The elimination of defects in Czochralski grown lithium niobate

A method is described for growing large LiNbO₃ single crystals from the melt, completely free of low-angle grain boundaries. This crystalline perfection was achieved by eliminating localized cellular structures, which were introduced by thermal supercooling due to faceted growth. These defects were distributed only near the developed (012)_h and (0 –1 –2)_h planes when the growth of these planes as facets could be reduced rapidly in the conical part of the boule. Low-angle grain boundaries along the z-axis and polygonization of dislocations were induced by the stresses around the cellular structure. Voids and a corrugated interface have also been observed as a cell-boundary groove trail. The observation of cellular structures indicated that their formation was strongly dependent on growth in the radial direction and the pulled rate. Furthermore, to eliminate these structures, it was found most effective to keep the crystal growth rate, G, at less than 10 mm h^–1.