CN115821390A - Crystal growth weight monitoring method, device and equipment and crystal growth furnace - Google Patents

Abstract

The disclosure discloses a crystal growth weight monitoring method, a crystal growth weight monitoring device and a related product. The method comprises the following steps: determining a current sampling value of the crucible weight and a previous sampling value of the current sampling value; determining the current weight fluctuation value of the crucible according to the current sampling value and the previous sampling value; the sampling time difference between the current sampling value and the previous sampling value is a preset sampling interval; and if the current weight fluctuation value is not in the fluctuation value interval, sending an alarm instruction. Compared with the technology of collecting the crystal image in the crucible through X-ray to realize weight monitoring, the crucible weighing method is simpler in realization mode, lower in realization cost, capable of directly judging whether abnormity occurs according to weight parameters, free of manual judgment according to the image, and more efficient in monitoring process.

Description

Crystal growth weight monitoring method, device and equipment and crystal growth furnace

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of semiconductor fabrication. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a crystal growth weight monitoring method, a device, equipment and a crystal growth furnace.

Background

Silicon carbide as a third-generation semiconductor has the characteristics of large forbidden band width, high thermal conductivity, high saturated mobility of current carriers and the like, and the excellent physical properties of the silicon carbide can meet the requirements of power semiconductor devices on high temperature, high voltage and high frequency, so the silicon carbide plays an important role in the fields of new energy automobiles, communication, power transmission and the like.

At present, silicon carbide crystals are generally prepared by Physical Vapor Transport (PVT) method, in which silicon carbide powder in a graphite crucible is sublimated by high-temperature heating, and the sublimated gas is crystallized at a seed crystal to form a single crystal. The growth temperature of the silicon carbide crystal is very high, and sublimation and crystallization reactions can only be carried out in a closed graphite crucible, so that the state change in the crystal growth process can not be observed in real time by naked eyes like a pulling method, and abnormal conditions, such as seed crystal falling, in the crystal growth process can be timely treated.

In the prior art, image information of the crucible interior in the crystal growth process is obtained by an X-ray irradiation imaging method, and the crystal growth condition is determined according to the image information. However, the cost of imaging by X-ray irradiation is high, and the crystal growth condition still needs to be judged manually according to the image information after X-ray imaging, so that the scheme is difficult to be widely applied to industrial mass production of silicon carbide.

In view of the above, it is desirable to provide a crystal growth weight monitoring scheme, so as to implement low-cost and efficient crystal growth weight monitoring and prompt the abnormal situations such as seed crystal falling in time.

Disclosure of Invention

To address at least one or more of the technical problems noted above, the present disclosure proposes, in various aspects, a crystal growth weight monitoring scheme.

In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a crystal growth weight monitoring method, comprising: determining a current sampling value of the weight of the crucible and a previous sampling value of the current sampling value; determining the current weight fluctuation value of the crucible according to the current sampling value and the previous sampling value; the sampling time difference between the current sampling value and the previous sampling value is a preset sampling interval; and if the current weight fluctuation value is not in the fluctuation value interval, sending an alarm instruction.

In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a crystal growth weight monitoring device comprising: a processor; and a memory storing executable monitoring program instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus to implement the crystal growth weight monitoring method as provided by the first aspect.

In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides a crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus comprising: the crucible weighing device is fixedly connected with the crucible and is used for acquiring the weight of the crucible in real time; the crystal growth weight monitoring device is connected with the crucible weighing device, is used for acquiring a sampling value of the crucible weight from the crucible weighing device according to a preset sampling interval, and is configured as follows: determining the current weight fluctuation value of the crucible according to the current sampling value and the previous sampling value; when the current weight fluctuation value is not in the fluctuation value interval, an alarm instruction is sent to an alarm device; the sampling time difference between the current sampling value and the previous sampling value is a preset sampling interval; and the alarm device is connected with the crystal growth weight monitoring device and used for sending out a corresponding alarm according to an alarm instruction sent out by the crystal growth weight monitoring device.

In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure provides a crystal growth furnace comprising: the crucible is used for placing crystal powder and seed crystals inside; crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus, comprising: the crucible weighing device is fixedly connected with the crucible and is used for acquiring the weight of the crucible in real time; the crystal growth weight monitoring device is connected with the crucible weighing device, is used for acquiring a sampling value of the crucible weight from the crucible weighing device according to a preset sampling interval, and is configured as follows: determining the current weight fluctuation value of the crucible according to the current sampling value and the previous sampling value; when the current weight fluctuation value is not in the fluctuation value interval, an alarm instruction is sent to an alarm device; the sampling time difference between the current sampling value and the previous sampling value is a preset sampling interval; and the alarm device is connected with the crystal growth weight monitoring device and used for sending out corresponding alarm according to the alarm instruction sent out by the crystal growth weight monitoring device.

