Prog. C/ystalGro?/thandCharact. Vol 30, pp. 217-236.

1995

Pergamon 0960-8974(95)00006-2

1995 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Bdtatn 0960-8974/95 $29.00

CONTROL OF C R Y S T A L GROWI"H IN BRIDGMAN FURNACE C. Batur,* A. Srinivasan,* W. M. B. Duvalt and N. B. Singh

*Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universityof Akron, Akron, OH 44325-3903, U.S.A. 1-Processing Science and Technology Branch, Materials Division, NASA LE-WlS Research Center, Cleveland, OH 44135, U.S.A. :l:Westinghouse Research and DevelopmentCenter, 1310 Beulah Road, PiMsburgh, PA 15235, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT Control of crystal quality during crystal growth requires accurate implementation of thermal boundary conditions. We identify this problem as the furnace temperature control problem. The thermal boundary conditions, in turn, dictate the interface shape between the solid and the liquid region of the material. Determination of the boundary conditions for a given desired interface shape is considered as the material temperature control problem in this paper. We outline the current efforts for the solution of the furnace temperature control and the material temperature control problems. We restrict our review to Bridgman growth control techniques. 1. INTRODUCTION Density of crystal defects, poly-crystallization, homogeneity density of impurity atoms and non-uniform distribution of a dopant material are vital measures defining the quality of grown crystals, Gevelber et al [ 15], [ 16]. Control of crystal quality while the crystal is growing inside a furnace requires the measurement of quality. Alternatively, we need insitu measurements that can be uniquely related to quality. For example, if the crystal is to be used as an acousto optical tunable filter, the acoustic and optical properties define the quality, therefore, some measurements related to the acousto-optical properties should be received in-situ by the growth control algorithm. There are practical difficulties associated with the definition and the measurement of quality. Most of the time a set of variables defines the quality and they are not always accessible during growth. If they can be measured after the growth then the statistical process control techniques can be used to provide practical solutions to quality control problem. However, this is an off-line control methodology and the optimization is only possible at the expense of costly trials. From the manufacturing control point of view, it is

217

218

C. Batur et al.

practical to identify a variable that will provide a reasonable measure of quality while the crystal is growing. The shape of solid-liquid interface is commonly accepted as an indicator that can be related to crystal quality. The shape influences the crystalline perfection and compositional homogeneity. A crystal that grows with a fiat interface has minimal thermal stresses because the thermal changes are in one dimension only, Fu and Wilcox [ 13]. Dutta et al [10] observed that GaSb crystals grown with a fiat melt-solid interface exhibited very low dislocation densities due to the reduction of thermal stresses at the interface. Therefore, it makes practical sense to control the shape of interface by manipulating the thermal boundary conditions surrounding the interface. Ifa certain interface shape is desired, there is a corresponding temperature distribution inside the material that generates this specified interface shape. The task of the interface shape controller is to establish this temperature distritmtion. We identify this problem as the material temperature control problem. The required temperature distribution or, equivalently, the desired interface shape can be accomplished by manipulating the boundary conditions around the material. These boundary conditions are established by the ~rnace temperature controller. The temperature control problem in the furnace is simpler than the temperature control problem inside the material. We identify this problem as the furnace temperature control problem. Figure 1 shows the functional blocks of the crystal growth controller. If the interface .shape or the inside material temperatures can be measured, it is compared with the desired interface shape or the desired material temperatures and the resulting error signal is sent to the material temperature controller. The required boundary conditions or equivalently the furnace temperatures are determined by the material temperature controller. The boundary conditions are used as the set-point temperatures for the furnace temperature controller. It may be noticed that the furnace temperature control system is only a minor control loop within the framework of the interface control system. The actual boundary conditions established by the furnace temperature controller determine the temperatures inside the material through the dynamics of the crystal growth mechanism. If the interface shape can not be measured, it is impossible to control the shape of interface with a feedback control system. We can only control the variables that we can measure or estimate. However, under certain circumstances, it is possible to recover the interface shape information by partial measurements. For example, if the outside wall surface temperatures of the crucible can be measured, then, through a model of the growth dynamics, the shape information can be partially recovered. This information then can be fed back to the material temperature controller as in the previous case. The block diagram of Figure 1 also highlights the fact that for a given desired interface shape one can determine more than one temperature distribution inside the material that corresponds to the same shape. In other words, there may not be a physically realizable temperature distribution for a given interface shape. This non-uniqueness problem can be

Control of Crystal Growth

219

resolved by introducing a filter that determines a physically realizable temperature distribution inside the material for a given arbitrary desired interface shape.

