February 2, 2025
Shop NowA float zone wafer is a monocrystalline silicon wafer of semiconductor quality produced by the float zone crystal growth method. Crystalline silicon without flaws can be produced by melting a tiny area of silicon in a vacuum to eliminate impurities.
In contrast to traditional Czochralski (CZ) wafers, float zone wafers offer special features that make them a desirable substitute, such as their high terahertz radiation transparency and remove impurities and crystal lattice defects that can impair device performance.
Because of their high transparency of terahertz radiation, float-zone silicon wafers are commonly used in fabricated optical components, such as windows and lenses, for terahertz applications.
Applications for float-zone silicon include detectors, power devices, and highly efficient solar panels. That’s because FZ silicon has a very high resistivity compared to CZ silicon.
Electromagnetic waves with wavelengths of 3 mm to 30 mm, or 100 GHz to 10 THz, are referred to as being in the Terahertz range. The primary advantage of terahertz waves, which have sub-terahertz frequencies between 0.1 and 0.3 THz, is that many materials blocking the visible and infrared spectrum appear transparent in the terahertz range.
The depth that can be imaged is limited because terahertz waves are typically more strongly attenuated by media than microwaves.
Float zone silicon is ideal for environments where high resistivity is required. Because of its high terahertz radiation transparency, it is typically used to create optical components for terahertz applications like windows and lenses. Its higher conversion efficiency also makes it ideal for use in satellite solar arrays.
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