Three-dimensional modelling of GeSi growth in presence of axial and rotating magnetic fields

A three-dimensional numerical simulation has been performed to study the growth of Ge0.98Si0.02 by the Traveling Solvent Method. We attempted to suppress the buoyancy convection, in the Ge0.98Si0.02 melt zone, by applying axial and rotating magnetic fields. The effects of the applied magnetic field intensity, on the transport structures in the melt (flow and concentration fields, heat and mass transfer), have been investigated in detail. The steady-state full Navier–Stokes equations, as well as energy, mass species transport and continuity equations are numerically solved using the finite element method. By applying an axial magnetic field of various intensities (2, 10, and 22 mT), we found that as the axial magnetic field increases, the silicon distribution nearby the growth interface becomes more uniform. In the case of a rotating magnetic field, with different applied rotational speeds (2, 7 and 10 rpm), we found that such kind of magnetic field has a marked effect on the silicon concentration, which changes its shape from a convex one to a nearly flat shape as the magnetic field intensity increases. An alternative method to reduce or suppress buoyancy convection, in the melt zone, is the growing of the sample in a microgravity environment, with a gravity level of at least 10−4 the earth normal gravity level; in this case the results revealed smooth and almost perfect straight concentration contours, due to the buoyancy convection weakness.