DESIRED IV~TERtAL IEIV~. Tr

--
\

REQUIRED BOUND~J'~Y COND~

ACTUAL BOUNDARY CONDITIONS, T z

PRE-FILTER

IVlATERIAL
R

rE

ES, r

DESIRED \ INTERFACE \ SI-L~PE

,a/d~ SURFACEIF::MpI:RAIU~S OR Iqlrd~AC~

MEASURED OR ESI11vIATED MATERIAL TEMPERATURES

ESTIMATOR

MEA~MENTsYsTEM I---

Figure 1. Crystal growth control system. The desired interface shape is specified by the operator. The pre-filter determines the physically realizable temperature distribution inside the material. The material temperature controller establishes the required boundary conditions which, in turn, are implemented by the furnace temperature controller. The estimator estimates the actual material temperatures given partial measurements such as the ampoule's outside surface temperatures or the interface shape This review does not address the control problems that are specific to the materials grown and is limited to furnace and material temperature control problem in Bridgman growth techniques. For a review of material related growth problems, the reader is referred to Petrosyan [32]. For the controller design issues related to the Czochralski process, Gevelber and Stephanopolus [17], [18] provide an excellent discussion on the model based interface control. The organization of the paper is as follows. Control of furnace temperatures, i.e., the minor control loop of Figure 1, is discussed in Section 2. Both model based and conventional PID temperature controllers are reviewed. The material temperature control problem is presented in Section 3. The measurement of interface shape and the interface shape controller design are given here for the vertical Bridgrnan configuration. Finally, conclusions are stated in Section 4. 2. C O N T R O L OF FURNACE T E M P E R A T U R E S 2.1 D Y N A M I C M O D E L OF H E A T I N G ZONES For a multi-zone crystal growth furnace, the dynamics between the zone temperatures and the energy input to heating zones can be expressed by a linear model as

220

C. Batur et al.

y(t) = Aly(t-l) +Azy(t-2)+...+ A.y(t-n)+ Biu(t-1)+ B2u(t-2)+

+...+ a.u(t-n)+ e(t) +Cte(t-1)+...+ C,e(t-n) 2.1.1

where y(t)e R p is a (p) dimensional vector indicating zone temperatures for a (p) zone furnace. Similarly, the vector u(t)e R p denotes the heat energy to (p) heating zones. Since the heat energy flow is proportional to the voltage applied to electrical heating element, the term u(t) can be also considered as the input voltage to heaters. The temperature control hardware reads the temperatures y(t) at time (t), implements the furnace temperature control algorithm described below and generates the controller output u(t). The uncertainty of this linear model is represented by the terms associated with e(t). The term e(t) is a random vector with zero mean and finite variance. The uncertainty is due to several factors such as the linearization of the actual non-linear heating dynamics, a finite number of coefficients in the model, and other external inputs such as infiltration and radiation fluxes which are not explicitly considered in the model. If the radiation heat exchange between the heating zones is very strong, the linear model represented in (2. I. 1) will be a very weak Ioc'~l representation of the actual dynamics. The coefficient matrices (& ; i=l,2,...n), (Bi; i=l,2,...n) and (Ci; i=l,2,...n), are all (pxp) matrices that need to be determined experimentally for a given furnace. If the heating zones are well insulated from each other, there is insignificant thermal interaction between them. In this case, the matrix coefficients (&, Bi, Ci) are simplified to diagonal matrices. The process identification techniques can be used to estimate the coefficient matrices, Ljung [27], Soderstrom and Stoica [40]. In these techniques, the heater input signals u(t) are chosen such that the zone temperatures y(t) are disturbed slightly around their normal operating temperatures. In order to obtain consistent estimates of the matrix coefficients, the input signals u(t) are random sequences. The resulting input output data (u(t), y(t); t=l,2,..) are substituted into (2.1.1) and the matrix coefficients (Ai, Bi, Ci) are estimated by the least squares minimization technique. The performance index of the least squares algorithm is the minimization of the sum of squares of the residuals, i.e.,
N

I = ~ . e ~

^2(t)+ . . .

(t)
(2.1.2)

t=l

where N is the number of sampling points during which the identification data (u(t), y(t); t=l,2,..N) is collected and e, (t) is the ith component of the residual vector ~(t), defined from (2.1.1) as

e(t) = y(t)

- .4,y(t -

1)-...-~4.y(t

- n) - B,y(t

1)-...-B.y(t

-n)

- C~(t

1)-...-(~. ~(t - n ) (2.1.3)

