US2428992A - Manufacture of silicon material for crystal contacts - Google Patents

Manufacture of silicon material for crystal contacts Download PDF

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Publication number
US2428992A
US2428992A US468577A US46857742A US2428992A US 2428992 A US2428992 A US 2428992A US 468577 A US468577 A US 468577A US 46857742 A US46857742 A US 46857742A US 2428992 A US2428992 A US 2428992A
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Prior art keywords
product
temperature
additive
solid product
crystal contacts
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Expired - Lifetime
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US468577A
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Ransley Charles Eric
Ryde John Walter
Williams Stanley Vaughan
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General Electric Co PLC
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General Electric Co PLC
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L29/00—Semiconductor devices adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching, or capacitors or resistors with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, e.g. PN junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof  ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/40—Electrodes ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
    • H01L29/41—Electrodes ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape, relative sizes or dispositions
    • H01L29/417—Electrodes ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape, relative sizes or dispositions carrying the current to be rectified, amplified or switched
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02104—Forming layers
    • H01L21/02365—Forming inorganic semiconducting materials on a substrate
    • H01L21/02518—Deposited layers
    • H01L21/02521—Materials
    • H01L21/02524—Group 14 semiconducting materials
    • H01L21/02532—Silicon, silicon germanium, germanium
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02104—Forming layers
    • H01L21/02365—Forming inorganic semiconducting materials on a substrate
    • H01L21/02518—Deposited layers
    • H01L21/0257—Doping during depositing
    • H01L21/02573—Conductivity type
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02104—Forming layers
    • H01L21/02365—Forming inorganic semiconducting materials on a substrate
    • H01L21/02656—Special treatments
    • H01L21/02664—Aftertreatments
    • H01L21/02667—Crystallisation or recrystallisation of non-monocrystalline semiconductor materials, e.g. regrowth
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10S420/00—Alloys or metallic compositions
    • Y10S420/903—Semiconductive

Definitions

  • This invention relates to the manufacture of silicon material for crystal contacts, suitable for use as electric rectifiers and mixers.
  • a process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts comprising the step of melting silicon together wi h a small amount of additive, for example aluminium or beryllium or a mixture of aluminium and beryllium. and cooling the melt slowlv to produce a solid p oduct.
  • a process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts comprising the step of melting silicon together wi h a small amount of additive, for example aluminium or beryllium or a mixture of aluminium and beryllium. and cooling the melt slowlv to produce a solid p oduct.
  • the product may be heated in air, but of course a neutral or reducing atmosphere may be used if it is desirable for any reason; the choice of atmosphere will-only affect an outer skin of the product.
  • cool slowly in the foregoing statement is correlative to the term quench rapidly; it implies that the rate of cooling during the slow cooling is much less than in the rapid quenchg
  • the minimum temperature at which the heat treat- 2 ment will produce the desired result is that at which the additive is completely soluble in the silicon. Since the solubility is a maximum at the eutectic temperature, the said minimum temperature cannot be higher than the eutectic temperature, which is about 575 C. for aluminium and 1090 C. for beryllium.
  • the eutectic temperature of the system aluminium-beryl]ium-silicon appears not to be known. We have found that, when the additive is 3 1% of aluminium, heating at 575-580 C. for several hours will produce the desired result. But if the amount of the addi-- tive is less than that corresponding to the eutectic (which will certainly be the case when the additive is beryllium), the minimum temperature may be muchbelow the eutectic temperature; more over there is no reason why temperatures approaching the minimum should be used. Accordingly these theoretical considerations are of little value as a guide to practice.
  • the additive is aluminium or beryllium or a mixture of the two (We have found A;% aluminium and [2% beryllium very suitable), maintaining the product at 1050 C. for one hour and then quenching in water has been found to produce the desired uniformity; we know of no reason why any other heat treatment should be used.
  • the additive should be added in the form of metal mixed with the silicon before the melt.
  • the additive especially when it is or contains beryllium, may be introduced into the silicon partly or wholly by reaction of the silicon during the melting with, the material of the crucible in which the melting takes place.
  • the method by which the additive is introduced into the melt is irrelevant to the invention; and we desire it to be understood that in the foregoing statement of the invention and in the appended claims, the phrase melting silicon together with a small amount of additive is to be interpreted to include any step in which a mixture of s licon and the additive is maintained for an appreciable time in the molten state.
  • a process of manufacturing semi-conduct ing material for crystal contacts comprising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of additive, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for a considerable time at a temperature greatly above atmospheric temperature, but below the melting point of the product, and then quenching the product rapidly, the time and temperature of this heat treatment being chosen so that the additive is distributed approximately uniformly in the quenched product.
  • a process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts comp-rising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of aluminium, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for a considerable time at a temperature greatly above atmospheric temperature, but below the melting point of the product, and then quenching the product rapidly, the time and temperature of this heat treatment being chosen so that the aluminium is distributed approximately uniformly in the quenched product.
  • a process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts comprising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of beryllium, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for a considerable time at a temperature greatly above atmospheric temperature, but below the melting point of the product, and then quenching the product rapidly, the time and temperature of this heat treatment being chosen so that the beryllium is distributed approximately uniformly in the quenched product.
  • a process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts comprising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of a mixture of aluminium and beryllium, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for a considerable time at a temperature greatly above atmospheric temperature, but below the melting point of the product, and then quenching the product rapidly, the time and temperature of this heat treatment being chosen so that the mixture of aluminium.
  • a process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts comprising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of aluminium, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for one hour at a temperature of 1050" C. and then quenching the product rapidly.
  • a process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts comprising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of beryllium, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for one hour at a temperature of 1050 C. and then quenching the product rapidly.
  • a process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts comprising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of a mixture of aluminium and beryllium, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for one hour at a temperature of 1050 C. and then quenching the product rapidly.