By the crystal growth weight monitoring method provided above, the embodiment of the disclosure calculates the fluctuation value of the crucible weight by acquiring the current sampling value of the crucible weight in real time and comparing the current sampling value with the previous sampling value. Because the seed crystal falls and impacts the powder, impact force can be generated on the crucible, and the weight of the crucible is greatly fluctuated, so that an alarm is given when the weight fluctuation value is not in the fluctuation value interval, and the real-time abnormal monitoring of seed crystal falling is realized. Because what above-mentioned process was gathered is the weight of crucible, compare in the prior art in order to realize weight monitoring through the inside crystal image of X ray collection crucible, the realization mode that the crucible was weighed is simpler, and the realization cost is also lower to can directly judge whether take place the seed crystal and drop according to the weight parameter, need not the manual work and judge according to the image, the monitoring process is more high-efficient.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will become readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. Several embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar or corresponding parts and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary flow chart of a crystal growth weight monitoring method of an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary flow chart of a crystal growth weight monitoring method according to further embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary flow chart of a method of determining a first fluctuation value interval of an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary flow chart of a crystal growth weight monitoring method of further embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary flow chart of a method of determining a second fluctuation value interval of an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of an exemplary configuration of a crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus of an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a crucible weighing apparatus of an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 9 shows an exemplary structural view of a crucible weighing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, not all embodiments of the present disclosure. All other embodiments, which can be derived by one skilled in the art from the embodiments disclosed herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

It will be understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification and claims, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the description of the disclosure herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used in the specification and claims of this disclosure, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should be further understood that the term "and/or" as used in the specification and claims of this disclosure refers to any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items and includes such combinations.

As used in this specification and claims, the term "if" may be interpreted contextually as "when", "upon" or "in response to a determination" or "in response to a detection". Similarly, the phrase "if it is determined" or "if a [ described condition or event ] is detected" may be interpreted contextually to mean "upon determining" or "in response to determining" or "upon detecting [ described condition or event ]" or "in response to detecting [ described condition or event ]".

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Examples of the inventionSexual application scenario

In the current semiconductor manufacturing industry, a physical vapor transport method is generally adopted to prepare silicon carbide crystals, silicon carbide powder in a graphite crucible is sublimated through high-temperature heating, and sublimated gas is crystallized at seed crystals to generate single crystals. However, since the temperature for growing the silicon carbide crystal is high, sublimation and crystallization reactions can only be performed in a closed graphite crucible, and thus, the state change in the crystal growth process cannot be observed in real time by naked eyes as in the czochralski method, so that abnormal conditions occurring in the crystal growth process can be dealt with in time.

Aiming at the phenomenon that the seed crystal falls off in the crystal growth process, the abnormal conditions such as the falling off of the seed crystal and the like are difficult to find in time due to the unobservable crystal growth condition in the closed graphite crucible, so that the quality of the silicon carbide crystal is unqualified, and even the safety of the semiconductor production process is influenced.

The prior art provides a method of imaging by X-ray irradiation to obtain image information of the crucible interior during the crystal growth process, so as to determine the crystal growth condition according to the image information. However, the cost of X-ray irradiation imaging is high, and after imaging, the crystal growth condition still needs to be judged manually according to image information, and it is difficult to be widely applied to silicon carbide industrial mass production.

Exemplary Crystal growth weight monitoring protocol

In view of this, the embodiment of the disclosure provides a monitoring scheme for crystal growth weight, which is to obtain a current sampling value of crucible weight in real time, compare the current sampling value with a previous sampling value to calculate a fluctuation value of crucible weight, and determine whether an abnormal condition of crystal growth occurs inside a crucible according to a value interval where the fluctuation value is located, so as to send an alarm in time when an abnormal condition occurs.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary flow chart of a crystal growth weight monitoring method of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 1, in step 101, a current sample of crucible weight and a previous sample of the current sample are determined.

In the disclosed embodiment, the sampling times of the current sample value and the previous sample value differ by a preset sampling interval.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the crucible weight may be data collected by a crucible weighing device. In some embodiments, the crucible weighing device may be always in a real-time collection state to obtain a weight data curve of the weight of the crucible, and accordingly, the weight data of the corresponding position of the obtained weight data curve is obtained as a sampling value every preset sampling interval. In other embodiments, the crucible weighing device can also be set to an interval collection mode, and the collection of the crucible weight is performed once every preset sampling interval, so that a plurality of crucible weight sampling values are obtained.

It should be noted that, in practical applications, the preset sampling interval may be set or adjusted according to practical requirements, and is not limited herein.

