Growth of SiGe Crystals by the Traveling Liquidus Zone (TLZ) Method - Preliminary Experiments on the Ground -

Preliminary experiments on the ground for the growth of SiGe crystals using a ground model of gradient heating furnace (GHF) are reported. For successful space experiments growth conditions obtained using a laboratory furnace should be transferred to a flight model furnace. However, use of a flight model is limited and a ground model which has similar configuration to a flight model is used for establishing appropriate growth conditions. We noted that temperature profile control using a GHF is more complicated than that achieved in a laboratory furnace since heater length is shorter in the GHF. However by several trials we established appropriate growth conditions. Here we report how we tuned temperature profiles in the GHF and how we established appropriate growth conditions for space experiments.