US 11,885,036 B2
Producing a ribbon or wafer with regions of low oxygen concentration
Jesse S. Appel, South Hamilton, MA (US); Alison Greenlee, Somerville, MA (US); Nathan Stoddard, Chalfont, PA (US); Peter Kellerman, Essex, MA (US); Parthiv Daggolu, Danvers, MA (US); Alexander Martinez, Woburn, MA (US); Saeed Pirooz, Lexington, MA (US); Brandon Williard, Essex, MA (US); Charles Bowen, Hampton, NH (US); Brian McMullen, Taunton, MA (US); David Morrell, Wakefield, MA (US); and Dawei Sun, Lynnfield, MA (US)
Appl. No. 17/634,176
Filed by Leading Edge Equipment Technologies, Inc., Wilmington, MA (US)
PCT Filed Aug. 9, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/045552
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Feb. 9, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/030236, PCT Pub. Date Feb. 18, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/884,851, filed on Aug. 9, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0316087 A1, Oct. 6, 2022
Int. Cl. C30B 29/64 (2006.01); C30B 15/06 (2006.01); C30B 29/06 (2006.01); H01L 31/04 (2014.01)
CPC C30B 15/06 (2013.01) [C30B 29/06 (2013.01); C30B 29/64 (2013.01); H01L 31/04 (2013.01)] 41 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
providing a melt in a crucible, wherein the melt includes silicon;
forming a ribbon floating on the melt using a cold initializer facing an exposed surface of the melt, wherein the ribbon is single crystal silicon;
pulling the ribbon from the melt at a low angle off the melt surface, wherein the ribbon is formed at a same rate as the pulling; and
separating the ribbon from the melt at a wall of the crucible where a stable meniscus forms, wherein the ribbon has a thickness between a first surface and a second surface from 50 μm to 5 mm after the separating, wherein the second surface faces the melt prior to the separating, wherein the first surface and the second surface are opposite each other, wherein the ribbon includes a first region extending a first depth from the first surface toward the second surface, and wherein the first region has a reduced oxygen concentration relative to a bulk of the ribbon.