Control of Crystal Growth

221

2.2 M O D E L B A S E D TEMPERATURE CONTROLLERS

If the crucible is translated axially, as in the case of most Bridgman furnaces, the axial temperature distribution inside the furnace is kept constant. Therefore, the set-point temperatures for the furnace temperature control system should also remain constant. This is known as the temperature regulation problem. In the case of Electro Dynamic Gradient (EDG) based furnaces, such as the Mellen furnace of Parsey and Thiel [31], Rajendran and Mellen [34], the axial temperature distribution is translated while the crucible remains constant. The crystal growth rate is determined by the speed of the moving temperature gradient. In this case, the set-point temperatures for the temperature control system change with respect to time. This is also the case for Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) where a specific temperature-time profile has to be implemented within a few seconds, Ella [ 11 ] The controller design problem in this case is much more challenging and it is know~ as the servo problem in controls. The growth rate for most crystals in Bridgman furnaces is very slow, typically in the range of a few ram/hour. In contrast, most temperature controllers work on the sampling period ranging from 0.5 to 10 seconds. Therefore, the required changes in the set-pqint temperatures for the EDG type furnaces are not very fast for a typical temperature controller design problem. This phenomenon justifies the use of the regulator type controller design for both the constant thermal gradient and the variable thermal gradient (EDG) type furnaces. However, for fast growing crystals, the furnace temperature controller design should be based on the servo controller design principles. In the next sections, we will review the controller design techniques for the furnace temperature control problem. 2.2.1 SINGLE INPUT SINGLE OUTPUT TEMPERATURE CONTROLLERS This is the case where there is insignificant interactions between heating zones and the controller design can be performed separately for each zone. From (2.1.1), dynamics of each zone can be written as y(t) = aly(t-1) +a2y(t-2)+...+ a.y(t-n)+ blu(t-1)+ b2u(t-2)+ +...+ b.u(t-n)+ e(t) +cle(t-1)+...+ c~e(t -n) 2.2.1.1

where u(t), y(t) and e(t ) are now scalar variables representing the voltage to heating element, the temperature in the heating zone and the uncertainty term of the model, respectively. The furnace temperature controller can be designed by minimizing the weighted output error variance, i.e.,
I = E{[r(t +

1)-

y(t +

1)]2 + ~,[u(t)-

u(t -

1)]: }

2.2.1.2

where (E) is the expectation operator, r(t) is the set-point temperature for the heating zone, y(t) is the zone temperature and (~,) is a positive weight parameter. The basic

222

C. Batur et al.

The terms with (^) indicate the estimated parameters of the matrix coefficients. Unless the matrix coefficients (Ci; i=l,2,..n) are all zero, the minimization of(2.1.2) is a non-linear minimization problem and can be performed by iterative techniques only. Figure 2 shows a typical input output identification data for an eight zone transparent crystal growth furnace from Batur et al [3] and Srinivasan et ai [36]. The input signal is a Pseudo Random Binary Signal [40] that disturbs the furnace temperatures around their normal operating point for consistent identification of matrix coefficients.

FURNACE INPUT OUTPUT IDENTIFICATION DATA

300

250 iii rt" t-~; 200

iii

uJ I.a 150
Z

< Io.. Z 100 LU

Z

O N 5O

TYPICAL PRBS INPUT SIGNAL TO HEATER

0 0

200

400

600 800 SAMPLES

1000

1200

1400

Figure 2. Experimental input output data for identification of furnace zone dynamics Plots show typical identification data obtained from a transparent crystal growth furnace. All eight zones are simultaneously perturbed around 225 C. For clarity, only input to zone one is shown. The other zone inputs are simply the shifted version of this pseudo random binary input. Data are sampled in every 4 seconds.

Control of Crystal Growth

223

purpose of the control law is to minimize the control error variance, i.e., E[r(t+ 1)-y(t+ 1)]2. However, the cost of control, namely the variance of the control signal changes, [u(t)-u(t-1)], is also added as a penalizing term to the criterion. Increasing the magnitude of (~,) decreases the changes in control voltage amplitude. This is particularly useful if one wants to avoid saturation in the amplifiers, since the saturation effectively breaks the control loop. In the steady state, the control law based on this criterion makes sure that y(t)=r(t), i.e., there is no steady state error between the set-point and the actual temperature of the zone. Batur and his co-workers have succesfully applied the model based single input single output temperature controllers to transparent Bridgman furnaces, see for example [3] and [5].
2.2.2 M U L T I INPUT M U L T I O U T P U T T E M P E R A T U R E C O N T R O L L E R S

If the heating zones can not be assumed thermally insulated from each other as in the case of transparent crystal growth furnaces, the thermal interactions between the heating zones should be explicitly taken into account in the model. In this case the matrix coefficients of model (2.1.1) are not diagonal, therefore, the model simplification that was previously achieved in (2.2.1.1) is no longer,possible. The controller design is performed using the multi-input multi-output model of (2.1.1). The performance index for the controller design is the generalization of (2.2.1.2), i.e., I = E {[r~(t + 1) - y, (t + 1)]: +... +[rp (t + 1) - yp (t + 1)]: + +~'l [u, (t) - u, (t - 1)]: +... +~,p [up (t) - up (t - 1)]: } (2.2.2.1)

where it is assumed that there are (p) heating zones in the furnace. The coefficients (~,) weigh the cost of control action. Increasing (~,) reduces the changes in the control signal, therefore, avoids saturation in the control loop. Once the furnace temperature controller reaches the steady state, the second term of the performance index becomes zero, i.e., (u(t) = u(t-1)), therefore, the minimization of this index forces the temperature in each zone to set-point, i.e., [ri(t) = yi(t)]. 2.3 C O N V E N T I O N A L PID C O N T R O L L E R S The majority of industrial furnace temperature controllers today are in the form of Proportional + Integral + Derivative (PID) type controller. The PID controller takes the form
u(t) : K_{e(t) Y

