Heat-insulating shield member and single crystal manufacturing apparatus having the same
11453958 · 2022-09-27
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
C30B23/06
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
International classification
C30B35/00
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C30B25/10
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C30B25/08
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
Abstract
The present invention provides a heat-insulating shield member, wherein the heat-insulating shield member is arranged and used between a SiC source housing (3) and a substrate support (4) in a single crystal manufacturing apparatus (10), wherein the single crystal manufacturing apparatus (10) comprises a crystal growth container (2) and a heating member (5) arranged on an outer periphery of the crystal growth container (2), wherein the crystal growth container (2) includes the SiC source housing (3) disposed at a lower portion of the apparatus, and the substrate support (4) which is arranged above the SiC source housing (3) and supports a substrate (S) used for crystal growth so as to face the SiC source housing (3), and wherein the single crystal manufacturing apparatus (10) is configured to grow a single crystal (W) from a SiC source (M) on the substrate (S) by sublimating the SiC source (M) from the SiC source housing (3).
Claims
1. A heat-insulating shield member, wherein the heat-insulating shield member is arranged and used between a SiC source housing and a substrate support in a single crystal manufacturing apparatus, wherein the single crystal manufacturing apparatus comprises a crystal growth container and a heating member arranged on an outer periphery of the crystal growth container, wherein the crystal growth container includes the SiC source housing, wherein the SiC source housing is disposed at a lower portion of the apparatus, the substrate support, wherein the substrate support is arranged above the SiC source housing and supports a substrate so as to face the SiC source housing, the heat-insulating shield member which is arranged and used between the SiC source housing and the substrate support, and a supporting rod which supports a center of the heat-insulating shield member from a lower side, wherein the single crystal manufacturing apparatus is configured to grow a single crystal from a SiC source on the substrate by sublimating the SiC source from the SiC source housing, wherein the heat-insulating shield member contains a low thermally conductive carbon material having thermal conductivity lower than graphite, the low thermally conductive carbon material consists of carbon, a diameter of the heat-insulating shield member is smaller than an inner diameter of the crystal growth container, and the heat-insulating shield member is made of a heat-insulating material having thermal conductivity of 1 to 3.25 W/m.Math.K in at least a thickness direction at room temperature.
2. The heat-insulating shield member according to claim 1, wherein the low thermally conductive carbon material is either a carbon fiber material or expanded graphite.
3. The heat-insulating shield member according to claim 1, wherein the low thermally conductive carbon material is a graphite material having thermal anisotropy.
4. The heat-insulating shield member according to claim 1, wherein the heat-insulating shield member has a structure in which a heat-insulating material is surrounded by a graphite material.
5. The heat-insulating shield member according to claim 1, wherein the heat-insulating shield member has a surface which is coated by a metal carbide layer.
6. A single crystal manufacturing apparatus comprising: a crystal growth container and a heating member arranged on an outer periphery of the crystal growth container, wherein the crystal growth container includes a SiC source housing disposed at a lower portion of the apparatus, a substrate support which is arranged above the SiC source housing and supports a substrate so as to face the SiC source housing, a heat-insulating shield member which is arranged and used between the SiC source housing and the substrate support, and a supporting rod which supports a center of the heat-insulating shield member from a lower side, wherein the heat-insulating shield member contains a low thermally conductive carbon material having thermal conductivity lower than graphite, wherein the low thermally conductive carbon material consists of carbon, and a diameter of the heat-insulating shield member is smaller than an inner diameter of the crystal growth container, wherein the single crystal manufacturing apparatus is configured to grow a single crystal from a SiC source on the substrate by sublimating the SiC source from the SiC source housing, and the heat-insulating shield member is made of a heat-insulating material having thermal conductivity of 1 to 3.25 W/m.Math.K in at least a thickness direction at room temperature.
7. The heat-insulating shield member according to claim 1, wherein the heat-insulating shield member is made of the low thermally conductive carbon material.
8. The heat-insulating shield member according to claim 1, wherein the heat-insulating shield member is made of porous carbon.
9. The heat-insulating shield member according to claim 1, wherein the heat-insulating shield member is made of a graphite material in which thermal conductivity thereof is anisotropic in the thickness direction and a direction orthogonal to the thickness direction, and is formed by pressing expanded graphite into a compacted sheet shape.
10. The single crystal manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the heat-insulating shield member is arranged between the SiC source housing and the substrate support in a single crystal manufacturing apparatus.
11. The single crystal manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the heat-insulating shield member is made of the low thermally conductive carbon material.
12. The single crystal manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the heat-insulating shield member is made of porous carbon.