In the disclosed embodiments, the crucible weight includes, in addition to the weight of the graphite crucible itself, the weight of the powder in the crucible, the weight of the seed crystal, and the weight of the crystal formed on the seed crystal. As the powder is continuously sublimated with heat to form a silicon-containing atmosphere in the crystal growth process, one part of the silicon-containing atmosphere is crystallized at the seed crystal to generate crystals, and the other part of the silicon-containing atmosphere overflows, the weight of the crucible tends to slowly decrease in the crystal growth process. That is, the difference between the sampling values of the crucible weight at two close time points should not be too large.

In step 102, a current weight fluctuation value of the crucible is determined based on the current sample value and the previous sample value.

In some embodiments, the absolute value of the difference between the current sample value and the previous sample value may be taken as the current weight fluctuation value, which represents the degree of change in crucible weight over a preset sampling interval.

In step 103, if the current weight fluctuation value is not within the fluctuation value interval, an alarm command is issued.

Since the weight of the crucible should have a slow decreasing trend during the crystal growth process, the variation of the weight of the crucible within a preset sampling interval should be within a certain value range under normal conditions.

In the embodiment of the invention, a fluctuation value interval is set, under the condition of normal crystal growth, the weight fluctuation value in a preset sampling interval of the crucible weight is always in the fluctuation value interval, if the current weight fluctuation value calculated according to the current sampling value and the previous sampling value is not in the fluctuation value interval, the abnormal condition in the crucible is indicated, and an alarm instruction is sent to instruct a worker to process in time.

Taking the abnormal situation that the seed crystal falls off as an example, if the seed crystal falls off in the crystal growth process, the fallen seed crystal impacts the powder to generate an impact force on the crucible, and the change of the weight of the crucible is represented as that the current sampling value of the weight of the crucible is instantaneously increased compared with the previous sampling value, so that the current weight fluctuation value of the crucible is a larger value and exceeds the fluctuation value range under the normal condition.

Compared with the prior art of acquiring crystal images in the crucible through X-rays to realize weight monitoring, the crystal growth weight monitoring method can identify whether abnormal conditions such as seed crystal falling occur or not only by monitoring the weight of the crucible, but also does not need to adopt X-ray radiation imaging, is simpler in implementation mode and lower in cost, can directly judge whether seed crystal falling occurs or not according to weight parameters, does not need to artificially judge according to the images, and is more efficient in monitoring process.

Further, the fluctuation value interval can be determined according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling time. The crystal formed by crystallization on the seed crystal is gradually increased along with the increase of the crystal growth time, and the weight of the crystal is gradually increased, so that the impact force which can be formed by the falling of the seed crystal on the crucible is also increased along with the increase of the crystal growth time, and the abnormal condition can be judged by adopting the corresponding fluctuation value interval according to the crystal growth time corresponding to the current sampling time.

That is, the present disclosure further provides a crystal growth weight monitoring method, which further includes an execution step of determining a fluctuation value interval according to a crystal growth duration corresponding to a current sampling time before determining whether a current weight fluctuation value is in the fluctuation value interval, and is used to select the fluctuation value interval adapted to the current crystal growth condition as a criterion for determining an abnormal condition, so as to improve accuracy of an abnormal determination result.

The method for monitoring the weight of the crystal growth according to the present disclosure will be further described below by taking the abnormal case of seed crystal detachment as an example.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary flow chart of a crystal growth weight monitoring method according to further embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 2, in step 201, a current sample of the crucible weight and a previous sample of the current sample are determined.

In this embodiment, reference may be made to the description of step 101 in the foregoing embodiments for specific implementation of step 201, and details are not described here.

In step 202, a current weight fluctuation value of the crucible is determined based on the current sample value and the previous sample value.

In this embodiment, reference may be made to the description of step 102 in the foregoing embodiment for a specific implementation manner of step 202, which is not described herein again.

In step 203, a first fluctuation value interval is determined according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling time.

It should be noted that step 203 is an optional step, and in practical applications, before step 204 is executed, a first fluctuation value interval may be determined according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling time, where the first fluctuation value interval is a fluctuation value interval determined according to the abnormal seed crystal dropping condition.

It should be noted that, in practical applications, step 203 may also be executed before step 202 or step 201, that is, the execution sequence of step 203 described in this embodiment does not constitute the only limitation of the present disclosure.

In step 204, if the current weight fluctuation value is greater than the maximum value in the first fluctuation value interval, a first alarm command is issued.

Wherein the first alarm instruction is used for indicating that the seed crystal falls off.

In the crystal growth process, crucible weight should be the trend of slowly descending, if in the crystal growth process, the seed crystal drops, thereby the seed crystal that drops strikes the powder and produces an impact force to the crucible, the change of crucible weight then can present the present sampling value that is the crucible weight and compare the instantaneous increase in the former sampling value, thereby lead to the present weight fluctuation value of crucible to be great numerical value, consequently, if present weight fluctuation value is greater than the maximum value in the first fluctuation value interval, then explain the present weight fluctuation value of crucible increases in the twinkling of an eye, can judge that the unusual circumstances that the seed crystal drops has taken place in the crucible, then send first alarm instruction in order to instruct the seed crystal to drop.