Description

Patented Oct. 14, 1947 MANUFACTURE OF SILICON MATERIAL FOR CRYSTAL CONTACTS Charles Eric Ransley, London W. 14, and Kenton,
Sudbury, John Walter Ryde, Stanley Vaughan Williams, England, assignors to The General Electric Company Limited, London, England No Drawing. A plication December 10, 1942, Se-
rial No. 468,577. In Great Britain December 7 Claims.
This invention relates to the manufacture of silicon material for crystal contacts, suitable for use as electric rectifiers and mixers.
It has been proposed in patent application Serial No. 454,290 filed August 10, 1942, Patent Number 2,419,561 dated April 29, 1947, to introduce into the silicon a small quantity (e, g. not more than 2%) of aluminium and beryllium or a mixture of the two. If this additive is added to molten silicon and the melt is cooled slowly, it is sometimes found that the additive is not distributed uniformly in the solid material. When the material is broken up so as to yield the small pieces suitable for crystal contacts some of these pieces may be almost free from additive, and therefore relatively unsuitable. This is the more likely to happen, the larger the amount of the melt. The object of this invention is to produce material in which the additive is consistently dis ributed with greater uniformity.
The probable explanation of the lack of uniformity is that the additive has a very low solubilit in silicon at atmospheric temperature and therefore segregates during cooling, the segregation being the more complete the slower the cooling. Since the silcon is usually melted in vacuo, it is not convenient to quench the melt.
According to the invention, a process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts, comprising the step of melting silicon together wi h a small amount of additive, for example aluminium or beryllium or a mixture of aluminium and beryllium. and cooling the melt slowlv to produce a solid p oduct. comprises the further step. performed before the solid product is div ded into pieces each suitable for a single contact. of maintainingthe solid product for a con iderab e time at a temperature great y above atmospheric temperature, but below the melting point of the product. and then quenching the product rapidly. the time and tem era ure o this heat trea ment being chosen so that the additive is distributed approximately uniformly in the quenched product. In the said further step the product may be heated in air, but of course a neutral or reducing atmosphere may be used if it is desirable for any reason; the choice of atmosphere will-only affect an outer skin of the product. The term cool slowly in the foregoing statement is correlative to the term quench rapidly; it implies that the rate of cooling during the slow cooling is much less than in the rapid quenchg On theoretical grounds it is probable that the minimum temperature at which the heat treat- 2 ment will produce the desired result is that at which the additive is completely soluble in the silicon. Since the solubility is a maximum at the eutectic temperature, the said minimum temperature cannot be higher than the eutectic temperature, which is about 575 C. for aluminium and 1090 C. for beryllium. The eutectic temperature of the system aluminium-beryl]ium-silicon appears not to be known. We have found that, when the additive is 3 1% of aluminium, heating at 575-580 C. for several hours will produce the desired result. But if the amount of the addi-- tive is less than that corresponding to the eutectic (which will certainly be the case when the additive is beryllium), the minimum temperature may be muchbelow the eutectic temperature; more over there is no reason why temperatures approaching the minimum should be used. Accordingly these theoretical considerations are of little value as a guide to practice. Whether the additive is aluminium or beryllium or a mixture of the two (We have found A;% aluminium and [2% beryllium very suitable), maintaining the product at 1050 C. for one hour and then quenching in water has been found to produce the desired uniformity; we know of no reason why any other heat treatment should be used.
In the said application Serial No. 454,290 it was proposed that the additive should be added in the form of metal mixed with the silicon before the melt. However the additive, especially when it is or contains beryllium, may be introduced into the silicon partly or wholly by reaction of the silicon during the melting with, the material of the crucible in which the melting takes place. The method by which the additive is introduced into the melt is irrelevant to the invention; and we desire it to be understood that in the foregoing statement of the invention and in the appended claims, the phrase melting silicon together with a small amount of additive is to be interpreted to include any step in which a mixture of s licon and the additive is maintained for an appreciable time in the molten state.
We claim:
1. A process of manufacturing semi-conduct ing material for crystal contacts, comprising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of additive, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for a considerable time at a temperature greatly above atmospheric temperature, but below the melting point of the product, and then quenching the product rapidly, the time and temperature of this heat treatment being chosen so that the additive is distributed approximately uniformly in the quenched product.
,2. A process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts, comp-rising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of aluminium, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for a considerable time at a temperature greatly above atmospheric temperature, but below the melting point of the product, and then quenching the product rapidly, the time and temperature of this heat treatment being chosen so that the aluminium is distributed approximately uniformly in the quenched product.
3. A process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts, comprising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of beryllium, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for a considerable time at a temperature greatly above atmospheric temperature, but below the melting point of the product, and then quenching the product rapidly, the time and temperature of this heat treatment being chosen so that the beryllium is distributed approximately uniformly in the quenched product.
4. A process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts, comprising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of a mixture of aluminium and beryllium, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for a considerable time at a temperature greatly above atmospheric temperature, but below the melting point of the product, and then quenching the product rapidly, the time and temperature of this heat treatment being chosen so that the mixture of aluminium.
and beryllium is distributed approximately uniformly in the quenched product.
5. A process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts, comprising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of aluminium, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for one hour at a temperature of 1050" C. and then quenching the product rapidly.
6. A process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts, comprising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of beryllium, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for one hour at a temperature of 1050 C. and then quenching the product rapidly.
'7. A process of manufacturing semi-conducting material for crystal contacts, comprising the step of melting silicon together with a small amount of a mixture of aluminium and beryllium, and cooling the melt slowly to produce a solid product, which comprises the further step, performed before the solid product is divided into pieces each suitable for a single contact, of maintaining the solid product for one hour at a temperature of 1050 C. and then quenching the product rapidly.
CHARLES ERIC RANSLEY. JOHN WALTER RYDE. STANLEY VAUGHAN WILLIAMS.
US468577A 1941-12-19 1942-12-10 Manufacture of silicon material for crystal contacts Expired - Lifetime US2428992A (en)

