To provide a thin plate-shaped single-crystal production equipment and a thin plate-shaped single-crystal production method capable of applying a large raw material lump while suppressing an increase in output of an infrared ray, and capable of continuously producing a thin plate-shaped single crystal in which a dopant concentration is an optimum composition and uniform at low cost with high accuracy. Included are an infrared ray irradiation apparatus that irradiates an upper surface of a raw material lump for producing a thin plate-shaped single crystal with an infrared ray to melt a surface of the upper surface of the raw material lump; an elevator apparatus that immerses a lower surface of a thin plate-shaped seed single crystal in a melt melted by the infrared ray irradiation apparatus and obtained on the surface of the upper surface of the raw material lump, and lifts the seed single crystal upward from the immersed state; and a horizontal direction moving apparatus that moves the raw material lump in a horizontal direction. By immersing the lower surface of the seed single crystal in the melt obtained on the surface of the upper surface of the raw material lump by the infrared ray irradiation apparatus via the elevator apparatus, growth of a single crystal is started from the lower surface of the immersed seed single crystal. Furthermore, configured such that, by moving the raw material lump in the horizontal direction by the horizontal direction moving apparatus simultaneously with lifting the seed single crystal upward via the elevator apparatus, a thin plate-shaped single crystal is continuously produced while a molten region of the upper surface of the raw material lump is moved in the horizontal direction.
C30B 15/16 - Heating of the melt or the crystallised materials by irradiation or electric discharge
C30B 15/04 - Single-crystal growth by pulling from a melt, e.g. Czochralski method adding crystallising materials or reactants forming it in situ to the melt adding doping materials, e.g. for n–p-junction
C30B 15/22 - Stabilisation or shape controlling of the molten zone near the pulled crystalControlling the section of the crystal
C30B 15/30 - Mechanisms for rotating or moving either the melt or the crystal
C30B 29/64 - Flat crystals, e.g. plates, strips or discs
2.
THIN PLATE-SHAPED MONOCRYSTAL PRODUCTION DEVICE AND THIN PLATE-SHAPED MONOCRYSTAL PRODUCTION METHOD
[Problem] To provide a thin plate-shaped monocrystal production device and a thin plate-shaped monocrystal production method whereby a large mass of raw material can be used while suppressing an increase in output of infrared rays, and a thin plate-shaped monocrystal in which an additive concentration is homogenous at an optimum composition can be continuously produced at a low cost with high precision. [Solution] The thin plate-shaped monocrystal production device according to the present invention comprises: an infrared irradiation means that irradiates infrared rays onto an upper-side surface of a mass of a raw material for production of a thin plate-shaped monocrystal and melts the upper-side surface of the mass of the raw material; a raising/lowering means that immerses a lower-side surface of a thin plate-shaped seed monocrystal in a melt obtained on the upper-side surface of the mass of the raw material when melted by the infrared irradiation means, and pulls the monocrystal upward from the immersed state; and a horizontal movement means that moves the mass of the raw material in the horizontal direction. The lower-side surface of the seed monocrystal is immersed by the raising/lowering means in the melt obtained on the upper-side surface of the mass of the raw material by the infrared irradiation means, and as a result, growth of a monocrystal is started from the immersed lower-side surface of the seed monocrystal. Furthermore, at the same time that the seed monocrystal is pulled upward by the raising/lowering means, the mass of the raw material is moved horizontally by the horizontal movement means, and thereby a thin plate-shaped monocrystal is continuously produced while the melted area of the upper-side surface of the mass of the raw material is moved in the horizontal direction.
[Object] To provide a thin plate-shaped single-crystal production equipment and a thin plate-shaped single-crystal production method that can produce a thin plate-shaped single crystal having a uniform dopant concentration at an optimum chemical composition and a thickness of several hundreds of micrometers continuously at low cost with high precision even when the single crystal is a single crystal of an incongruent melting material or a solid solution material or a single crystal of a congruent melting material.