Fig. 3 shows an exemplary flowchart of a determination method of a first fluctuation value interval of the embodiment of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that the method for determining the first fluctuation value interval is a specific implementation of the foregoing step 203, and therefore the features described above in conjunction with fig. 2 can be similarly applied thereto.

As shown in fig. 3, in step 301, a standard weight value of the seed crystal to be grown is determined according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling time.

Wherein, the standard weight value of the seed crystal to be grown is positively correlated with the growth duration corresponding to the current sampling time. That is, as the crystal growth time period increases, the weight of crystals crystallized on the seed crystal also gradually increases.

In step 302, a first fluctuation value interval is determined according to the standard weight value of the seed crystal to be grown.

According to the crystal growth rate under normal conditions, a corresponding standard weight value of the seed crystal to be grown exists at a corresponding sampling moment, so that the impact force which can be formed by the seed crystal falling pair to the crucible at the sampling moment can be calculated, and a first fluctuation value interval aiming at the impact force can be determined.

In another embodiment, step 302 may determine the first fluctuation range according to the standard weight of the seed crystal to be grown and the crucible depth.

Because the impact force generated by the dropped seed crystal is related to the kinetic energy generated when the seed crystal impacts the powder, and the kinetic energy generated when the seed crystal impacts the powder is converted from the gravitational potential energy of the seed crystal when the seed crystal drops, the impact force is related to the height of the seed crystal when the seed crystal drops, and the weight fluctuation value of the crucible caused by the dropping of the seed crystal can be understood to be influenced by the depth of the crucible.

In view of the above, the present disclosure performs the determination of the first fluctuation value interval in step 302 in another embodiment by combining the standard weight value of the seed crystal to be grown and the crucible depth.

The method for monitoring the crystal growth weight can be used for monitoring the abnormal situation of seed crystal falling and monitoring the crystal growth rate, so that the intelligent adjustment of the heating efficiency is realized, and the growing crystal quality is improved.

The crystal growth weight monitoring method for monitoring the crystal growth rate is explained below with reference to fig. 4.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary flow chart of a crystal growth weight monitoring method of further embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 4, in step 401, a current sample of crucible weight and a previous sample of the current sample are determined.

In this embodiment, reference may be made to the description of step 101 or step 201 in the foregoing embodiment for a specific implementation manner of step 401, and details are not described here again.

In step 402, a current weight fluctuation value of the crucible is determined based on the current sample value and the previous sample value.

In this embodiment, reference may be made to the description of step 102 or step 202 in the foregoing embodiments for specific implementation of step 402, which is not described herein again.

In step 403, a second fluctuation interval is determined according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling time.

It should be noted that step 403 is an optional step, and in practical applications, before step 404 is executed, a second fluctuation value interval may be determined according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling time, where the second fluctuation value interval is a fluctuation value interval determined corresponding to the abnormal condition of the crystal growth rate.

It should be noted that, in practical applications, step 403 may also be executed before step 402 or step 401, that is, the execution sequence of step 403 described in this embodiment does not constitute the only limitation of the present disclosure.

In step 404, if the current weight fluctuation value is not within the second fluctuation value range, a second alarm command is issued.

Illustratively, the case where the current weight fluctuation value is not within the second fluctuation value interval includes one or more of:

if the current weight fluctuation value is larger than the maximum value of the second fluctuation value interval, a second alarm instruction for reducing the heating power is sent;

and if the current weight fluctuation value is smaller than the minimum value of the second fluctuation value interval, sending a second alarm instruction for increasing the heating power.

And the second alarm instruction is used for indicating the adjustment of the heating power.

In the process of crystal growth, if the heating power is too high, the sublimation speed of the powder is too high, the overflowing silicon-containing atmosphere in unit time is increased, the reduction rate of the weight of the crucible is increased, and correspondingly, the weight fluctuation value of the crucible in a preset sampling interval is too large, the crystal growth rate is too high, and the crystal quality is not facilitated; if the heating power is too low, the sublimation speed of the powder is too low, the overflowing silicon-containing atmosphere in unit time is correspondingly reduced, the reduction rate of the weight of the crucible is reduced, correspondingly, the weight fluctuation value of the crucible in a preset sampling interval is too small, the crystal growth rate is too low, and the preparation efficiency is not facilitated.

In another embodiment, the current weight change rate of the crucible can be calculated based on the current weight fluctuation value and the preset sampling interval, the weight change rate reflects the powder quality reduction rate in the crucible, and whether the current weight change rate is in the powder quality reduction rate interval under the normal condition or not can be judged, so that whether the heating power needs to be adjusted or not can be determined.

