SILICON-GERMANIUM BULK ALLOY GROWTH BY LIQUID ENCAPSULATED ZONE-MELTING

Alloy crystals of silicon-germanium have been grown by the liquid-enca psulated zone-melting (LEZM) method. This method combines zone melting in a quartz container with liquid encapsulation by the molten salt Ca Cl2 to prevent nucleation al the container-melt interface. The thermal gradient from seed through the molten zone to the feed material was i nvestigated to determine the alloy composition and molten zone length. Electron beam and X-ray analysis were used to characterize the crysta l structure and composition of bulk crystals. Crystals of constant all oy composition at 4.5 at% are grown by this technique and reveal singl e-crystal structure and a high degree of compositional uniformity.