Grumman Aerospace Corporation

Louis H Hemmerdinger

Gregory W Knowles

Herbert J Schneider

George B Patterson

A furnace for growing a semiconductor crystal includes an elongated tubular chamber encased within a cylindrical jacket. The furnace is divided into a plurality of zones with each zone having a corresponding insulation block for preventing heat loss from the chamber and to absorb external vibrations. The chamber is heated by sets of heater elements fixed thereto. Each set of heater elements is controlled by a corresponding processing means which supplies needed power thereto for generating the desired temperature in that zone. To draw heat from a particular area, an annular shunt disc may be interposed concentrically between the chamber and the jacket for providing a radial path for heat to flow from the chamber to the environment through the jacket. Because of its sound construction and the requirement of only minimal power, this furnace is particularly well adapted to operate on Earth, and in a micro-gravity environment and withstand launches to and from space.

Apparatus for directional solidification of a crystal material

An ampoule assembly for the growth of single crystal materials is particularly adapted for a micro-gravity environment and includes a plurality of centering rods for spacing a crystalline material from the inner surface of an ampoule. The centering rods are spaced relative to one another to form a dopant vapor passageway to provide uniform stoichiometry of the crystal upon melting and resolidification. Minimum contact between ampoule and the crystalline material ensures greater purity of the crystalline material when the material is transformed into a single crystal.

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Old Bethpage, NY, United States of America

Louis H Hemmerdinger