+T ~te ( s ) + ' a [7~( t ) - e ( t ) e

Ti,='7'_. T

-I)]}

2.3.1)

where Kp, Ti and Td are the proportional, integral and derivative constants, respectively. The control error e(t) is the difference between the set-point and the actual zone temperature, i.e.,

224

C. Batur et aL

e(t) = r ( t ) - y ( t )

(2.3.2)

The temperature controller reads the zone temperature y(t) at time (t), determines the controller output u(t) from (2.3.1) and sends it to the heating element. The same process is repeated again after a sampling period (T). For most industrial controllers, the derivative effect, i.e., the last term of(2.3.1) is implemented with a low pass filter since the derivative term amplifies the high frequency noise that may exist in the temperature control loop and causes saturation in the amplifiers. Determination of the controller parameters Kp, Ti and Td for a given furnace is known as the controller tuning. A vast majority of PID controllers are tuned manually by control engineers, based on their past experiences and heuristic rules, Astrom et al [2]. Some of these heuristic rules are also captured by commercial expert tuning systems such as Foxboro EXACT controller, e.g., CaUaghan et al [6]. If a partial model can be constructed for the heating zone dynamics, the controller tuning becomes less heuristic. A commonly used simple model is a first order system with dead time, i.e.,
y ( t) = ay(t - 1) + bu(t - d )

(2.3.3)

where u(t) is the voltage to heating element at time (t), y(t) is the zone temperature and (d) indicates the time delay between input and output. An experimental identification of the model parameters (a, b, and d) can be performed by exciting the heating zone by a step change or a random change in the voltage u(t), see, for example, Astrom and Wittenmark [ 1]. Once the model parameters are estimated, the controller parameters can be determined by the well known Ziegler Nichols rules [43]. Some commercial temperature controllers can implement a model based self-tuning algorithm in order to determine the coefficients of the PID controller. These controllers do no need an operator to tune the controller. Following the work of Astrom et al [2] and Kaya and Titus [25], some current industrial temperature controllers and their auto-tuning properties can be summarized as in Table 1.

Controller
EXACT

Manufacturer
Foxboro

Tuning Technique
Identifies zone dynamics by the response of heating zone to disturbances. Uses Ziegler-Nichols type rules to tune the controller. Identifies the zone dynamics by a step change in voltage u. Heuristic and Ziegler Nichols type rules are used to tune the PID controller. Model of type (2.1.3) is identified by introducing a step change in process input u. PID parameters are determined with the model parameters. Exact equations are not published. Identifies Process Model by Step Response.

UDC6000

Honeywell

SLPC

Yokogawa

CLCO4

Bailey Controls

Control of Crystal Growth

225

DPR900 SIPART TOSDIC SYSMAC

Fisher Controls Siemens Toshiba Omron

FUJI PYX-4 Fuji Electric

Identifies Process Model Frequency Response. Identifies Process Model by Step Response. Identifies Process Model by Random Input u(t). Implements fuzzy control with user defined rules and membership functions. Implements fuzzy control with fixed rules.

Table 1. Current Temperature Controllers and Tuning Properties

The SYSMAC controller of Omron is a fuzzy logic controller [39] without self-tuning property. It implements fuzzy control rules such as" if the temperature error is Small, and the change in temperature error is Medium then apply Small Positive heater control voltage". The qualifiers Small, Medium, etc. are defined through their membership functions. For a detailed analysis of fuzzy controllers, see, for example, Batur and Kasparian [4]. The SYSMAC controller can accommodate up to 128 rules. The fuzzy temperature controller of Fuji [14] works on the set-point following error which happens following disturbances or changes in the set-points. It implements a fixed set of fuzzy control rules. 3. CONTROL OF MATERIAL TEMPERATURE Temperature and convective flow distribution inside the material determine the shape of the solid-liquid interface. This distribution, in turn, is dictated by the furnace axial temperature profile, particularly near the solid-liquid interface. Additionally, the ampoule's translational velocity, the heat losses from the side walls of the ampoule, and pressure in the apparatus affect the material temperature distribution and consequently the shape of interface. Since the heat losses from the side wails are not controllable parameters during growth, we will consider the axial furnace temperature distribution and the translational rate as the main process variables that affect the shape of the solid-liquid interface during growth. Taghavi and Duval [41 ] analytically determined the required furnace temperature profile in order to obtain a fiat interface in the steady state. The results are obtained under the simplifying assumptions that the thermophysical properties of the melt and crystal are equal and independent of temperature. Furthermore, convective flows inside the melt are assumed negligible. Their results indicated that a fiat interface requires a rather challenging axial temperature distribution which includes a discontinuity at the interface. Nevertheless, this work is the first serious attempt to solve the material temperature control problem in the steady state. Dantzig and Tortorelli [8], and Dantzig [9] have studied the effects of furnace axial temperature distribution on the shape of the solid-liquid interface. They posed the problem as an optimization problem where the following performance index is minimized with respect to zone temperatures Tz, i.e.,

226

C. Batur et al.

I(T~) = (T~ - T)r (Tr - T )

