Crystal Growth from the Melt under External Force Fields

The present and future demands of industrial bulk crystal growth from the melt are concentrated on improved crystal quality, increased yield, and reduced costs. To meet these challenges, the size of the melt volume must be markedly increased. As a result, violent convective perturbations appear within the melts due to turbulent heat and mass flows. They disturb the single crystal growth and give rise to compositional inhomogeneities. The application of external force fields is an effective method to dampen and control these flows. After introducing different stabilizing variants, such as constant and accelerated melt rotation, mechanical vibrations, and electric current, this article focuses on the use of magnetic fields. Nonsteady fields became very popular because, in this case, the needed strength of the magnetic induction is much lower than for steady fields. A new low-energy low-cost technology that combines heat and magnetic field generation in one module placed close to the melt crucible is introduced.