Patent · US Expired

Solids mixing, storing and conveying system for use with a furnace for single crystal silicon production

US5580171A · kind A · utility

16Cited by
8References
18Claims
0Family size

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 24, 1995
Grant dateDec 3, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 24, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10T117/1064
  • WIPO fieldSurface technology, coating
  • WIPO sectorChemistry

Abstract

There is disclosed a static mixer for intimate mixing of granular solids, a solids flow controller and a solids transfer tube which are useful to mix polycrystalline material with dopant solids, and to feed the resultant mixture continuously and accurately into a modified Czochralski-type furnace for growing single crystal material. The static mixer is a series of conical funnel plates interspaced by thieving divider plates that are formed by a plurality of triangular V-shaped, radial sectors. Contiguous to the static mixer is a storage hopper which has sufficient storage capacity for all the polycrystalline feed material required in a single run of the furnace. Located beneath the hopper is a solids flow controller that is a V-shaped trough which is vibrated along its longitudinal axis. At one end, the trough has a transverse baffle located with a gap between its bottom edge and the bottom of the trough that controls the rate of flow of the solids. The solids are discharged from the opposite end of the trough into a vertically disposed tube. Within the furnace, there is a solids transfer tube with its lower terminating immediately above the molten pool in the solids replenishment …

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.