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GB16431/41A GB577976A (en) 1941-12-19 1941-12-19 Improvements in the manufacture of silicon material for crystal contacts

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BE (1) BE466804A (en)
CH (1) CH263777A (en)
FR (1) FR927777A (en)
GB (1) GB577976A (en)
NL (1) NL67322C (en)

Cited By (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2727840A (en) * 1950-06-15 1955-12-20 Bell Telephone Labor Inc Methods of producing semiconductive bodies
US2781481A (en) * 1952-06-02 1957-02-12 Rca Corp Semiconductors and methods of making same
US2836521A (en) * 1953-09-04 1958-05-27 Westinghouse Electric Corp Hook collector and method of producing same
US2857296A (en) * 1955-08-04 1958-10-21 Gen Electric Co Ltd Methods of forming a junction in a semiconductor
US2859141A (en) * 1954-04-30 1958-11-04 Raytheon Mfg Co Method for making a semiconductor junction
US2957788A (en) * 1955-02-08 1960-10-25 Rca Corp Alloy junction type semiconductor devices and methods of making them
US3010857A (en) * 1954-03-01 1961-11-28 Rca Corp Semi-conductor devices and methods of making same
US3078232A (en) * 1960-01-18 1963-02-19 Gen Electric Process for making conducting cubic boron nitride and product therefrom

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE1012696B (en) * 1954-07-06 1957-07-25 Siemens Ag Semiconductor transition between zones of different conduction types and process for producing the transition
US3097068A (en) * 1959-05-29 1963-07-09 Union Carbide Corp Crystallization of pure silicon platelets

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
None *

Cited By (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2727840A (en) * 1950-06-15 1955-12-20 Bell Telephone Labor Inc Methods of producing semiconductive bodies
US2781481A (en) * 1952-06-02 1957-02-12 Rca Corp Semiconductors and methods of making same
US2836521A (en) * 1953-09-04 1958-05-27 Westinghouse Electric Corp Hook collector and method of producing same
US3010857A (en) * 1954-03-01 1961-11-28 Rca Corp Semi-conductor devices and methods of making same
US2859141A (en) * 1954-04-30 1958-11-04 Raytheon Mfg Co Method for making a semiconductor junction
US2957788A (en) * 1955-02-08 1960-10-25 Rca Corp Alloy junction type semiconductor devices and methods of making them
US2857296A (en) * 1955-08-04 1958-10-21 Gen Electric Co Ltd Methods of forming a junction in a semiconductor
US3078232A (en) * 1960-01-18 1963-02-19 Gen Electric Process for making conducting cubic boron nitride and product therefrom

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GB577976A (en) 1946-06-11
CH263777A (en) 1949-09-15
BE466804A (en)
FR927777A (en) 1947-11-10
NL67322C (en)

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