Effect of Solutal Convection During the Growth of Silicon in a Sandwich System

This paper considers the modelling of Liquid Phase Epitaxial (LPE) growth of silicon in a substrate-solution-substrate “sandwich” system. Unsteady two-dimensional numerical simulations which take into account fluid flow and mass transfer are presented for a growth experiment. Except in the initial stages, solutal convection is found to be dominant throughout the process. Convection is, however, mostly confined to the upper half of the growth cell, resulting in growth of a layer on the upper substrate, which is about twice as thick as that on the lower substrate. This result is in good agreement with available experiment data. Another interesting consequence of the convection patterns is the formation of a smooth flat surface on the lower substrate and a wavy irregular one on the upper substrate.