(3.1)

where Tr(x,y) is the desired reference temperature that we want to establish at a given location (x,y) inside the material. T(x,y) is the actual material temperature distribution established at the same location. This distribution is generated by the zone temperatures Tz, dynamics of the furnace and the material at hand. Dantzig and co-workers obtained the temperature distribution T(x,y) by simulating the thermal dynamics of the material by a finite element model. The constitutive equations describing the dynamics of the interface are given by the following partial differential equations, see e.g., Jasinski and Witt [21], p,c,

OT

= V. (k, VT)
(3.2)

,gT psc, ~ = V. (k, VT) k, -aT - k, -aT=pLy g g

(3.3)

(3.4) where (T) is the material temperature, (p) is the density, (c) is the specific heat and (k) is the conductive heat transfer coefficient. The subscripts (1) and (s) refer to liquid and solid, respectively and (n) indicates the unit normal vector to surface. The equation (3.4) is known as the Stefan's condition which describes the heat flow balance at the interface. Here, (L) is the latent heat of the material and (v) is the crystal growth velocity. The growth dynamics can be characterized by simulating (3.2)-(3.4) by finite element, finite difference or with non-linear electrical analogue simulators [19], [22] under proper boundary conditions. A_~er spatial discretization by the finite element technique, the material temperature's dynamic model can be written in an abstract form as,

M(T)T +K(T)T= T~

(3.5)

where (M) is the temperature dependent thermal mass matrix, (K) is the thermal stiffness matrix and (T) is the temperature inside the material. The material temperature control problem becomes the determination of the furnace zone temperatures Tz such that the performance index (3.1) is minimum. The problem can be considered as the constrained minimization problom where the constrains are given by (3.5). Alternatively, one may view the problem as in inverse problem in heat transfer where the boundary conditions (Tz) is to be determined such that a desired temperature distribution (Tr) or, equivalently, a desired interface shape can be established inside the material.

Control of Crystal Growth

227

The solution to inverse problem is found by the following steps: 1. The reference temperature distribution (T,) is specified for the time instant (t). 2. For a given set of zone temperatures (T~), the material dynamics is simulated by (3.5) until a steady state material temperature distribution T(x,y) is found. 3. A new set of zone temperature (T~) is determined by the gradient descent algorithm, i.e.,
=

(ota) -a

(3.6) where (et) is optimized by a line search algorithm. 4. Steps (2)-(3) are repeated until convergence is achieved. At the end of this step, the material temperature (T) is the least squares approximation to the desired material temperature (Tr). 5. To grow the crystal, a new reference temperatures (T,) is specified at time 0+80 in such a way that it corresponds to the desired shape of the interface at time (t+rt). Dantzig and co-workers solved to material temperature control problem for the steady state conditions, i.e., the optimization is performed once the temperatures, simulated by (3.5), reached their steady state values. They also assumed that there is no available measurement for the material temperature or the interface shape. if the temperature dynamics represented by (3.5) is a true representation for the material and the furnace, and if this dynamics does not change in time, then their solution is optimum in a least squares sense. However, if the model is not exact, as it is expected for most applications, we need some feedback signal to make corrections in order to compensate for the model uncertainties. Srinivasan et al [37] considered the situation where some feedback information may be available. For example, it may be possible to measure the outside surface temperatures of the ampoule. Alternatively, through image processing techniques, one can determine the shape of the interface, therefore, the material temperatures at interface points. Indeed, the interface shape can be quantified for transparent furnaces, see, for example, Batur et al [3], Kasparian et al [24], Potts and Wilcox [33], Chang and Wilcox [7], Neugebauer and Wilcox [30] and Lan et al [26]. Even for non-transparent furnaces, X-ray imaging can locate the interface, .e.g., Fripp et al [ 12], Hubert et al [20], Kakimoto et al [23], and Wargo and Witt [42] as in the case of Czochralski method. Another in-situ measurement tool to locate the interface is to use an Eddy current probe as demonstrated by Stefani et al [38] and Rosen et al [35]. The material temperature control technique proposed by Srinivasan et al [37] is implemented through the following steps. 1. For each sampling period, the material temperature dynamics is represented by a finite element model as in (3.5). 2. The furnace zone temperature set-points are determined by

228
= +

C. Batur et al.

(3.7)

where (]1) is the estimated temperature distribution inside the material, the controller and (TQ is the bias signal that makes sure that T= T,

(Kf) is the gain of

(3.8)

in the steady state. If all temperatures inside the material can be measured (an ideal case), then ]h = T. However, if only partial measurements such as the ampoule's outside surface temperatures or the interface shape is available, then (T) is only an estimate of unknown material temperatures (T). A consistent estimate of (T) can be determined by applying Kalman estimation techniques to the dynamic model (3.5), provided that there is a sufficient number of temperature measurements, Maciejowski [28]. The feedback control gain (Kf) is determined by minimizing the performance index of the Linear Quadratic Regulator, i.e., I(T~) = (7~ - T)r Q(T~ - T) + (T,)r R(T~) (3.9)

