SEED CRYSTAL HOLDING SHAFT FOR USE IN SINGLE CRYSTAL PRODUCTION DEVICE, AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING SINGLE CRYSTAL

• US 20150013590A1
• Filed: 12/27/2012
• Published: 01/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (Nippon Steel Corporation), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (Nippon Steel Corporation), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Kusunoki, Kazuhiko, Kado, Motohisa
• Application Number:
  US14/373,194
• Publication Number:
  US 20150013590A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 117/60
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 17/00 Single-crystal growth onto a seed which remains in the melt during growth, e.g. Nacken-Kyropoulos method C30B15/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 19/04 the solvent being a component of the crystal composition
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 19/062 Vertical dipping system
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 19/068 Substrate holders
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 29/36 Carbides
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 9/06 using as solvent a component of the crystal composition
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 9/10 Metal solvents
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 117/1024 for crystallization from liquid or supercritical state

Abstract

The aim of the present invention is to provide a seed crystal holding shaft that is used in a device for producing single crystals by a solution process that allows for faster growth of SiC single crystals than in the past, and a method for producing single crystals by the solution process. The seed crystal holding shaft used in a device for producing single crystals by the solution process is a seed crystal holding shaft wherein at least a portion of a side of the seed crystal holding shaft is covered by a reflectance member having a higher reflectance than the reflectance of the seed crystal holding shaft and the reflector member is disposed such that there is a space between the reflector member and the seed crystals held on the end face of the seed crystal holding shaft.

Claims

1. A seed crystal holding shaft to be used in a single crystal production device employed in a solution process, wherein

at least a portion of the side face of the seed crystal holding shaft is covered with a reflector member having higher reflectance than the reflectance of the seed crystal holding shaft, and

the reflector member is disposed so as to leave a gap between the reflector member and the seed crystal held on the end face of the seed crystal holding shaft.

2. The seed crystal holding shaft according to claim 1, wherein at least 50% of the side face of the seed crystal holding shaft is covered by the reflector member.

3. The seed crystal holding shaft according to claim 1, wherein the reflectance of the reflector member is 0.4 or greater.

4. The seed crystal holding shaft according to claim 1, wherein the reflector member is a carbon sheet.

5. The seed crystal holding shaft according to claim 4, wherein the average thickness of the carbon sheet is 0.05 mm or greater.

6. The seed crystal holding shaft according to claim 1, wherein the seed crystal holding shaft is made of graphite.

7. A method for producing a SiC single crystal by a solution process in which a SiC seed crystal held on a seed crystal holding shaft is contacted with a Si—

C solution that has been heated so as to have a temperature gradient with increasing temperature from the inside to the surface of the Si—

C solution in a crucible by a heating apparatus situated around the crucible, to grow a SiC single crystal from the seed crystal, wherein

at least a portion of the side face of the seed crystal holding shaft is covered with a reflector member having higher reflectance than the reflectance of the seed crystal holding shaft, and

the reflector member is disposed so as to leave a gap between the reflector member and the seed crystal.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein at least 50% of the side face of the seed crystal holding shaft is covered by the reflector member.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the reflectance of the reflector member is 0.4 or greater.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the reflector member is a carbon sheet.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the average thickness of the carbon sheet is 0.05 mm or greater.

12. The method according to claim 7, wherein the seed crystal holding shaft is made of graphite.