Method of and apparatus for growing crystals

Claim 1

An apparatus for producing a crystalline body which comprises: means for supporting a bar member upon which crystallizable material can form a crystal from a melt of said material derived from a source member positioned to form a crystallization interface with said bar member and for moving said members relatively in a generally axial direction to effect growth of said crystal; means for magnetically suspending at least one of said members so that a generally axial displacement thereof can be effected in a substantially frictionless manner, and including a magnetizable core connected with said one of said members; a radial stabilizer for magnetically stabilizing said core and including an array of electromagnets providing an annular gap between said core and said array, a position sensor for detecting the position of said core with respect to said array, and an electrical controller responsive to said position sensor for controlling electrical energization of said electromagnets in response to a detected position of said core; and means for applying a signal to said controller to impart transverse displacement to said core by controlled energization of said electromagnets to effect relative displacement of said members and intimate mixing of said melt at said interface.

Claim 2

An apparatus for producing a crystalline body which comprises: means for supporting a bar member upon which crystallizable material can form a crystal from a melt of said material derived from a source member positioned to form a crystallization interface with said bar member and for moving said members relatively in a generally axial direction to effect growth of said crystal; means for magnetically suspending at least one of said members so that a generally axial displacement thereof can be effected in a substantially frictionless manner, and including a magnetizable core connected with said one of said members; a radial stabilizer for magnetically stabilizing said core and including an array of electromagnets providing an annular gap between said core and said array, a position sensor for detecting the position of said core with respect to said array, and an electrical controller responsive to said position sensor for controlling electrical energization of said electromagnets in response to a detected position of said core; and means for applying a signal to said controller to impart transverse displacement to said core by controlled energization of said electromagnets to effect relative displacement of said members and intimate mixing of said melt at said interface.

Claim 4

An apparatus for producing a crystalline body which comprises: means for supporting a bar member upon which crystallizable material can form a crystal from a melt of said material derived from a source member positioned to form a crystallization interface with said bar member and for moving said members relatively in a generally axial direction to effect growth of said crystal; means for magnetically suspending at least one of said members so that a generally axial displacement thereof can be effected in a substantially frictionless manner, and including a magnetizable core connected with said one of said members; and means for inducing controlled transverse relative displacement of said members and including: an array of electromagnets providing an annular gap between said core and said array, a position sensor for detecting the position of said core with respect to said array, a comparator having an actual-value input connected to said position sensor and a setpoint-value input, and a sine-wave or cosine-wave generator connected to said setpoint-value input to impart transverse displacement to said core by controlled energization of said electromagnets to effect relative displacement of said members and intimate mixing of said melt at said interface.

Claim 5

An apparatus for producing a crystalline body which comprises: means for supporting a bar member upon which crystallizable material can form a crystal from a melt of said material derived from a source member positioned to form a crystallization interface with said bar member and for moving said members relatively in a generally axial direction to effect growth of said crystal; means for magnetically suspending at least one of said members so that a generally axial displacement thereof can be effected in a substantially frictionless manner, and including a magnetizable core connected with said one of said members; and means for inducing controlled transverse relative displacement of said members and including: an array of electromagnets providing an annular gap between said core and said array, a position sensor for detecting the position of said core with respect to said array, a comparator having an actual-value input connected to said position sensor and a setpoint-value input, and a sine-wave or cosine-wave generator connected to said setpoint-value input to impart transverse displacement to said core by controlled energization of said electromagnets to effect relative displacement of said members and intimate mixing of said melt at said interface.