Fig. 5 shows an exemplary flowchart of a determination method of a second fluctuation value interval of the embodiment of the present disclosure. It is understood that the determination method of the second fluctuation value interval is a specific implementation of the foregoing step 403, and therefore the features described above in conjunction with fig. 4 can be similarly applied thereto.

As shown in fig. 5, in step 501, the growth stage of the seed crystal to be grown is determined according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling time.

Illustratively, the crystal growth process may be divided into several growth stages, with different stages corresponding to different crystal growth rates. Taking two stages as an example, the temperature rise stage and the crystallization stage can be divided. The heating stage is to heat the powder to raise the temperature rapidly to reach the sublimation critical point, and the heating power is maintained at a high level to realize the rapid heating effect. And the crystallization stage is a stage in which the silicon-containing atmosphere formed by sublimation of the powder rises to the seed crystal under the guidance of a temperature gradient field for crystallization, and the temperature in the crucible is required to be maintained within a proper temperature range, so that the heating power in the stage is not easy to be too high.

For example, whether the growth phase of the seed crystal to be grown is the temperature rise phase or the crystallization phase can be determined according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling moment.

In step 502, a second fluctuation interval is determined according to the growth stage of the seed crystal to be grown.

For example, the maximum value of the second fluctuation interval corresponding to the temperature rise phase may be set to be greater than the maximum value of the second fluctuation interval corresponding to the crystallization phase.

In the presently disclosed embodiments, the abnormal seed-off condition and the abnormal crystal growth rate condition can be monitored simultaneously by a crystal growth weight monitoring method. That is, the issued alarm instruction may include: a first alarm instruction used for indicating the falling of the seed crystal and/or a second alarm instruction used for indicating the adjustment of the heating power. The fluctuation value interval may include: and the first fluctuation value interval corresponds to the first alarm instruction and/or the second fluctuation value interval corresponds to the second alarm instruction.

It should be noted that the abnormal situation of seed crystal falling and the abnormal situation of crystal growth rate can be monitored synchronously or asynchronously.

Specifically, the current weight fluctuation value of the crucible is calculated according to the current sampling value and the previous sampling value of the crucible weight, the current weight fluctuation value can be compared with a first fluctuation value interval and a second fluctuation value interval respectively, if the current weight fluctuation value is not in the first fluctuation value interval, a first alarm instruction is sent, and if the current weight fluctuation value is not in the second fluctuation value interval, a second alarm instruction is sent.

The above process executes one seed crystal falling abnormal condition determination and crystal growth rate abnormal condition determination for each preset sampling interval, that is, the seed crystal falling abnormal condition and the crystal growth rate abnormal condition can be synchronously monitored.

In other embodiments, the determination of abnormal crystal growth rate may be performed every multiple preset sampling intervals, for example: after a current sampling value of the weight of the crucible is acquired, calculating a first weight fluctuation value based on the current sampling value and a first sampling value, wherein the first sampling value and the current sampling value are separated by a preset sampling interval; calculating a second weight fluctuation value based on the current sampling value and a second sampling value, wherein the second sampling value and the current sampling value are separated by two preset sampling intervals; the first weight fluctuation value is used for comparing with a first fluctuation value interval so as to judge whether the abnormal situation of seed crystal falling occurs or not; and the second weight fluctuation value is used for comparing with the second fluctuation value interval so as to judge whether the abnormal condition of the crystal growth rate occurs or not.

It is understood that the preset sampling intervals in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be multiple, and respectively correspond to the seed-off abnormality determination and the crystal growth rate abnormality determination, for example: the preset sampling interval for the abnormal determination of the crystal growth rate may be 2 times the preset sampling interval for the abnormal determination of the seed-drop. Namely, the abnormal situation of seed crystal falling and the abnormal situation of crystal growth rate can be asynchronously monitored.

In summary, the disclosure provides a method for monitoring crystal growth weight, which calculates a current weight fluctuation value of a crucible by two sampling values spaced by a preset sampling period, reflects a variation trend of crucible weight by the weight fluctuation value, and sends an alarm to prompt production staff to timely handle abnormal conditions when the weight fluctuation value is not in a fluctuation value interval under normal conditions.

Furthermore, the disclosure also provides a crystal growth weight monitoring method, wherein the fluctuation value interval is determined according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling moment, and a more targeted abnormity judgment basis can be provided, so that the accuracy of an abnormity judgment result is improved.

The method for monitoring the crystal growth weight can be used for monitoring the abnormal situation of seed crystal falling and monitoring the abnormal situation of the crystal growth rate simultaneously, so that the heating power is adjusted.

In correspondence with the foregoing functional embodiments, the embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a crystal growth weight monitoring device. FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

As shown in fig. 6, the crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 600 includes: a processor 610, and a memory 620.

The memory 620 has stored thereon executable monitoring program instructions that, when executed by the processor 610, cause the crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus to implement any of the crystal growth weight monitoring methods as previously described.