[Solution] Thin plate-shaped single-crystal production equipment includes: an infrared ray irradiation apparatus that irradiates an upper surface of a raw material lump for production of a thin plate-shaped single crystal with an infrared ray to melt the upper surface; and an elevator apparatus that causes a lower surface of a thin plate-shaped seed single crystal to be immersed in a melt melted using the infrared ray irradiation apparatus and formed on the upper surface and then pulls the thin plate-shaped seed single crystal immersed in the melt upward. The thin plate-shaped single-crystal production equipment is configured such that, by using the elevator apparatus to immerse the lower surface of the thin plate-shaped seed single crystal in the melt formed on the upper surface of the raw material lump for the production of the thin plate-shaped single crystal using the infrared ray irradiation apparatus, growth of a single crystal is started from the lower surface of the immersed thin plate-shaped seed single crystal and that, by using the elevator apparatus to pull the thin plate-shaped seed single crystal upward, the thin plate-shaped single crystal is produced continuously.
C30B 15/10 - Crucibles or containers for supporting the melt
C30B 15/16 - Heating of the melt or the crystallised materials by irradiation or electric discharge
C30B 15/30 - Mechanisms for rotating or moving either the melt or the crystal
C30B 23/00 - Single-crystal growth by condensing evaporated or sublimed materials
C30B 35/00 - Apparatus not otherwise provided for, specially adapted for the growth, production or after-treatment of single crystals or of a homogeneous polycrystalline material with defined structure
4.
Single-crystal fiber production equipment and single-crystal fiber production method
[Object] To provide a single-crystal fiber production equipment and a single-crystal fiber production method that do not at all require high precision control necessary for a conventional single-crystal production equipment, can very easily maintain a stable steady state for a long time, and can stably produce a long single crystal fiber having a length of several hundreds of meters or more.
[Solution] The single-crystal fiber production equipment is used to produce a single crystal fiber by irradiating an upper surface of a raw material rod with a laser beam within a chamber to form a melt, immersing a seed single crystal in the melt, and pulling the seed single crystal upward. The single-crystal fiber production equipment includes: a laser light source that emits the laser beam as a collimated beam; a pulling device configured to be upward and downward movable in a vertical direction with the seed single crystal held thereby; and a flat reflector that reflects the laser beam such that the reflected laser beam is incident vertically on the upper surface of the raw material rod. The upper surface of the raw material rod is irradiated with the laser beam such that the melt has a donut-shaped temperature distribution.
[Problem] To provide a thin plate-shaped monocrystal production device and thin plate-shaped monocrystal production method that enable production, continuously and at low cost with high precision, of a thin plate-shaped monocrystal having a thickness of about several hundred micrometers even when it is made of a congruent melting substance by an additive concentration that is homogenous and is of an optimum composition, other than a monocrystal of an incongruent melting substance or a solid solution substance. [Solution] The present invention is configured to include an infrared emission means that emits infrared rays to an upper-side face of a mass of a raw material for production of a thin plate-shaped monocrystal so that a surface of the upper-side face is melted, and an elevating means that immerses a lower-side face of a thin plate-shaped seed monocrystal in a melt obtained on the surface of the upper-side face when melted by the infrared emission means, and pulls the thin plate-shaped seed monocrystal upward from the immersed state. As a result of the lower-side face of the thin plate-shaped seed monocrystal being immersed, by the elevating means, in the melt obtained on the surface of the upper-side face of the mass of the raw material for production of a thin plate-shaped monocrystal by the infrared emission means, the growth of a monocrystal is started from the immersed lower-side face of the thin plate-shaped seed monocrystal. By pulling the thin plate-shaped seed monocrystal upward by the elevating means, a thin plate-shaped monocrystal is continuously produced.