13. The single crystal manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the heat-insulating shield member is made of a graphite material in which thermal conductivity thereof is anisotropic in the thickness direction and a direction orthogonal to the thickness direction, and is formed by pressing expanded graphite into a compacted sheet shape.
14. The heat-insulating shield member according to claim 1, wherein the heat-insulating shield member has a circular flat plate shape, and the crystal growth container has a columnar crucible shape.
15. The heat-insulating shield member according to claim 1, wherein the heat-insulating shield member consists of the low thermally conductive carbon material.
16. The single crystal manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the heat-insulating shield member has a circular flat plate shape, and the crystal growth container has a columnar crucible shape.
17. The single crystal manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the heat-insulating shield member consists of the low thermally conductive carbon material.
18. The single crystal manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the heat-insulating shield member satisfies at least one selected from the following characteristics (i) to (iv): (i) the low thermally conductive carbon material consists of a carbon fiber material, (ii) the low thermally conductive carbon material consists of expanded graphite, (iii) the low thermally conductive carbon material consists of a graphite material having thermal anisotropy, (iv) the heat-insulating shield member has a structure in which a heat-insulating material is surrounded by a graphite material, and (v) the heat-insulating shield member has a surface which is coated by a metal carbide layer.
19. The heat-insulating shield member according to claim 1, wherein the thermal conductivity of the heat-insulating shield member in the thickness direction is smaller than the thermal conductivity of the heat-insulating shield member in the plane direction.
20. The single crystal manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the thermal conductivity of the heat-insulating shield member in the thickness direction is smaller than the thermal conductivity of the heat-insulating shield member in the plane direction.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
(6) Hereinafter, preferable examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings as appropriate. The drawings used in the following description may include dimensions or ratios, enlargedly different from actual components for better understanding of features of the present invention or for the sake of convenience. The materials, dimensions, and the like, provided in the following description, are merely exemplary examples and the present invention is not limited thereto. Those parameters can be appropriately tailored within the range not departing the gist of the present invention. Unless otherwise specified, number, size, position, material, ratio, shape, etc. may be changed, added or omitted as necessary.
(7) Hereinafter, the growth of a silicon carbide single crystal will be described as an example.
(8) Heat-Insulating Shield Plate, Single Crystal Manufacturing Apparatus
(9)
(10) A heat-insulating shield member 1 of the present invention, as shown in
(11) Further, a heat-insulating material (not shown) for keeping the temperature of the crucible 2 is preferably provided on an outer periphery of the crucible main body 2A. The seed crystal S is attached to the base 4 provided on the crucible lid 2B.
(12) As shown in the drawings, a direction in which the base 4 and the silicon carbide single crystal growth SiC source M face each other is defined as a vertical direction (longitudinal direction), and a direction orthogonal to the vertical direction is defined as a left-and-right lateral direction (lateral direction).
(13) It is preferable that the heat-insulating shield member of the present invention contains a heat-insulating material having thermal conductivity of 40 W/m.Math.K or less at least in a thickness direction (corresponding to the vertical direction (longitudinal direction) in a case where the heat-insulating shield member is installed in the single crystal manufacturing apparatus), or alternatively, is formed of an insulating material having thermal conductivity of 40 W/m.Math.K or less at least in the thickness direction. The thermal conductivity of 40 W/m.Math.K or less is lower than the thermal conductivity of the graphite material used for the crucible.
(14) Moreover, it is preferable that the heat-insulating material is subjected to high purification treatment so as to prevent impurities from entering the crystal.
(15) The thermal conductivity of the heat-insulating shield member is preferably 30 W/m.Math.K or less, more preferably 20 W/m.Math.K or less, still more preferably 10 W/m.Math.K or less, particularly preferably 5 W/m.Math.K or less.
(16) A lower limit of the thermal conductivity of the heat-insulating shield member is, as a rough guide, about 1 W/m.Math.K. This thermal conductivity may be thermal conductivity evaluated at room temperature.
