Numerical modeling of frequency influence on the electromagnetic stirring of semiconductor melts

Abstract

Alternating magnetic fields can be used in order to increase the level of convection and to mix the doped semiconductor alloys. A numerical analysis of the electromagnetic induced convection in GaInSb semiconductor melts is performed by using the software package CrysVUn. The magnetic field parameters are varied in order to obtain a maximum efficiency of the induced convection with a minimum quantity of the heat released in the melt. The influence of the electrical current frequency on the convection intensity is analyzed for samples with various radii (R = 0.5 – 3cm). Numerical procedure is validated by comparing the numerical results obtained in mercury samples with the experimental data given from the literature, which show a maximum stirring for a magnetic skin depth δ = 0.2R , in the case of a mercury sample with the radius R = 10 cm. This maximum corresponds to a shielding parameter Rω = 40. Our numerical results show that the value of the shielding parameter for which the convection intensity reaches the maximum depends on the sample radius and increases when the sample radius increases. The results of this analysis are important in the case of samples with small radius, when a good mixing of the melt can be obtained for frequencies much lower than those corresponding to a shielding parameter Rω = 40. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)