Small Grants for Exploratory Research: Feasibility and Design of a Novel Sheet Growth Method for Single-Crystal Growth.

9315980 Derby Funded with a Small Grant for Exploratory Research, numerical simulations are to be carried out of a process for growing single crystal sheets. Finite element methods will be applied to a radiatively melted fluid zone, contained by surface tension, in which a polycrystalline sheet is subsequently reformed as a single crystal. Items to be examined are the shape of the melt- crystal interface, the meniscus shape, the overall heat transfer, and the overall process stability. The ability to grow single crystal semiconductor materials directly in sheet form would permit drastic improvement in process efficiency for the production of semiconductor wafers. ***