Growth of ZnGeP2 crystals from melt

Some features of the growth of ZnGeP2 single crystals by the Bridgman method have been considered. The ratio of the thermal-conductivity coefficients of the liquid and solid phases of ZnGeP2 at the melting temperature was estimated to be 2.3. It is established that, in the case of ZnGeP2 growth on a seed, the most favorable crystallographic directions are 〈100〉 and 〈001〉. It is shown that annealing and electron irradiation significantly decrease the optical absorption coefficient in the impurity absorption region.