Patent ID: 6589332
Filing Date: 2003-07-08
Classification: C30B,G01N

Abstract:
A method for determining polycrystalline silicon chunk size for use with a Czochralski silicon growing process, said method comprising the steps of:arranging polycrystalline silicon chunks on a measuring background, said measuring background providing image contrast between the polycrystalline silicon chunks and the measuring background; generating an image of the polycrystalline silicon chunks on the measuring background with a camera, said image having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a value representative of an optical characteristic of the generated image; processing the image as a function of the pixel values to detect edges in the image; grouping the detected edges to define one or more objects in the image corresponding to the polycrystalline silicon chunks; determining a dimension of each defined object; determining a measurement indicative of a size distribution of the polycrystalline silicon chunks on the measuring background as a function of the determined dimensions of the defined objects; and determining a zero dislocation growth performance of a crystal grown from the polycrystalline silicon chunks as a function of the size distribution.