where (Q) and (R) are the user specified weight matrices emphasizing on the cost of control action. As in the case of Dantzig and co-workers, the interface is translated by changing the reference temperature (T,) according to a given desired growth rate for the crystal. The ampoule is assumed to be in a fixed position inside the furnace. Figure 3 shows the required furnace zone temperatures for the growth of flat interface in the case of simulated Lead Bromide growth. The choice of reference temperature (Tr) for the material temperature controller is determined by the desired interface shape. However, for a given desired interface shape one can specify more than one set of reference temperatures and they all correspond to the same shape. Therefore, additional constraints are needed to uniquely determine the reference temperature. One obvious constrain is the physical realizabilitiy of the requested temperature distribution inside the material. One can only specify a set of reference temperatures (T,) that can be realizable by the furnace temperature distribution see, for example, Srinivasan et al [37]. Other constrains such as thermally induced stress limits around the interface and inside the crystal can also be used to specify the reference temperatures, as discussed by Gevelber and Stephanopolus [15] in the case of Czochralski growth. The crystal quality control problem becomes much more difficult if one also considers the influence of convection in the melt. In fact, as simulated by Chang and Brown [44] and Murray et al [29], the compositional uniformity depends on the convective flows and the

Control of Crystal Growth

229

shape of the melt-solid interface. In all three techniques presented in this section, i.e., Taghavi and Duval [41], Dantzig and Tortorelli [8], and Srinivasan et al [37], it is assumed that the conduction is the main heat transfer phenomenon inside the ampoule. Therefore, their results may not be valid for large Rayleigh or Pecklet number. From the control engineering point of view, the main difficulty is the lack of measurements of the variables to be controlled. As in the case of temperatures, if the outside surface temperatures or the interface shape is measurable, then it is possible to estimate the inside material temperatures. However, the measurement of the flow velocities and patterns inside the melt is prohibitive. Therefore, the construction of the feedback control laws to manipulate the convective flows to a desirable pattern is also prohibitive at this stage.

CONCLUSION An ideal control sytem should control the quality of crystal during growth. This definition implies in-situ measurement of quality. However, the quality can mostly be determined off-line by a combination of variables such as density of crystal defects, polycrystallization, density of impurity atoms, uniformity of doping material, etc. These variables are not normally available to the controller due to measurement difficulties. The shape of the solid-liquid interface can be related to crystal quality since it influences the crystalline perfection and compositional homogeneity. Therefore, it is practical to control the shape by manipulating the thermal boundary conditions surrounding the interface. For a given interface shape, there is a corresponding temperature distribution inside the material that generates this specified interface shape. The task of the interface shape controller is to establish this temperature distribution by setting up the appropriate boundary conditions, i.e. the temperature distribution inside the furnace. We surveyed the current control design methodologies for the control of zone temperatures inside the furnace. Most industrial temperature controllers can handle the temperature control problem easily if there is negligible interaction among heating zones, since the zone dynamics are generally slow. If the thermal interactions are strong, a multiinput multi-output model based controller is needed. The material temperature control problem can be solved with or without the feedback. Open loop solutions not requiring feedback temperature measurements can determine the optimum furnace temperature distribution for a desired interface shape. The optimality is in a least squares sense and the solution only applies to steady state conditions. If some measurements such as the outside ampoule surface temperatures and/or the interface shape are available then a Linear Quadratic Regulator can be designed to generate the optimum furnace temperature distribution for any time instant. These techniques are successfully applied to simulated crystal growth and remain to be demonstrated on real crystal growth systems.

230 r~ o

C. Batur et al.
0 ~th

0 0

~3

eq e,h o t-c-4

?4
c-q

&
L~ r*'h r~

C~ t~ c,9

E
(',4

0q

c~

Ill l l(
&) 0 .Q ~)

II
r-

E
II
~. > , ~ ~ o

("4 v~

T 0

llll[I
t~ r'h

~ ' ~
('4 O~

~
~, ~._

o
."~.

~
o

'IZ

H r~

<

L)

E
t'J c~h

II

.~ .-- '1= ~

~SD

Control of Crystal Growth

231

ACKNOWLEDGMENT The work presented in this paper is funded by Processing Science and Technology Branch, Materials Division NASA LEWIS Research Center. The first two authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support.
REFERENCES

