Study on the anisotropy of meniscus in the growing sapphire

This study is aimed at predicting the relationship between the meniscus and the quality of the sapphire crystals produced by the micro-pulling and shoulder at cooled center (SAPMIC) technique. As with different orientations, the shapes of the meniscus vary, so an investigation into the anisotropy of the meniscus shapes is very important for the final quality of the sapphire crystal. An effective model to describe meniscus shapes and their formation process has been presented. The model has been applied to a sapphire crystal of 200 mm diameter in order to check its reliability. The results show that the model proves to be useful for forecasting the final shapes of the sapphire crystal made by the SAPMIC technique.