Modeling of the shape of polyethylene oxide single crystals and determination of the kinetic crystallization parameters: Theoretical and experimental approaches

The curvature of faces of polymer single crystals is described by the system of Mansfield equations, which is based on the Frank-Seto growth model. This model assumes the velocity of nucleus steps to be the same for their propagation to the right and left and is valid only for symmetric crystallographic planes. To describe the shape of polyethylene oxide single crystals grown from melt and limited by the {100} and {120} folding planes, it is assumed that the layer velocities to the right and left are different on {120} faces. This approach allows modeling, with a high accuracy, of the observed shapes of polymer single crystals grown at different temperatures, which makes it possible to determine unambiguously the fundamental crystallization parameters: the dimensionless ratio of the secondary homogeneous nucleation rate to the average velocities of nuclei along the crystallization planes and the ratio of nucleus velocities to the right and left. In addition, it was found that a known macroscopic single-crystal growth rate can be used to determine the absolute values of the secondary homogeneous nucleation rate and the velocities of nuclei along the growth plane.     

Growth of NiAl shape memory alloy single crystals

As a potential candidate of high temperature Shape Memory Alloy (SMA), inter metallic compound NiAl has been studied for more than 30 years. In order to understand better the mechanism of the Shape Memory Effect(SME) in β -NiAl phase, its bulk single crystal have been prepared with an improved magnetic levitation cold crucible Czoehralski(CZ) technique in our lab. The crystal growth procedure and the β -NiAl phase stability are discussed in this paper.     

Effect of the growth rate on thermal conditions during the growth of single crystals with melt feeding

An attempt is made to establish a correlation between the radial and axial growth rates and the change in the conditions of heat transfer from a growing crystal to the atmosphere of the water-cooled vacuum furnace for the growth of large alkali halide single crystals. It is found experimentally that an increase in the growth rate leads to an increase in the automatic compensation of the melt temperature by the main heater. In this case, the thickness of the layer of melt condensate on the end face and the lateral surface of the crystal decreases. It is revealed that the possibility of growing infinitely long ingots in the presence of intense melt evaporation is restricted by the possibilities of the heat transport through the boundary between the furnace atmosphere and the cooled furnace walls, onto which melt condensate deposits.     

Bulk GaN single crystals: growth conditions by flux method

Hexagonal GaN platelet crystals with a size of 1–4 mm have been grown by a Li-based flux method. The influence of growth conditions such as the molar ratio of starting materials, temperature, pressure, the position of Li₃N in the crucible on the growth of GaN single crystals was studied. The quality of GaN single crystal was checked by optical microscope and X-ray rocking curve.     

Effect of ultrasound on the growth of semiconductor single crystals

Crystallography Reports - The influence of ultrasound on striations in InSb, GaAs, and Bi-Sb single crystals grown by the modified Czochralski method was studied. Ultrasonic waves with a frequency...     

Parity violation and parity conservation in unstirred crystallization: Effect of first crystals

Statistics of nucleation of chiral forms was studied to establish the effect of the number of first crystals and their handedness on distributions of enantiomers. Various bimodal, trimodal and unimodal distributions are obtained in unstirred crystallization, depending on the number of initial crystals and growth conditions. The binomial distribution satisfactorily describes experimental distributions of enantiomeric excess and may be used to predict distributions and probabilities of nucleation of enantiomers. The first nucleated crystals determine the handedness of secondary crystals, and number of initial crystals governs statistics of chiral nucleation. According to the binomial distribution if single crystals nucleate as the first, the bimodal distributions result with D and L peaks. If LD, LL, and DD pairs are nucleated as first, trimodal distributions with D, R, and L peaks are created, and if groups of crystals of various handedness nucleate as the first the unimodal distributions of enantiomeric excess with racemate R peaks are formed. Chiral nucleation experiments on sodium bromate were the basis for the theoretical considerations and verifications of predictions resulting from binomial distributions on probabilities of the creation of L and D crystals, and racemates, and the presence of D, L, and R peaks in the distributions. Growth conditions affect the number of the first crystals and effectiveness of cloning, and as a result, the distributions of enantiomers. Formation of pure enantiomers and/or racemates proves that the conservation of chiral symmetry, and the breakage of chiral symmetry can occur in unstirred crystallization. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Effect of thermal annealing conditions on the microdefect formation in undoped GaAs single crystals grown by Czochralski method