1. Astrom, J. J., Wittenmark, B., Computer Controlled Systems, Prentice Hall 1990. 2. Astrom, K. J., Hagglund,, Hang, C. C., Ho, W. K., "Automatic Tuning and Adaptation for PID Controllers - A Survey", Control Engineering Practice, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 699-714, 1993. 3. Batur, C., Sharpless, R B, Duvai, W.MB, Rosenthal, BN., Singh, N B, "Identification and Control ofa Multizone Crystal Growth Furnace", Journal of Crystal Growth, 119, pp. 371-380, 1992. 4. Batur C., Kasparian V., "Fuzzy Knowledge Based Controller Design", in Intelligent Systems in Design and Manufacturing. 1994. Published by ASME Press. 5. Batur, C, Sharpless, R. B., Duval, W.MB, Rosenthal, B.N., "Self-tuning multivariable Pole Placement Control of Multizone Crystal Growth Furnace", Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing, Vol. 6, pp. 111-123, 1992. 6. Callaghan, P. J., Lee, P.L., Newell, R. B., "Evaluation of Foxboro Controller", Process Control Engineering, May, pp 38-40, 1986. 7. Chang, C. E., Wilcox, W. R., Journal of Crystal Growth, 21, pp:182, 1974. 8. Dantzig, J. A., Tortorelli, D. A. " Optimal Design of Solidification Processes", Third Int. Comf. on Inverse Design Concepts, (ICIDES-III), Editor: G.S. Dulikravich, Washington DC, October 23-25,, pp:213-225, 1991 9. Dantzig, J. A., "Modelling Liquid-Solid Phase Changes with Melt Convection", Int. Journal of Numerical Methods in Engineering, 28, pp: 1769,1785, 1989. 10. Dutta, P. S., Sangunni, K. S., Bhat, H. L., Kumar, V., "Growth of Gallium Antimonide by Vertical Bridgman Technique with Planar Crystal-Melt Interface", Journal of Crystal Growth, 141, pp: 44-50, 1994. 11. Ella, C. F, "RTP Multivariable Temperature Controller Development", Proceedings of the American Control Conference, pp: 907-911, 1994. 12. Fripp A. L, Debnam, J. W., Berry, R. F" Imaging of Directional Solidification Interfaces", NASA Technical Briefs, February 1988.

232

C. Batur et al,

13. Fu, T. W., Wilcox, W. R., " Influence of Insulation on Stability of Interface Shape and Position in the Vertical Bridgman Stockbarger Tecnique", Journal of Crystal Growth, 48, pp: 416-424, 1980. 14. Fuji PYX-4, Fuzzy Controller, Total Temperature Instrumentation, Villiston, VT. 15. Gevelber, M. A., Stephanopoulus, G., Wargo, J. "Dynamics and Control of the Czochralski Process", Journal of Crystal Growth, 91. pp: 199, 1988. 16. Gevelber, M. A., Stephanopoulus "Control and System Design for the Czochralski Crystal Growth Process", Journal of Dynamic Systems Mesurements and Control, March Vol. 115 pp:l15-121, 1993. 17. Gevelber, M. A., Stephanopoulus "III, Interface Dynamics and Control Requirements", Journal of Crystal Growth, V139, No. 3-4, pp:281-285, 1994a. 18. Gevelber, M. A., Stephanopoulus "Dynamics and Control of the Czochralski Process, IV. Control Structure Design for Interface Shape Control and Performance Evaluations", Journal of Crystal Growth, V139, No. 3-4, pp:286-301, 1994b. 19. Holder, J. D., Rowe, T. "Spice Heat Transfer Model for Silicon Crystal Growth", The fifth Eastern Regional Conference on Crystal Growth. October 4-7, Atlantic City, Invited lecture. 20. Hubert, J. A., Fripp, A. L., Welch, C. S., "Resolution of the Discrepancies between the Temperature Indicated Interface and Radiographically Determined Interface in a Vertical Bridgman Furnace", Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol. 131, no 12, pp:75-82, July 1993. 21. Jasinski, T., Witt, A. F., "On Control of the crystal-Melt Interface Shape During Growth in a Vertical Bridgrnan Configuration", Journal of Crystal Growth, 71, pp: 295304 1985. 22. Jones, C. L., Capper, P., Gosney, J. J., "Thermal Modelling of Bridgman Crystal Growth", Journal of Crystal Growth, 56, pp: 581-590, 1982. 23. Kakimoto, K., Eguchi, M., Watanabe, H., Hibiya, T., "In-situ Observation of SolidLiquid Interface Shape by X-ray radiography During Silicon Single Crystal Growth", Journal of Crystal Growth, 91, pp: 509-514, 1988. 24. Kasparian V.S., Batur, C., Duval, W.MB, Rosenthal, B.N., Singh, N B "Application of Stereo Imaging for Recognition of Crystal Surface Shapes", Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol., 141 455-464, 1994.

