A modified zone growth method for an InGaAs single crystal

We have been developing a zone growth method for an InxGa1-xAs single crystal with a uniform InAs composition, using an InGaAs source, InGaAs melt and InGaAs seed charged in a crucible. This time, we modified the zone growth method to increase the length of an InGaAs zone crystal. A gap created between the wall around the InGaAs source and the inner wall of the crucible effectively prevents the interruption in normal zone growth because it changes the directions of heat current in the source. In addition, we found that it is very important for single crystal growth that no rotation of the crucible takes place during zone growth, because the degree of mixing caused by melt convection is reduced. The zone growth region of the obtained InGaAs crystal is almost exclusively of single-crystal-type, and it is about 26mm long, which is 1.5 times the region length of the zone single crystal reported previously. We believe that a longer growth period could have further increased the length of our zone crystal, because some of the source remained. The InAs composition (x) of the zone crystal is greater than 0.3, and the crystal diameter is 15mm. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.