Abstract
Semiconductor is one of the most internationally competitive areas among domestic industries, the major concern of which is the stability of the wafer manufacturing processes. The first process for the manufacturing of the semiconductor wafers is the ingot growing. The vibrations are supposed to be the most important factors for the ingot quality. In order to maintain the ingot quality, the growers have the automatic shut-down equipments which are activated by vibrations, and are sensitive enough to react to the earthquakes generated in Japan. In this study, the structure of an ingot grower was analyzed through experiments and computer simulations, and further the effects of design alterations to suppress the vibrations have been investigated. The final result shows that the vibrations can be reduced substantially to improve the stability of the structure.