The effect of oxygen on the temperature fluctuation of Marangoni convection in a molten silicon bridge

Abstract

Temperature fluctuations in a half-zone liquid bridge of molten silicon were measured under precisely controlled oxygen partial pressure in the ambient atmosphere. A transition from a mode with non-periodic fluctuations in temperature to one with periodic fluctuations occurred when the oxygen partial pressure at the inlet was increased from 3.5×10 −7 to 1.8×10 −5 MPa. The transition indicates that the absolute temperature coefficient of surface tension decreases with increasing oxygen partial pressure at the silicon surface.