(17) A “heat-insulating material having thermal conductivity of 40 W/m.Math.K or less at least in the thickness direction” is, for example, a low thermally conductive carbon material having thermal conductivity lower than ordinary graphite, such as a graphite mass or isotropic high density graphite. Examples of such a low thermally conductive carbon material include graphite materials and porous carbon, such as carbon fiber material, expanded graphite, thermally anisotropic graphite material and the like. The thermally anisotropic graphite material is a graphite material in which thermal conductivity is anisotropic in the thickness direction and a direction orthogonal to the thickness direction, which is formed by, for example, pressing the expanded graphite into a compacted sheet shape (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H01-014139). Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H01-014139 discloses a graphite sheet having thermal conductivity of 120 kcal/m.Math.hr.Math.° C. (about 140 W/m.Math.k) in a plane direction and of 4 kcal/m.Math.hr.Math.° C. (about 4.7 W/m.Math.K) in a thickness direction (in this case, the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction is 3.3% of the thermal conductivity in the plane direction); or a graphite sheet having thermal conductivity of 140 kcal/m.Math.hr.Math.° C. (about 163 W/m.Math.k) in a plane direction and of 25 kcal/m.Math.hr.Math.° C. (about 29 W/m.Math.K) in a thickness direction (in this case, the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction is 5.6% of the thermal conductivity in the plane direction). Characteristics such as physical properties and thickness of carbon fiber material and diameter of fiber can be optionally selected. Characteristics such as physical properties and thickness of expanded graphite can also be optionally selected.
(18) The “heat-insulating material having thermal conductivity of 40 W/m.Math.K or less at least in the thickness direction” is not limited to the carbon material, but may be metal carbide having high heat resistance, a substance formed by making porous of metal carbide (porous metal carbide) or a structure obtained by filling a graphite container with a metal carbide powder.
(19) As a material of the heat-insulating shield member, in order to obtain a substantial heat-insulating effect (vertical temperature difference and/or temperature difference in SiC source) as compared with the graphite shield plate of the related art, the thermal conductivity of the material is preferably 40% or less, more preferably 30% or less, further preferably 20% or less, still more preferably 10% or less, particularly preferably 5% or less with respect to the graphite shield plate of the related art. As such a material, carbon fiber material and expanded graphite are preferable exemplary examples. In the simulation described later, a case where the thermal conductivity is 2.5% of the thermal conductivity of the graphite shield plate of the related art is adopted as a model of the heat-insulating shield member.
(20) Since the thermal conductivity is 40 W/m.Math.K or less “at least” in the thickness direction, the thermal conductivity may also be 40 W/m.Math.K or less in a direction other than the thickness direction.
(21) As compared with the heat-insulating shield member 1 of the present invention, graphite or graphite coated with TaC or SiC on its surface is used as a material of a shield plate of the related art (for example, see Patent Documents 4 and 5). The thermal conductivity of graphite is about 80 to 130 W/m.Math.K (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2000-351670), the thermal conductivity of TaC is about 90 W/m.Math.K (for example, see Re-publication of PCT International Publication No. 2010-125800), and the thermal conductivity of SiC is about 200 W/m.Math.K (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2016-092122).
(22) That is, the shield plate of the related art is made of a graphite-based material, and has thermal conductivity of about 80 to 130 W/m.Math.K, which is slightly varied depending on the surface coating or types of graphite. Due to the thermal conductivity of this shield plate, in a case where a silicon carbide single crystal is grown using the shield plate of the related art, the seed crystal S or the grown crystal W has the thermally strong correlation with the SiC source surface Ms through the shield plate.
(23) As the heat-insulating shield member 1 of the present invention, a thermally anisotropic shield member in which the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction (corresponding to the longitudinal direction described above) is smaller than the thermal conductivity in the plane direction (corresponding to the lateral direction described above) may be used. The degree of thermal anisotropy is not limited as long as the thermal conductivity is 40 W/m.Math.K or less in the thickness direction. For instance, the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction may be 90% or less, 60% or less, 40% or less, 20% or less, 10% or less, 5% or less or 3% or less, of the thermal conductivity in the plane direction. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H01-014139 discloses a graphite sheet in which the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction is 3.3% or 5.6% of the thermal conductivity in the plane direction. In the simulation described later, a case where the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction is 6.9% of the thermal conductivity of the graphite shield plate of the related art is adopted as a model of the heat-insulating shield member.
(24) A graphite sheet such as Grafoil (registered trademark) is an exemplary example of a material of such a thermally anisotropic shield member.
(25) In the center-low thermally conductive shield plate disclosed in Patent Document 1, porous carbon having thermal conductivity lower than that of graphite is disclosed as a material constituting the central portion thereof. However, the invention is disclosed as the invention for solving the problem of a dent formed by thermal etching at the central portion of the single crystal by controlling the temperature distribution on an upper surface of the shield plate. In other words, the invention focuses on the already-known temperature difference in the radial direction. Therefore, even those skilled in the art could not have been easily conceived a shield plate entirely made of porous carbon based on the invention described in Patent Document 1.