C30B 30/00 - Production of single crystals or homogeneous polycrystalline material with defined structure characterised by the action of electric or magnetic fields, wave energy or other specific physical conditions
[Problem] To provide a single crystal fiber production apparatus and a single crystal fiber production method, which do not require highly precise controllability that has been required in the conventional single crystal production apparatuses, and which make it possible to maintain a stable steady state for a long period of time extremely easily and produce a single crystal fiber having a length of several hundred meters or longer stably. [Solution] Provided is a single crystal fiber production apparatus, in which an upper surface of a raw material bar is irradiated with laser light in a chamber to form a melt, and a seed single crystal is immersed in the melt and is then drawn upward to thereby produce a single crystal fiber. The apparatus comprises a laser light source for emitting the laser light as parallel light, a drawing-up device which is configured such that the seed single crystal can move upward and downward in the vertical direction while the seed single crystal being held, and a flat reflecting mirror which reflects the laser light in such a manner that the laser light can enter vertically onto the upper surface of the raw material bar, in which the laser light is emitted onto the upper surface of the raw material bar in such a manner that the temperature distribution of the melt is a doughnut-like temperature distribution.
A single-crystal production equipment which includes, at least: a raw material supply apparatus which supplies a granular raw material to a melting apparatus positioned therebelow; the melting apparatus heats and melts the granular raw material to generate a raw material melt and supplies the raw material melt into a single-crystal production crucible positioned therebelow; and a crystallization apparatus which includes the single-crystal production crucible in which a seed single crystal is placed on the bottom, and a first infrared ray irradiation equipment which irradiates an infrared ray to the upper surface of the seed single crystal in the single-crystal production crucible, and the single-crystal production equipment is configured such that the raw material melt is dropped into a melt formed by irradiating the upper surface of the seed single crystal with the infrared ray, and a single crystal is allowed to precipitate out of the thus formed mixed melt.
C30B 13/08 - Single-crystal growth by zone-meltingRefining by zone-melting adding crystallising materials or reactants forming it in situ to the molten zone
[Problem] To manufacture a high-quality single crystal which is a large single crystal free of crystal grain boundaries and has compositions with optimal additive concentrations that are uniform in both the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. [Solution] This single crystal manufacturing device is provided with at least: a granular raw material feeding means for downwardly feeding a certain amount of granular raw material; a granular raw material melting means for downwardly feeding a raw material molten liquid that is obtained by heating and melting the granular raw material fed from the granular raw material feeding means; and a crystallization means for precipitating a single crystal from a mixed molten liquid formed by receiving a molten liquid, formed by irradiating the top surface of a seed single crystal with infrared light from a first infrared light emitting device, and the raw material molten liquid fed from the granular raw material melting means.
[Problem] To manufacture a high-quality single crystal which is a large single crystal free of crystal grain boundaries and has compositions with optimal additive concentrations that are uniform in both the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. [Solution] This single crystal manufacturing device is provided with at least: a granular raw material feeding means for feeding a certain amount of granular raw material to a granular raw material melting means positioned downward; the granular raw material melting means for heating and melting the granular raw material fed from the granular raw material feeding means to make a raw material molten liquid, and feeding the raw material molten liquid to the inside of a single crystal manufacturing crucible positioned downward; and a crystallization means having the single crystal manufacturing crucible in which a seed single crystal is disposed on a bottom section thereof and a first infrared light emitting device which emits infrared light onto the top surface of the seed single crystal inside the single crystal manufacturing crucible, wherein a mixed molten liquid is formed by dropping the raw material molten liquid fed from the granular raw material melting means into a molten liquid that is formed by irradiating the top surface of the seed single crystal with infrared light, and the single crystal is precipitated from the formed mixed molten liquid.
Produced is a large single crystal with no crystal grain boundary, which is a high-quality single crystal that has a uniform composition in both the vertical and horizontal directions at an optimum dopant concentration and contains only a small number of negative crystals and exsolution lamellae. A single-crystal production equipment includes at least: a quartz crucible in which a seed crystal is placed on its bottom; a powder raw material supply apparatus which supplies a powder raw material into the quartz crucible; and an infrared ray irradiation apparatus which applies an infrared ray to the powder raw material supplied into the quartz crucible from the powder raw material supply apparatus.
