A century of sapphire crystal growth: origin of the EFG method

Daniel C. Harris

doi:10.1117/12.824452

21 August 2009 A century of sapphire crystal growth: origin of the EFG method

Daniel C. Harris

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Proceedings Volume 7425, Optical Materials and Structures Technologies IV; 74250P (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.824452
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2009, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

A. Verneuil developed flame fusion to grow sapphire and ruby on a commercial scale around 1890. Flame fusion was further perfected by Popov in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and by Linde Air Products Co. in the U.S. during World War II. Union Carbide Corp., the successor to Linde, developed Czochralski crystal growth for sapphire laser materials in the 1960s. Edge-Defined Film-Fed Growth (EFG) was invented by H. Labelle in the 1960s and the Heat Exchanger Method (HEM) was invented by F. Schmid and D. Viechnicki in 1967. Both methods were commercialized in the 1970s. Gradient solidification was invented in Israel in the 1970s by J. Makovsky. The Horizontal Directional Solidification Method (HDSM) was invented by Kh. S. Bagdasorov in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. Kyropoulos growth of sapphire, known as GOI crystal growth in the Soviet Union, was developed by M. Musatov at the State Optical Institute in St. Petersburg in the 1970s. Today, half of the world's sapphire is produced by the GOI method.

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Daniel C. Harris "A century of sapphire crystal growth: origin of the EFG method", Proc. SPIE 7425, Optical Materials and Structures Technologies IV, 74250P (21 August 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.824452

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KEYWORDS

Crystals

Sapphire

Molybdenum

Solids

Patents

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Metals

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