A comparative study on the growth of germanium-silicon single crystals grown by the vertical Bridgman and axial heat processing techniques

The influence of a submerged baffle on single crystal growth of germanium-silicon is investigated. Twelve crystals have been grown. Eight of them have been grown using the axial heat processing (AHP) technique which makes use of a baffle submerged into the melt. The other crystals have been grown using the conventional vertical Bridgman (VB) technique. Crystals have been grown with 5 and 12 at% silicon at two different velocities, 0.75 and 2mm/h. Compositional mapping of crystals has been performed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Then, effects of a submerged baffle on the longitudinal and radial solute distribution and interface stability have been discussed. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.