Numerical and experimental investigation of the effect of crucible translation in liquid phase diffusion growth of SiGe

We have studied the effect of crucible translation in liquid phase diffusion (LPD) growth of bulk SixGe1-x crystals numerically and experimentally. Two sets of translation experiments were performed at the stationary and translated (at constant rate) modes. Experiments showed the feasibility of growing SiGe crystals with uniform composition. In order to determine the optimum translation profile, the (LPD) system was numerically simulated. The impact of dynamic translation rate has also been examined numerically by prescribing dynamic thermal boundary conditions along the growth ampoule. The numerical and experimental findings reveal a significant reduction in the axial composition variation in the grown crystal, with an additional advantage of shorter growth period thereby justifying the use of crucible translation as a means to achieve higher compositional uniformity in the grown crystals. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved