Effect of power arrangement on the crystal shape during the Kyropoulos sapphire crystal growth process

The Kyropoulos (KY) method is commonly used to grow large sized sapphire single crystals. The shape of the sapphire crystal thus grown is determined by the heater arrangement and the power reduction history in the Kyropoulos furnace. In order to grow high-quality sapphire single crystal, the heater arrangement should allow different power inputs in different sections in order to control the thermal field in the melt during the growth process. In this study, a numerical computation is performed to investigate the effects of the heater arrangement on the thermal and flow transport, the shape of the crystal-melt interface, and the power requirements during the Kyropoulos sapphire crystal growth process in a resistance heated furnace. Four different power ratio arrangements in a three-zone heater are considered. The results show that for the power arrangements considered herein, the temperature gradients along the crystallization front do not exceed 0.05 K/mm, and that, after the growth of the crown, the crystal maintains an almost constant diameter. The remelting phenomenon may occur during growth when the input power of the upper side of the heater is higher than that of the lower side of the heater. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.