In the crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 600 of fig. 6, only the constituent elements related to the present embodiment are shown. Thus, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that: crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 600 may also include common constituent elements that are different from those shown in fig. 6.

Processor 610 may control the operation of crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 600. For example, the processor 610 controls the operation of the crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 600 by executing a program stored in the memory 620 on the crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 600. Processor 610 may be implemented by a Central Processing Unit (CPU), application Processor (AP), artificial intelligence processor chip (IPU), etc. provided in crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 600. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In this embodiment, the processor 610 may be implemented in any suitable manner. For example, the processor 610 may take the form of, for example, a microprocessor or processor and a computer-readable medium that stores computer-readable program code (e.g., software or firmware) executable by the (micro) processor, logic gates, switches, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic controller, an embedded microcontroller, and so forth.

Memory 620 may be used for hardware to store various data, instructions processed in crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 600. For example, the memory 620 may store processed data and data to be processed in the crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 600. The memory 620 may store a set of data that has been processed or is to be processed by the processor 610. Further, the memory 620 may store an application, a driver program, and the like to be driven by the crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 600. The memory 620 may be a DRAM, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The memory 620 may include at least one of volatile memory or nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may include Read Only Memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically Programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, phase change RAM (PRAM), magnetic RAM (MRAM), resistive RAM (RRAM), ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), and the like. Volatile memory can include Dynamic RAM (DRAM), static RAM (SRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), PRAM, MRAM, RRAM, ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), and the like. In an embodiment, the memory 620 may include at least one of a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), a Solid State Drive (SSD), a high density flash memory (CF), a Secure Digital (SD) card, a Micro-digital (Micro-SD) card, a Mini secure digital (Mini-SD) card, an extreme digital (xD) card, a cache (caches), or a memory stick.

In summary, specific functions implemented by the memory 620 and the processor 610 of the crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 600 provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be explained with reference to the foregoing embodiments in the present disclosure, and technical effects of the foregoing embodiments can be achieved, and thus, detailed description is omitted here.

Alternatively, the present disclosure may also be embodied as a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium (or computer-readable storage medium, or machine-readable storage medium) having stored thereon computer program instructions (or a computer program, or computer instruction code) which, when executed by a processor of a crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus, causes the processor to perform some or all of the various steps of the above-described method according to the present disclosure.

The embodiment of the disclosure also provides crystal growth weight monitoring equipment. FIG. 7 shows an exemplary block diagram of a crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 7, the crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 700 includes: a crucible weighing device 701, a crystal growth weight monitoring device 702 and an alarm device 703.

The crucible weighing device 701 is fixedly connected with the crucible and is used for acquiring the weight of the crucible in real time.

The crystal growth weight monitoring device 702 is connected with the crucible weighing device 701, and is used for acquiring a sampling value of the crucible weight from the crucible weighing device according to a preset sampling interval.

Also, the crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 702 is configured to: determining the current weight fluctuation value of the crucible according to the current sampling value and the previous sampling value; when the current weight fluctuation value is not in the fluctuation value interval, an alarm instruction is sent to an alarm device; and the sampling time difference between the current sampling value and the previous sampling value is a preset sampling interval.

The alarm device 703 is connected to the crystal growth weight monitoring device 702, and is configured to send out a corresponding alarm according to an alarm instruction sent by the crystal growth weight monitoring device.

Further, the alarm instruction includes: a second alarm instruction for indicating adjustment of heating power; the fluctuation value interval includes: and the second fluctuation value interval corresponds to the second alarm instruction.

Correspondingly, the crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 700 further comprises: crucible heating apparatus 704, crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus 702 is further connected to crucible heating apparatus 704, and crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus is further configured to: if the current weight fluctuation value is larger than the maximum value of the second fluctuation value interval, a second alarm instruction for reducing the heating power is sent out; and/or if the current weight fluctuation value is smaller than the minimum value of the second fluctuation value interval, sending a second alarm instruction for increasing the heating power.

Further, the alarm device 703 may be further configured to issue an alarm for adjusting the heating power according to a second alarm command issued by the crystal growth weight monitoring device 702.

The crucible weighing apparatus used in the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 8 shows an exemplary block diagram of a crucible weighing device of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 8, the crucible weighing apparatus includes:

the graphite tube is fixedly connected with the crucible;

the carbon steel pipe is fixedly connected to one end, far away from the crucible, of the graphite pipe;

and the weight sensor is fixedly connected to one end, far away from the graphite pipe, of the carbon steel pipe.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the graphite tube and the crucible may be prepared by integral molding, or the graphite tube and the crucible may be assembled after being prepared and molded separately.

The graphite tube and the crucible are not assembled in the only way.

In some embodiments, a first thread is arranged at one end of the graphite tube connected with the crucible, a second thread matched with the first thread is arranged on the crucible, and the graphite tube is fixedly connected with the crucible through the matching of the first thread and the second thread.