(26) Next, a simulation result of the surface temperature of the seed crystal will be described for comparison between the heat-insulating shield member of the present invention and the graphite shield plate of the related art using a model as shown in
(27) The simulation was carried out using a vapor phase crystal growth analysis software “Virtual Reactor” manufactured by STR-Group Ltd. As a structural model of the single crystal manufacturing apparatus used for simulation, a simple structure with a columnar crucible, a base disposed on a back side of an upper lid, a shield member (shield plate), and a SiC source provided at a lower portion of the crucible, in which the seed crystal is placed on the base, is employed in order to confirm the heat-insulating effect of the heat-insulating shield member of the present invention with respect to the shield plate of the related art.
(28) In the structural model of the single crystal manufacturing apparatus used for the simulation, the crucible was made of graphite, of which inner diameter was 230 mm, and the seed crystal was made of SiC, of which the diameter was 150 mm.
(29) It is difficult to know the accurate value of the thermal conductivity at the high temperature, for example, at which the SiC single crystal is grown. Therefore, in the structural model of the single crystal manufacturing apparatus used for the simulation, the thermal conductivity of the heat-insulating shield member of the present invention is defined by a ratio of the size to the thermal conductivity in the graphite shield plate of the related art.
(30) The shield plate has a diameter of 170 mm and a thickness of 5 mm. A plate made of graphite (corresponding to (b) of Table 1) is used as the shield plate of the related art. A member with the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction of 2.5% of the thermal conductivity of the shield plate of the related art is used as the heat-insulating shield member of the present invention (corresponding to a heat-insulating shield member made of felt) (corresponding to (c) of Table 1). A member in which the thermal conductivity in the plane direction with respect to the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction is ⅙ and the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction is 6.9% of the thermal conductivity of the shield plate of the related art is used as the thermally anisotropic graphite material of the present invention (corresponding to a heat-insulating shield member made of a graphite sheet) (corresponding to (d) in Table 1). A distance between the seed crystal and the shield plate or the heat-insulating shield member is 70 mm. The temperature at the highest temperature point in the crucible lower portion is fixed at 2300° C.
(31)
(32) Table 1 also shows the temperature of each portion based on the temperature distribution established by the simulation.
(33) Regarding (a) to (e) in
(34) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 SiC source Temperature SiC source Lower Vertical Difference Seed Crystal Surface Portion Temperature in SiC Temperature Temperature Temperature Difference source (a) No Shield Plate 2219.7 2225.6 2297.7 5.9 72.1 (b) Shield Plate of 2215 2231.5 2297.9 16.4 66.4 Related Art (c) Heat-insulating 2211.2 2235.5 2297.9 24.4 62.4 Shield Member (d) Thermally Anisotropic 2211.9 2234.9 2297.9 22.9 63 Shield Member (d) Shield Plate of Related 2211.9 2228.5 2297.9 16.6 69.4 Art (with Distance of ¼)
(35) The unit of the numerical value in Table 1 is ° C.
(36) Additionally, in Table 1, the seed crystal temperature is a temperature of the seed crystal surface on a side of the SiC source housing. The SiC source surface temperature is a temperature of the surface of the SiC source contained in the SiC source housing on a side of the seed crystal. The SiC source lower portion temperature is a temperature of the surface of the SiC source contained in the SiC source housing, which is in contact with the bottom of the crucible. The vertical temperature difference is a temperature difference between the seed crystal temperature and the SiC source surface temperature. The temperature difference in SiC source is a temperature difference between the SiC source surface temperature and the SiC source lower portion temperature.
(37) As shown in Table 1, in a case of using the heat-insulating shield member of the present invention, it is found that the effect of lowering the temperature of the seed crystal (seed) equivalent to that in a case where the distance between the seed crystal and the shield plate is reduced to ¼ of the original distance. However, according to the method of bringing the seed crystal and the shield plate closer to each other, the temperature difference in SiC source is large and a problem is expected wherein precipitation occurs on the SiC source surface. Thus, the method using the heat-insulating shield member of the present invention is more effective.
(38) In a case of using the shield plate of the related art, the vertical temperature difference is 16.4° C. In a case where the heat-insulating shield member (c) of the present invention is used, the vertical temperature difference is 24.4° C. In a case where the heat-insulating shield member (d) of the present invention is used, the vertical temperature difference is 22.9° C. Both cases show considerably larger vertical temperature difference than in a case of using the shield plate of the related art. This result is far beyond the inventor's expectations.
