Comparison of Different Crucible Materials for the Growth of AlN Crystals

Choice of crucible material is a key issue during the growth of AlN crystal. The stabilities at high temperature and life-spans of boron nitride (BN) crucible,tantalum (Ta) crucible and tungsten (W) crucible were compared. Tantalum crucible behaved worse at high temperature and life-span was shortened as compared with the other two crucible materials. It was very crisp and easy to crack. In contrast,self-seeded AlN crystals with different morphologies could be obtained at different high temperatures using BN crucible. The boron nitride crucible was stable below 2200 ℃,above which it would decompose. Thus it was unsuitable for the bulky AlN crystal growth. Tungsten crucible could endure the temperatures higher than 2200℃. Unfortunately we could only get AlN polycrystallines using tungsten crucible. After 50～100 hours’ run,the crucible was destroyed completely due to the multiple deep cracks. XRD results of destroyed tungsten crucible indicated that the main phases are tungsten carbide and tungsten nitride.