In other embodiments, a first buckle part is arranged at one end of the graphite tube connected with the crucible, a second buckle part matched with the first buckle part is arranged on the crucible, and the graphite tube is fixedly connected with the crucible through the matching of the first buckle part and the second buckle part;

in still other embodiments, one end of the graphite tube is in interference fit with the adapter groove on the crucible to fixedly attach the graphite tube to the crucible.

It should be noted that the above description of the assembling manner of the graphite tube and the crucible is only some examples given in the embodiments of the present disclosure, and in practical applications, other fixing connection manners are also applicable to the present solution, and will not be further described here. It will be understood that the above description of the manner in which the graphite tube and crucible are assembled does not constitute the only limitation of the present disclosure.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the weighing device shown in fig. 8 is fixed to the bottom of the crucible, and in another embodiment, the weighing device can also be fixed to the top of the crucible as shown in fig. 9. Fig. 9 shows an exemplary structural view of a crucible weighing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

The disclosed embodiment also provides a crystal growth furnace, which includes: crucible and crystal growth weight monitoring equipment.

Wherein, the crucible is used for placing crystal powder and seed crystals.

The crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus includes: crucible weighing device, crystal growth weight monitoring devices and alarm device.

The crucible weighing device is fixedly connected with the crucible and used for acquiring the weight of the crucible in real time; the crystal growth weight monitoring device is connected with the crucible weighing device, is used for acquiring a sampling value of the crucible weight from the crucible weighing device according to a preset sampling interval, and is configured as follows: determining the current weight fluctuation value of the crucible according to the current sampling value and the previous sampling value; when the current weight fluctuation value is not in the fluctuation value interval, an alarm instruction is sent to an alarm device; the sampling time difference between the current sampling value and the previous sampling value is a preset sampling interval; and the alarm device is connected with the crystal growth weight monitoring device and used for sending out corresponding alarm according to the alarm instruction sent out by the crystal growth weight monitoring device.

Further, the alarm instruction includes: and a second alarm instruction for indicating adjustment of the heating power. The fluctuation value interval includes: and the second fluctuation value interval corresponds to the second alarm command. Correspondingly, the crystal growth furnace also comprises: crucible heating device. The crucible heating device is connected with the crystal growth weight monitoring device and used for adjusting the heating power according to a second alarm instruction sent by the crystal growth weight monitoring device.

A crystal growth weight monitoring device further configured to: if the current weight fluctuation value is larger than the maximum value of the second fluctuation value interval, a second alarm instruction for reducing the heating power is sent; and/or if the current weight fluctuation value is smaller than the minimum value of the second fluctuation value interval, sending a second alarm instruction for increasing the heating power.

While various embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown and described herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that such embodiments are provided by way of example only. Numerous modifications, changes, and substitutions will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. It should be understood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the disclosure described herein may be employed in practicing the disclosure. It is intended that the following claims define the scope of the disclosure and that equivalents or alternatives within the scope of these claims be covered thereby.

Claims (15)

1. A method for monitoring crystal growth weight, comprising:

determining a current sampling value of crucible weight and a previous sampling value of the current sampling value;

determining the current weight fluctuation value of the crucible according to the current sampling value and the previous sampling value; the sampling time difference between the current sampling value and the previous sampling value is a preset sampling interval;

and if the current weight fluctuation value is not in the fluctuation value interval, sending an alarm instruction.

2. The crystal growth weight monitoring method of claim 1, further comprising:

and determining the fluctuation value interval according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling moment.

3. The crystal growth weight monitoring method according to claim 2,

the alarm instruction comprises: a first alarm instruction for indicating seed crystal falling; the fluctuation value interval includes: a first fluctuation value interval corresponding to the first alarm instruction;

the determining the fluctuation value interval according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling moment comprises the following steps:

determining a standard weight value of the seed crystal to be grown according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling moment;

and determining the first fluctuation value interval according to the standard weight value of the seed crystal to be grown, wherein the standard weight value of the seed crystal to be grown is positively correlated with the growth duration corresponding to the current sampling time.

4. The method for monitoring the crystal growth weight according to claim 3, wherein the step of giving an alarm command if the current weight fluctuation value is not within the fluctuation value interval comprises the following steps:

and if the current weight fluctuation value is larger than the maximum value in the first fluctuation value interval, sending a first alarm instruction.

5. The crystal growth weight monitoring method according to claim 2,

the alarm instruction comprises: a second alarm instruction for indicating adjustment of heating power; the fluctuation value interval includes: a second fluctuation value interval corresponding to the second alarm instruction;

the determining the fluctuation value interval according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling moment comprises the following steps:

determining the growth stage of the seed crystal to be grown according to the crystal growth duration corresponding to the current sampling moment;

and determining the second fluctuation value interval according to the growth stage of the seed crystal to be grown.

