Challenges for economical growth of high quality 300 mm CZ Si crystals

The changeover from 200 mm to 300 mm is required by the semiconductor indus try due to the necessity for larger chip sizes and demand for decreasing co st. However, the cost for 300 mm crystal growth is likely to rise owing to larger puller, enlargement of hot zone, expensive silica crucibles and long er growth process times caused by lower growth rates and longer cooling rat es. Simultaneously, the conditions are more complex and disadvantageous to the required higher qualities in comparison to smaller wafer diameters (e. g. position of OSF ring). This paper gives an overview about the challenges for 300 mm growth and approaches to provide appropriate solutions (e.g. ap plication of magnetic systems, optimization of growth parameters by integra tion of numerical simulation). (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights re served.