In some embodiments, the methods involve a porous crucible mold having a channel network with a bottom channel, an outer sidewall channel that extends from the bottom channel, and a central weir channel that extends from the bottom channel. A slip slurry may be added to the channel network and the liquid carrier of the slip slurry may be drawn into the mold. The resulting green body may be sintered to form the crucible assembly.

A silicon material processing apparatus includes a feed assembly, a scanning assembly, a controller, and a loading assembly. The feed assembly is used for conveying a silicon material and includes a feeding area, a scanning area, and a loading area sequentially arranged along the conveying direction. The silicon material to be conveyed is added to the feeding assembly in the feeding area. The scanning assembly is arranged correspondingly to the scanning area and is, used for collecting silicon material information of a silicon material that is located in the scanning area. The silicon material information includes one or more of a shape characteristics and a size characteristics of the silicon material. The controller is connected with the scanning assembly and is, used for generating a loading strategy according to the silicon material information.

The present invention is an apparatus for manufacturing a single crystal by growing a single crystal according to a Czochralski method, the apparatus includes a main chamber configured to house a crucible configured to accommodate a raw-material melt and a heater configured to heat the raw-material melt, a pulling chamber being continuously provided at an upper portion of the main chamber and configured to accommodate a single crystal grown and pulled, and a cooling cylinder extends from at least a ceiling portion of the main chamber toward a surface of the raw material melt to surround the single crystal being pulled. The cooling cylinder is configured to be forcibly cooled with a coolant. The apparatus includes a first auxiliary cooling cylinder fitted inside of the cooling cylinder, and a second auxiliary cooling cylinder threadedly connected to the outside of the first auxiliary cooling cylinder from a side of a lower end. A gap between a bottom surface of the cooling cylinder and a top surface of the second auxiliary cooling cylinder is 0 mm or more to 1.0 mm or less. This provides an apparatus for manufacturing a single crystal which can increase growth rate of the single crystal by efficiently cooling the single crystal being grown.

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+z/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/20.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.

A method and system for double-layer continuous Cz crystal growing are disclosed. The system includes a crucible assembly including an inner crucible in an outer crucible, the inner crucible defining a growth region and a feed region, the crucible assembly containing molten material (e.g., silicon). The system also includes a susceptor, a continuous feed supply for providing a continuous feed to the feed region, and a temperature control system disposed about the susceptor and configured to cool a region of silicon at a bottom of the growth region to form a solid layer, the solid layer facilitating reducing an oxygen concentration in the growing crystal. The method includes separating molten material into the growth region and the feed region, initiating cooling at a bottom of the growth region, and solidifying a region of material at the bottom of the growth region, such that a solid layer is formed.

A system for forming an ingot from a melt includes a first crucible defining a cavity for receiving the melt and a second crucible in the cavity. The second crucible separates an outer zone from an inner zone. The second crucible includes a passageway therethrough to allow the melt located within the outer zone to move into the inner zone. The inner zone defines a growth area for the ingot. The system also includes a barrier located within the outer zone to limit movement of the melt through the outer zone. The barrier includes members that are arranged to define a labyrinth for melt flow.