6. The method for monitoring the crystal growth weight according to claim 5, wherein the step of giving an alarm command if the current weight fluctuation value is not within the fluctuation value interval comprises the following steps:

if the current weight fluctuation value is larger than the maximum value of the second fluctuation value interval, a second alarm instruction for reducing the heating power is sent;

and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

and if the current weight fluctuation value is smaller than the minimum value of the second fluctuation value interval, sending a second alarm instruction for increasing the heating power.

7. A crystal growth weight monitoring device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing executable monitoring program instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus to implement the crystal growth weight monitoring method of any one of claims 1-6.

8. A crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus, comprising:

the crucible weighing device is fixedly connected with the crucible and is used for acquiring the weight of the crucible in real time;

the crystal growth weight monitoring device is connected with the crucible weighing device, is used for acquiring a sampling value of the crucible weight from the crucible weighing device according to a preset sampling interval, and is configured to: determining the current weight fluctuation value of the crucible according to the current sampling value and the previous sampling value; when the current weight fluctuation value is not in the fluctuation value interval, an alarm instruction is sent to an alarm device; the sampling time difference between the current sampling value and the previous sampling value is a preset sampling interval;

and the alarm device is connected with the crystal growth weight monitoring device and used for sending out a corresponding alarm according to an alarm instruction sent out by the crystal growth weight monitoring device.

9. Crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus as defined in claim 8,

the alarm instruction comprises: a second alarm instruction for indicating adjustment of heating power; the fluctuation value interval includes: a second fluctuation value interval corresponding to the second alarm instruction;

in the crystal growth weight monitoring equipment, the crystal growth weight monitoring device is also connected with a crucible heating device;

the crystal growth weight monitoring device is further configured to: if the current weight fluctuation value is larger than the maximum value of the second fluctuation value interval, a second alarm instruction for reducing the heating power is sent; and/or if the current weight fluctuation value is smaller than the minimum value of the second fluctuation value interval, sending a second alarm instruction for increasing the heating power.

10. Crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus as defined in claim 8,

the crucible weighing device includes:

the graphite pipe is fixedly connected with the crucible;

the carbon steel pipe is fixedly connected to one end, far away from the crucible, of the graphite pipe;

and the weight sensor is fixedly connected to one end, far away from the graphite pipe, of the carbon steel pipe.

11. Crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus as defined in claim 10,

a first thread is arranged at one end of the graphite tube connected with the crucible, a second thread matched with the first thread is arranged on the crucible, and the graphite tube is fixedly connected with the crucible through the matching of the first thread and the second thread;

or

A first buckle part is arranged at one end of the graphite tube connected with the crucible, a second buckle part matched with the first buckle part is arranged on the crucible, and the graphite tube is fixedly connected with the crucible through the matching of the first buckle part and the second buckle part;

or

One end of the graphite tube is in interference fit with the connecting tube groove on the crucible, so that the graphite tube is fixedly connected to the crucible.

12. Crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus as defined in claim 10,

the graphite tube and the crucible are integrally formed.

13. Crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus as defined in claim 8,

the weighing device is fixed at the bottom of the crucible or at the top of the crucible.

14. A crystal growth furnace is characterized by comprising:

the crucible is used for placing crystal powder and seed crystals;

crystal growth weight monitoring apparatus comprising:

the crucible weighing device is fixedly connected with the crucible and is used for acquiring the weight of the crucible in real time;

the crystal growth weight monitoring device is connected with the crucible weighing device, is used for acquiring a sampling value of the crucible weight from the crucible weighing device according to a preset sampling interval, and is configured to: determining a current weight fluctuation value of the crucible according to the current sampling value and the previous sampling value; when the current weight fluctuation value is not in the fluctuation value interval, an alarm instruction is sent to an alarm device; the sampling time of the current sampling value and the sampling time of the previous sampling value are different by a preset sampling interval;

and the alarm device is connected with the crystal growth weight monitoring device and used for sending out corresponding alarm according to the alarm instruction sent out by the crystal growth weight monitoring device.

15. The crystal growth furnace of claim 14, wherein the alarm instruction comprises: a second alarm instruction for indicating adjustment of heating power; the fluctuation value interval includes: a second fluctuation value interval corresponding to the second alarm instruction; the crystal growth furnace further comprises:

the crucible heating device is connected with the crystal growth weight monitoring device and is used for adjusting the heating power according to a second alarm instruction sent by the crystal growth weight monitoring device;

the crystal growth weight monitoring device is further configured to: if the current weight fluctuation value is larger than the maximum value of the second fluctuation value interval, a second alarm instruction for reducing the heating power is sent; and/or if the current weight fluctuation value is smaller than the minimum value of the second fluctuation value interval, sending a second alarm instruction for increasing the heating power.

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