Traveling Magnetic Field Crystal Growth System for Ternary Alloys

Bulk III-V ternary substrates are required for the Air Force's next generation of high-speed electronic devices. The detrimental factor in producing single crystals of these materials is unsteady thermo-solutal buoyancy convection that leads to significant macro/micro-segregation and macro/micro cracking. To produce ternary bulk crack-free crystals of uniform composition, a technique is required to accurately control convection. To achieve this goal, we propose utilizing the Traveling Magnetic Field (TMF) method combined with Vertical Bridgman (VB) growth. During Phase I we will develop a fully coupled CFD model for the TMF crystal growth system validated by experimental data, to demonstrate the advantage of TMF as a tool to achieve improved uniformity of ternaries by means of convection control. Our team, which includes the inventor of TMF, Dr. Mazuruk, has developed the fundamentals of TMF and demonstrated its superiority to other electromagnetic stirring techniques. The objective of this work is to design a VB-TMF system and perform a feasibility study to demonstrate that this technology is capable of achieving radial compositional uniformity of better than 0.5mol%. In Phase II, a VB-TMF crystal growth system will be manufactured, optimized and tested for number III-V ternaries and necessary manufacturing processes for commercialization will be completed.