Chemical vapor deposition system for polycrystalline silicon rod production
First Claim
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1. A silicon rod production apparatus, comprising:
- a reactor vessel containing at least one reaction chamber;
a pair of electrodes extending into the reaction chamber;
at least one silicon filament provided within the reaction chamber with the opposite ends of the filament connected to two different ones of the electrodes to heat the filament by electrical current flowing between the two electrodes;
a source of a silicon-bearing gas connected to the interior of the vessel for supplying the gas into the reaction chamber to produce a reaction and to deposit polycrystalline silicon on the heated filament by chemical vapor deposition thereby producing a rod of polycrystalline silicon; and
an electrical power supply that is connected to the electrodes and that supplies high frequency A.C. current having a frequency sufficiently high to produce a skin effect that causes a majority of the current to flow through an outer region of the silicon rod adjacent its outer surface in order to provide more heat at the outer region than at inner portions of the rod.
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Abstract
Disclosed are processes and reactor apparatus for rapidly producing large diameter, high-purity polycrystalline silicon rods for semiconductor applications. A.C. current is provided to the rods by a power supply, having a fixed or variable high frequency in the range of about 2 kHz to 800 kHz, to concentrate at least 70% of the current in an annular region that is the outer 15% of a rod due to the “skin effect.”
74 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A silicon rod production apparatus, comprising:
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a reactor vessel containing at least one reaction chamber;
a pair of electrodes extending into the reaction chamber;
at least one silicon filament provided within the reaction chamber with the opposite ends of the filament connected to two different ones of the electrodes to heat the filament by electrical current flowing between the two electrodes;
a source of a silicon-bearing gas connected to the interior of the vessel for supplying the gas into the reaction chamber to produce a reaction and to deposit polycrystalline silicon on the heated filament by chemical vapor deposition thereby producing a rod of polycrystalline silicon; and
an electrical power supply that is connected to the electrodes and that supplies high frequency A.C. current having a frequency sufficiently high to produce a skin effect that causes a majority of the current to flow through an outer region of the silicon rod adjacent its outer surface in order to provide more heat at the outer region than at inner portions of the rod. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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Specification
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Current AssigneeRec Silicon Inc (REC Silicon ASA)
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Original AssigneeAdvanced Silicon Materials LLC (REC Silicon ASA)
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InventorsDawson, Howard J., Keck, David W., Russell, Ronald O.
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Primary Examiner(s)HITESHEW, FELISA CARLA
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Application NumberUS09/212,088Time in Patent Office861 DaysField of Search117/84, 118/719.E, 118/723.E, 118/724US Class Current117/200CPC Class CodesC23C 16/24 Deposition of silicon onlyC23C 16/4418 Methods for making free-sta...Y10T 117/10 Apparatus
