Crystal Growth Technology

Traditional crystal growth processes rely on growth from a melt or liquid. There are at least three impediments for growing ZnO using traditional melt growth processes. They are melt containment, ZnO decomposition at atmospheric pressure near the melting point, and crystal contamination. The patented technique used by Cermet eliminates these problems. In recent work, zinc oxide was melted and centimeter-sized single crystals were solidified. The crystals were of a very high quality, with a double crystal x-ray diffraction half maximum of approximately 42 arcseconds. Additionally, photoluminescence spectroscopy at 10 K yielded a band edge emission at 3.3593 eV, with a FWHM of 1.5 meV, with an observed quantum efficiency of 11%.

Cermet's patented crystal growth technology is making possible the bulk crystal growth of a family of high melting point materials. These systems have been used to melt and solidify aluminum nitride. Other materials under development using this technique include gallium nitride, and lanthanum gallium silicate. Cermet researchers have also been involved in induction melting and growth of refractory oxide/metal composite single crystals, yttria-stabilized zirconia single crystals, single crystals of thorium oxide (highest melting point oxide at approximately 3300°C ), and rare earth oxide single crystals.