(39) The temperature difference in SiC source is 66.4° C. in a case of using the shield plate of the related art, but is 62.4° C. in a case of using the heat-insulating shield member (c) of the present invention and is 63.0° C. in a case of using the heat-insulating shield member (d) of the present invention. Both cases show considerably improved results than in a case of using the shield plate of the related art.
(40) It is extremely difficult to actually measure the parameters in the crystal growth container, since the growth of the silicon carbide single crystal is effected by various parameters and the inside of the container has a high temperature exceeding 2000° C. for during crystal growth. For this reason, temperature distribution analysis using the simulation plays a large role in designing a configuration and the like that realize optimal temperature distribution in the container. That is, the following procedure is usually employed: designing a furnace structure and the like based on the findings obtained from the simulation, confirming the effect by actually growing the single crystal with the furnace structure and the like, and finely adjusting the structure and the like to obtain the optimum furnace structure and the like. The simulation will also be indispensable in the future to avoid wasteful trial and error. The simulation is utilized to the utmost in the present invention.
(41) The heat-insulating shield member 1 of the present invention may be formed by a single type of material only. A shape of this member can be optionally selected. For example, a circular flat plate capable of optionally selecting the thickness is an exemplary example. It is preferable that the thickness is uniform, but it may be different depending on positions. The heat-insulating shield member 1 of the present invention is preferably formed by a single shield plate, but is not limited to this example.
(42) The heat-insulating shield member 1 of the present invention may be formed by using two or more types of materials.
(43) As shown in
(44) According to this configuration, even if the heat-insulating material 1A is a material that easily reacts with the SiC source gas, the reaction can be avoided or suppressed by the graphite material 1B. Type, shape and condition of the graphite material may be optionally selected. Examples thereof include graphite material or graphite sheet having no opening, non-porous graphite material or graphite sheet, and the like. Since the SiC source sublimation gas is mainly Si, Si.sub.2C, and/or SiC.sub.2, the reaction with C of the graphite material as the heat-insulating material sometimes occurs. In particular, porous graphite material such as carbon fiber material has a large specific surface area and is more likely to react than normal graphite. As the reaction occurs, the graphite material changes into a more sparse state, and there is a possibility that the graphite powder tends to fly in the crucible. This graphite powder is taken into the SiC single crystal as a carbon inclusion and may induce crystal defects such as micropipes. Therefore, it is desirable to wrap the porous graphite material with another graphite material which is hard to react, rather than a naked state.
(45) In
(46) In the heat-insulating shield member 1 of the present invention, a part or all of its surface may be covered with a metal carbide layer.
(47) As the metal carbide, for example, at least one selected from the group consisting of TaC, WC, NbC, MoC and the like can be preferably adopted.
(48) According to this configuration, even if the interior is a material which easily reacts with the SiC source gas, the reaction can be avoided or suppressed by the metal carbide layer. The graphite material in the crucible decently reacts with the SiC source gas. Therefore, in long-term growth, the graphite powder may fly even when the graphite material which is hardly react is used. For this reason, the metal carbide coating is preferable for increasing the length of the crystal. The metal carbide coating without an opening is an exemplary example.
(49) As the crucible 2, any known crucible may be used as long as it is a crucible which can produce a silicon carbide single crystal by a sublimation. For example, graphite, tantalum carbide, or the like can be used. The crucible 2 is heated to a high temperature during growth. Therefore, it have to be formed of a material tolerable to the high temperature. For example, graphite has an extremely high sublimation temperature of 3550° C., and can endure the high temperature during growth.
(50) As shown in
(51) The base 4 is preferably provided at the center in the left-right direction of the crucible lid 2B. By providing the base 4 at the center in the lateral direction of the crucible lid 2B, the growth rate of the silicon carbide single crystal W can be constant in the left-right direction.
(52) The crucible lid 2B and the base 4 are not particularly limited as long as they can endure the high temperature, and the same materials as that of the crucible 2 can be used.
(53) Generally known heating member 5 can be used. As the heating member 5, for example, a high-frequency coil or the like can be used.
(54) As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide the heat-insulating shield member capable of suppressing precipitation on the SiC source surface while suppressing contamination of 6H—SiC.
EXPLANATION OF REFERENCES
(55) 1 heat-insulating shield member 1A heat-insulating material 1B graphite material 2, 101 crystal growth container (crucible) 2A crucible main body 2B crucible lid 3 SiC source housing 4 substrate support 4a seed crystal side surface of base 5 heating member 10, 100 single crystal manufacturing apparatus 102, M SiC source portion (SiC source, SiC source power) 102a, Ms SiC source surface 103 lid 104, S crystal growth substrate (seed crystal) 105 single crystal 106 shield plate W grown crystal