The effect of thermal annealing conditions on the microdefect formation in undoped GaAs single crystals grown by the Czochralski method has been studied by X-ray diffraction and metallographic analyses. It is found that the standard heat treatments performed with the aim to relieve elastic stresses and to increase the homogeneity of wafers substantially affect microdefects formed in the crystal. Upon annealing, the micro-defects in ingots and wafers exhibit different behavior. Prolonged annealing leads to an increase in the sizes of large microdefects but does not suppress the formation of small-sized microdefects. The latter defects are formed at T< 950°C upon cooling from the annealing temperature, and their number strongly depends on the density of dislocations, which serve as sinks for intrinsic point defects.     

Effect of zinc doping on pentaerythritol tetranitrate single crystals

In this study, the effect of zinc impurity on the organic high explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) single crystal has been investigated with optical microscopy and ex situ atomic force microscopy (AFM). The optical images show that the crystal shape has a transition with a predictable trend from long crystal to compact one as the zinc concentration is increased. Also, the 2‐dimentional (2‐D) growth hillocks are observed clearly on (110) face with contact AFM. The crystal growth occurs on monomolecular steps generated by 2‐D nucleation and followed by layer‐by‐layer expansion, and the macro‐steps formed onto the surface before spreading laterally as step bunches. The zinc ions are incorporated in growth steps as the zinc concentration is increased. The mechanism of inorganic impurity on molecular crystallization growth is still unclear. However, the incorporation of impurities may significantly affect growth kinetics of defect structure, and the bulk properties of molecular crystals. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Growth of dysprosium garnet single crystals with spiral shape using Czochralski technique

The growth conditions of dysprosium garnets single crystals, to obtain a long and good spiral shape crystal, have been investigated using the conventional Czochralski technique along the [111] pulling direction. The good spiral shape of Dy₃Ga₅O₁₂ single crystal with 40 mm in length is grown with its spiral pitch and spiral diameter of 20 mm and 15 mm, respectively.     

Domain structure and dielectric properties of TGS and DTGS single crystals depending on growth conditions

The influence of growth temperature and supersaturation of solution on domain structure and dielectric properties of TGS and DTGS single crystals was investigated. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of domain structures was carried out. The optimal growth conditions were found. It proves to be useful to arrange the measured values in table where lines correspond to growth temperatures and columns – to supersaturations for investigation of optimal growth conditions. The diagonal of extremal values exists in this table. The existence of optimal growth conditions explains in terms of interaction between domain and defect structures.     

Solubility and crystallization of BaHPO4 crystals

A study of growth of barium hydrogen phosphate (BaHPO₄) crystal from solution is reported. The raw materials of barium hydrogen phosphate were successfully synthesized through chemical reaction in water. The solubility in HCl and H₃PO₄ solution were studied. It increased when acid concentration and temperature become higher, and the fitted curve of solubility is nearly a line. The acid concentration affects crystalline morphology of BaHPO₄ crystal. The crystallization is well when the acid solution ranges from 0.5 to 0.8M. © 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim     

Efficient conditions for the growth of MoO3 single crystals under oxygen atomsphere

Single crystals of MoO₃ have been grown under an oxygen atmosphere using a horizontal tubular furnace. The temperature and pressure necessary to grow satisfactory crystals in oxygen along [100] and [010] directions are determined.     