C30B 35/00 - Apparatus not otherwise provided for, specially adapted for the growth, production or after-treatment of single crystals or of a homogeneous polycrystalline material with defined structure
C30B 11/08 - Single-crystal-growth by normal freezing or freezing under temperature gradient, e.g. Bridgman- Stockbarger method adding crystallising materials or reactants forming it in situ to the melt every component of the crystal composition being added during the crystallisation
C30B 13/08 - Single-crystal growth by zone-meltingRefining by zone-melting adding crystallising materials or reactants forming it in situ to the molten zone
C30B 15/02 - Single-crystal growth by pulling from a melt, e.g. Czochralski method adding crystallising materials or reactants forming it in situ to the melt
[Problem] To produce a large single crystal with a composition that has a uniform optimum additive density in both the vertical and horizontal directions. [Solution] A single crystal producing device that includes at least: a transparent silica tube inside which the seed crystal of a substance to be produced is placed; a powder starting material supply means, which is provided above the transparent silica tube, for supplying a powder starting material on the seed crystal placed inside the transparent silica tube; and an infrared irradiation means, which is provided outside the transparent silica tube, for infrared light irradiation of the top surface of the seed crystal placed inside the transparent silica tube and the powder starting material supplied inside the transparent silica tube by the powder starting material supply means. The single crystal producing device is configured to melt the top surface of the seed crystal and the powder starting material by irradiating the inside of the transparent silica tube with the infrared light from the infrared irradiation means and solidify the powder starting material on the seed crystal to produce the single crystal that is the desired substance to be produced.
C30B 11/08 - Single-crystal-growth by normal freezing or freezing under temperature gradient, e.g. Bridgman- Stockbarger method adding crystallising materials or reactants forming it in situ to the melt every component of the crystal composition being added during the crystallisation
12.
APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING SINGLE CRYSTAL AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING SINGLE CRYSTAL
[Problem] To produce high-quality large single crystals free of grain boundaries which have a composition having a uniform optimum additive density in both the vertical direction and the horizontal direction and which have less negative crystals and exsolution lamellae. [Solution] This apparatus for producing single crystals includes at least: a quartz crucible in which seed crystals are placed at a bottom portion thereof; a powder starting material supplying means that supplies a powder starting material into the quartz crucible; and an infrared irradiation means that irradiates the powder starting material supplied into the quartz crucible by the powder starting material supplying means with infrared radiation. The apparatus for producing single crystals melts the powder starting material by irradiating the inside of the quartz crucible with infrared radiation with the infrared irradiation means and solidifies the powder starting material to produce the single crystals inside the quartz crucible. The apparatus for producing single crystals is configured to supply the powder starting material into the quartz crucible by the powder starting material supplying means while irradiating the supplied powder starting material with infrared radiation with the infrared irradiation means, and to continuously supply the powder starting material into the quartz crucible by the powder starting material supplying means according to the amount of the molten powder starting material that has been solidified.
C30B 11/08 - Single-crystal-growth by normal freezing or freezing under temperature gradient, e.g. Bridgman- Stockbarger method adding crystallising materials or reactants forming it in situ to the melt every component of the crystal composition being added during the crystallisation
[Problem] To provide a trough-type solar energy power generation device capable of suppressing the manufacturing cost and maintenance cost to be low, capable of maintaining a high photovoltaic conversion efficiency and a high power generation efficiency over a long period of time, capable of suppressing the total cost, and capable of serving not only as a power generation device but also as a hot water producing device. [Solution] A concentrating trough-type solar energy power generation device uses sunlight to generate power and at least comprises: a trough-type reflecting mirror having a parabolic shape in section to collect the sunlight; a solar cell placed at the position where the sunlight is focused by the trough-type reflecting mirror and directly converting the collected sunlight into electric power; a cooling means for cooling the solar cell; and a transparent film for covering the open face side of the trough-type reflecting mirror.
H02S 40/22 - Light-reflecting or light-concentrating means
H01L 31/052 - Cooling means directly associated or integrated with the PV cell, e.g. integrated Peltier elements for active cooling or heat sinks directly associated with the PV cells
H01L 31/0525 - Cooling means directly associated or integrated with the PV cell, e.g. integrated Peltier elements for active cooling or heat sinks directly associated with the PV cells including means to utilise heat energy directly associated with the PV cell, e.g. integrated Seebeck elements
[Problem] To provide a parabolic solar power generation apparatus, wherein a Stirling engine is constantly maintained in a vertical direction without being affected by the movement of a reflecting mirror, and sunlight which is focused by the reflecting mirror is efficiently projected on a light-receiving part of the Stirling, regardless of whether the positional relationship between a high-temperature part of the Stirling engine and the reflecting mirror changes, thereby minimizing a reduction in power generation efficiency. [Solution] This parabolic solar power generation apparatus is provided with a parabolic reflecting mirror having a circular surface shape or a parabolic surface shape, and a solar power generator that generates power using sunlight which is focused by the reflecting mirror. The solar power generator is provided with: a Stirling engine that operates by means of a temperature difference between a low temperature part and a high temperature part; an alternator that generates power through the operation of the Stirling engine; a light-receiving part disposed in such a manner as to be in contact with the high temperature part of the Stirling engine; and a vertical maintenance mechanism for maintaining the solar power generator in a vertical direction. The solar power generator is rotatably attached to a solar power generator frame disposed on the reflecting mirror in such a manner that the light-receiving part is positioned at the light focusing position of the reflecting mirror.
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Japan)
CRYSTAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION (Japan)
MIYACHI CORPORATION (Japan)
Inventor
Ito Toshimitsu
Tomioka Yasuhide
Yanagisawa Yuji
Shindo Isamu
Yanase Atsushi
Abstract
A device for single-crystal growth is provided in which even when materials differing in, for example, melting point or diameter are to be grown, conditions for the stable growth of single crystals can be obtained and a high-quality single crystal having a desired diameter can hence be grown. In addition, the device has reduced fluctuations of heating intensity to facilitate crystal growth. Also provided is a method of single-crystal growth. The device for single-crystal growth has a raw-material rod (14) supported by an upper crystal-driving shaft (8), a seed-crystal rod (16) supported by a lower crystal-driving shaft (12), and a heating means, and the part where the raw-material rod (14) is in contact with the seed-crystal rod (16) is heated with the heating means to form a melt zone (18) and grow a single crystal. The device is characterized in that the heating means is configured of a plurality of rectangular lasers (2a, ··· 2e) which emit laser light having the same irradiation intensity and of optical means, the heating means being disposed along the circumferential direction of the melt zone (18).
A floating-zone melting apparatus is provided in which a sample rod especially having a large diameter can be stably melted without fail and the crystal being grown can retain a flat shape at the interface between the solid and the liquid. A single crystal having a large diameter can hence be grown. The apparatus is a floating-zone melting apparatus of the infrared concentration heating type in which a sample is set in a sample chamber constituted of a transparent quartz tube and an atmospheric gas is introduced into the sample chamber. While keeping this state, infrared rays emitted by infrared irradiators are converged to the sample to heat and melt the sample and thereby obtain a melt. This melt is solidified on a seed crystal to grow a single crystal. The infrared irradiators are composed of two or more infrared irradiators of the downward irradiation type which emit infrared rays downward from an oblique upper direction and two or more infrared irradiators of the upward irradiation type which emit infrared rays upward from an oblique lower direction.
This invention provides an infrared intensive heating-type floating zone melting apparatus which has a small temperature gradient in the circumferential direction of a sample in a melting part, exhibits a steep temperature gradient in the vertical direction, can realize a satisfactorily high highest attainable temperature and can form a stable molten state. The floating zone melting apparatus is a four elliptical mirror-type floating zone melting apparatus comprising rotary ellipsoid reflectors (2) disposed opposite to each other on an orthogonal axis. In this apparatus, the eccentricity of the rotary ellipsoid reflector (2) is 0.4 to 0.65, and the ratio of the depth of the rotary ellipsoid reflector (2) to the diameter of an opening in the rotary ellipsoid reflector (2) is 0.38 to 0.75. A glass mirror was used as the rotary ellipsoid reflector (2). Further, the rotary ellipsoid reflector (2) is disposed so that a straight line from one focal point to the other focal point is slanted downward, and infrared light reflected from the reflecting surface is applied to a sample from an oblique top direction, whereby a large-diameter single crystal can be grown.
patents
