A procedure for the determination of the angles \(\tilde{\alpha}_e (r_e, h; p_e)\) and \(\tilde{\alpha}_i (r_i, h; p_i)\) which appear in the nonlinear system of differential equations describing the dynamics of the outer and inner radii of a tube grown by the edge-defined film-fed growth (EFG) technique (Q708569)

Successful growth of silicon tubes by the edge-defined film-fed growth (EFG) method is the subject of experimental and theoretical studies in many papers which take into account different tube diameters and wall thicknesses from different materials. It is essential to have accurate solutions of the system of differential equations describing evolution of the outer and inner free surfaces of the meniscus of the melt/crystal interface. In this paper, a procedure is presented for the determination of the angle \(\tilde{\alpha}_e(r_e, h; p_e)\) \((\tilde{\alpha}_i(r_i, h; p_i))\) between the horizontal line and the tangent line to the outer free surface (inner free surface) of the meniscus at the three-phase point of coordinates \((r_e, h)\) \(((r_i, h))\), where \(r_e, r_i\) are outer, inner radii of the tube and h being the interface height. These angles can fluctuate in time during the growth. The deviation of the tangent to the crystal outer (inner) surface at the triple point from the vertical is equal to the difference \(\tilde{\alpha}_e(r_e, h; p_e) - (\frac{\pi}{2}- \alpha_g)\), \((\tilde{\alpha}_i(r_i, h; p_i) - (\frac{\pi}{2}- \alpha_g))\), where \(\alpha_g\) is the growth angle. The deviations also fluctuate, and the radii \(r_e, r_i\) are constant and equal to zero during the growth. Obtained explicit formulas for the angles \(\tilde{\alpha}_e(r_e, h; p_e)\) and \(\tilde{\alpha}_i(r_i, h; p_i)\) appearing in the right-hand part of the system of differential equations describing the dynamics of tube growth are valid when the pressure differences \(p_e\), \(p_i\) and the contact angle of the profile curves vary in certain ranges. Numerical results given for a silicon tube show usefulness for experiment planning and manufacturing technology.