Investigation of the variations in the crystallization front shape during growth of gadolinium gallium and terbium gallium crystals by the Czochralski method

Numerical investigation of the variations in the crystallization front shape during growth of gadolinium gallium and terbium gallium garnet crystals in the same thermal zone and comparison of the obtained results with the experimental data have been performed. It is shown that the difference in the behavior of the crystallization front during growth of the crystals is related to their different transparency in the IR region. In gadolinium gallium garnet crystals, which are transparent to thermal radiation, a crystallization front, strongly convex toward the melt, is formed in the growth stage, which extremely rapidly melts under forced convection. Numerical analysis of this process has been performed within the quasistationary and nonstationary models. At the same time, in terbium gallium garnet crystals, which are characterized by strong absorption of thermal radiation, the phase boundary shape changes fairly smoothly and with a small amplitude. In this case, as the crystal is pulled, the crystallization front tends to become convex toward the crystal bulk.     

Effect of plasma hydrogenation on the defect properties of CuInSe2 single crystals

The defect properties of p-type CuInSe₂ single crystals hydrogenated by diffusion from a plasma source are investigated using the Rutherford backscattering/channeling technique and photoacoustic spectroscopy. Plasma hydrogenation is found to produce severe lattice damage, to affect the intrinsic defect equilibrium in the near surface region of the crystals and to create an additional donor. A defect formation model including both defect passivation by hydrogen and damage induced defect creation is proposed to explain the experimental data. The thermal stability of the property modifications is limited to temperatures below about 100 °C.     

A crystallizer for the investigation of conditions of growth of single crystals from solutions

The crystallizer of the Walker-Kohman type for isotherm growing of single crystals from solutions is described which has been designed to provide the maintenance of constant conditions of crystallization chosen in advance and the investigation of the influence of these conditions on the resulting structural regularity of the crystals as grown. The temperature of the solution can be kept inside the interval from 30 to 60°C, with an accuracy ±0.002°C. The equipment allows the setting and keeping the requested value of supersaturation, hydrodynamic conditions, thermal stabilization of the crystallization solution and enables the optic and gravimetric observing of the single crystal during its growth. The total function of the described equipment was tested by growing single crystals of triglycine sulphate at 52°C.     

Effect of neutron irradiation on stratigraphy in calcium fluoride single crystals

Natural single crystals of calcium fluoride have been cleaved along {111} planes and a number of matched pairs have been obtained. One piece from etch pairs have been irradiated with thermal and pile neutrons, the flux varying from 1.3 × 10⁴ to 3.0 × 10¹³ neutrons cm⁻². After irradiation, the irradiated and their non-irradiated counterparts have been matched. They were then etched simultaneously in 0.2 N hydrochlorid acid for the same period. The stratigraphical etch patterns produced have been studied optically. There is no exact correspondence of the stratigraphical etch patterns have been observed on the irradiated and non-irradiated matched pairs. The disappearing in the stratigraphical pattern of the irradiated crystals increases with increase in the dose of irradiation. The implications are dicussed.     

Effect of the defect structure character in calcite single crystals on X-ray diffraction

The paper presents experimental results for the dependence of the integral intensity of anomalous transmission T_i and Laue reflection R_i of X-rays on the structural quality of calcite single crystals as obtained by a two-crystal spectrometer. The relation between X-ray dynamic and kinetic scattering as a function of the sample thickness, densities of perfect dislocations in perfect CaCO₃ crystals and of atom-vacancy complexes in calcite crystals with „background”︁ has been found. Distortions due to perfect grown-in dislocations in calcite are shown to exceed those produced in crystals with „background”︁. The latter appear to be more X-ray transparent. A comparison with results of twin layer thickening experiments on CaCO₃ crystals of different qualities again points to the different nature of these distortions. In CaCO₃ crystals with the dislocation density of up to 2 × × 10³ cm⁻², the X-ray scattering, in our experiments, was consistent with the dynamic diffraction theory, while at higher dislocation densities, the X-ray scattering markedly differs from it.