Control of Crystal Growth

233

25. Kaya, A., Titus, S., "A critical Performance Evaluation of four Single Loop Self Tuning Control Products", Proc. of the 1988 american Control Conference, Atlanta, Georgia 1988. 26. Lan, C. W., Yang, D. T., Ting, C. C., Chert, F. C., "A Transparent Multizone Furnace for Crystal Growth and Flow Visualization", Journal of Crystal Growth, 142, pp:373-378, 1994. 27. Ljung, L., System Identification, Prentice Hall, 1987. 28. Maciejowski, J. M., Multivariable Feedback Design, Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1989 29. Murray, B. T., Coriell, S. R., McFadden, G. B., "The Effect of Gravity Modulation of Solutal Convection During Directional Solidification", Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol. 110, pp: 713-723, 1991. 30. Neugebauer, G. T., Wilcox, W. R., "Convection in the Vertical BridgmanStockbarger Technique", Journal of Crystal Growth, 89, pp: 143-154, 1988. 31. Parsey, J. M., Thiel, F. A. "A New Apparatus for the Controlled Growth of Single Crystals by Horizontal Bridgman Techniques", Journal of Crystal Growth, 73, pp:211220, 1985. 32. Petrosyan, A. G., "Crystal Growth of Laser Oxides in the Vertical Bridgman Configuration", Journal of Crystal Growth, 139, pp: 372-392, 1994. 33. Potts, H., Wilcox, W. R., Journal of Crystal Growth, 73, pp:350, 1985. 34. Rajendran, S., Mellen, R. H., "Advances Toward Intelligent Processing of Electronic Materials", Journal of Crystal Growth, 85, pp: 130-135, 1987. 35. Rosen, G. J., Carlson, F. M., Wilcox, W. R., Wallace, J. P. "Monitoring CdTe Solidification by an Eddy Current Technique", Ninth American Conference on Crystal Growth, August 1-6, 1993, pp: 168 36. Srinivasan A, Batur, C., Veillette R., "Projective Control Design for Multi-zone Crystal Growth Furnace", IEEE Transactions on Control System Technology, Vol. 2. No. 2, June 1994. 37. Srinivasan, A., Batur, C., Duval W. M. B., Rosenthal, B. N. Singh N. B. "Solid-Liquid Interface Shape Control During Growth", Proceedings of the American Control Conference, Session of Microelectronics and Thermal Process Control, June 21, 1995.

234

C, Batur et aL

38. Stefani, J. A., Tien, J. K., Choe, K. S., Wallace, J. P. "Multifrequency Eddy Current Diagnostics of Axial and Radial Thermal Profiles During Silicon Crystal Growth", Journal of Crystal Growth, 106, pp:611-621, 1990. 39. Sysmac, C200H Programmable Controllers, Omron Electronics, Ili., Cat. No. Po2FAX2, 1994. 40. Soderstrom, T., Stoica, P. System Identification, Prentice Hall, 1989. 41. Taghavi, K., Duval, W. M. B.' "Inverse Heat Transfer Analysis of Bridgman Crystal Growth", International Journal of Heat Transfer, Vol. 32, No. 9, pp. 1741-1750, 1989. 42. Wargo, M. J., Witt, A. F., "Real Time Thermal Imaging for Analysis and Control of Crystal Growth by the Czochralski Technique", Journal of Crystal Growth, 116, pp:213224, 1992. 43. Ziegler, J. G., Nichols, NB., " Optimum,Settings for Automatic Controllers", Trans, ASME, 64, pp.759-768, 1942. 44. Chang, C. J., Brown R. A.,, "Radial Segregation Induced by Natural Convection and Melt/Solid Interface Shape in Vertical Bridgman Growth ", Journal of Crystal Growth, 63, pp:343-364, 1983.

Control of Crystal Growth

235

C. Batur received B.S.M.E and M.S. degrees from the Technical University of Istanbul, Turkey in 1970 and 1971 respectively. His Ph. D degree is from the University of Leicester, England, 1976. He is presently on the faculty of Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA. Dr. Batur published extensively in process control, computer imaging and neural-fuzzy systems. Currently he works on the control of interface shape dt~ring crystal growth and the structural parameter control in polymer processing machines.

Arvind Srinivasan received the B. Tech degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India in 1989, an M.S. degree in mechanical engineering in 1991 and a M.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1993 from the University of Akron. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering in 1994. He studied the control of interface shape during crystal growth. Between 1991 and 1994 he conducted research on problems related to both temperature control and solid-liquid interface control in crystal growth furnaces. This research was supported by the NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland Ohio. Currently he works for InterBol Inc., Canton, Ohio. Dr. Srinivasan's research interests span the areas of modeling and control of distributed systems, system theory, multivariable robust comrol, neural network and fuzzy logic.

236

C. Batur eta/.

Walter M. Duval received his Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1984. His research area was in the two-phase flow, condensation and evaporation of a multicomponent fluid inside a horizontal tube. He is a research scientist in the materials division, processing science and technology branch, at NASA Research Center. He joined NASA Lewis in 1985 to pioneer the newlyformed research area in the materials di~sion on microgravity effects on crystal growth transport phenomena. His research interests include control systems for optimization of crystal growth processes, experiments and computations of crystal growth phenomena, hydrodynamic instability, phase change phenomena, and chaotic dynamics of dissipative systems.

N.B. Singhjoined the Westinghouse Science and Technology Center in 1984 aRer research and teaching experience of more that 15 years in the area of solidification and crystal growth. He obtained Msc and PhD degrees from the Gorakhpur University (UP), India, and was a faculty member in the Chemistry department of Tilak Dhari PostGraduate College until June 1979, when be joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. At Westm_ghouse he is the program manager for crystal growth. Dr. Singh has published extensively in the are of crystal growth and characterization and is fellow of ASM international. He has been involved in the organizing and program committees of many national and international conferences and workshops. Dr. Singh is an active member of AACG (elected executive committee member), ASM, TMS, AIAA, and Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society, and he is the founder of Pittsburgh Chapter of Crystal Growers.