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A review of the surface tension of silicon and its binary alloys with reference to Marangoni flow
Author(s) -
Keene B. J.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.740100802
Subject(s) - marangoni effect , surface tension , silicon , flow (mathematics) , materials science , maximum bubble pressure method , binary number , mechanics , chemistry , thermodynamics , chemical physics , metallurgy , physics , arithmetic , mathematics
High quality single crystals of silicon required by the electronics industry are produced in bulk by crystal‐growth‐from‐the‐melt techniques. Temperature and concentration gradients at the free surface of the melt will give rise to surface tension‐driven flow (Marangoni flow), which, if sufficiently large, can lead to crystal defects in the end‐product. The relevance of the liquid surface properties to Marangoni flow is discussed. Published data for the surface tension of silicon and its binary alloys have been collated. Analysis of the data suggests that many of the results quoted for the surface tension of silicon may refer to material contaminated with oxygen. None of the solutes in the binary melts exhibits significant surface‐activity in silicon. Potentially important systems, for which there are no data, have been identified.