A method for casting comprising: providing a seed, the seed characterized by: an arcuate form and a crystalline orientation progressively varying along an arc of the form; providing molten material; and cooling and solidifying the molten material so that a crystalline structure of the seed propagates into the solidifying material.

Growth of single crystal epitaxial films of the perovskite crystal structure by liquid- or vapor-phase means can be accomplished by providing single-crystal perovskite substrate materials of improved lattice parameter match in the lattice parameter range of interest. Current substrates do not provide as good a lattice match, have inferior properties, or are of limited size and availability because cost of materials and difficulty of growth. This problem is solved by the single-crystal perovskite solid solutions described herein grown from mixtures with an indifferent melting point that occurs at a congruently melting composition at a temperature minimum in the melting curve in the pseudo-binary molar phase diagram. Accordingly, single-crystal perovskite solid solutions, structures, and devices including single-crystal perovskite solid solutions, and methods of making single-crystal perovskite solid solutions are described herein.

Growth of single crystal epitaxial films of the perovskite crystal structure by liquid- or vapor-phase means can be accomplished by providing single-crystal perovskite substrate materials of improved lattice parameter match in the lattice parameter range of interest. Current substrates do not provide as good a lattice match, have inferior properties, or are of limited size and availability because cost of materials and difficulty of growth. This problem is solved by the single-crystal perovskite solid solutions described herein grown from mixtures with an indifferent melting point that occurs at a congruently melting composition at a temperature minimum in the melting curve in the pseudo-binary molar phase diagram. Accordingly, single-crystal perovskite solid solutions, structures, and devices including single-crystal perovskite solid solutions, and methods of making single-crystal perovskite solid solutions are described herein.

A monocrystal growth method and device. The method includes loading silicon material into a crucible for melting to form molten silicon liquid; lowering a heat shield to a preset position, a first preset distance is formed between a lower edge of the heat shield and a liquid level of the molten silicon liquid; in a first stage, using a counterweight to hang a seed shaft to gradually descend in a first direction, using a camera apparatus to acquire a pixel image of the seed shaft and the lower edge of the heat shield for comparison to reference; then a second stage is entered, in which the image processing apparatus records a current position of the seed shaft, the seed shaft is continuously lowered until the seed shaft extends into the molten silicon liquid for welding; seeding; shouldering; body growth; and tailing.

A monocrystal growth method and device. The method includes loading silicon material into a crucible for melting to form molten silicon liquid; lowering a heat shield to a preset position, a first preset distance is formed between a lower edge of the heat shield and a liquid level of the molten silicon liquid; in a first stage, using a counterweight to hang a seed shaft to gradually descend in a first direction, using a camera apparatus to acquire a pixel image of the seed shaft and the lower edge of the heat shield for comparison to reference; then a second stage is entered, in which the image processing apparatus records a current position of the seed shaft, the seed shaft is continuously lowered until the seed shaft extends into the molten silicon liquid for welding; seeding; shouldering; body growth; and tailing.

An RAMO.sub.4 substrate including a single crystal represented by a general formula RAMO.sub.4, wherein R represents one or more trivalent elements selected from a group consisting of Sc, In, Y, and lanthanide elements, A represents one or more trivalent elements selected from a group consisting of Fe(III), Ga, and Al, and M represents one or more divalent elements selected from the group consisting of Mg, Mn, Fe(II), Co, Cu, Zn, and Cd, in which a main plane of the RAMO.sub.4 substrate has an off-angle a tilted a with respect to an M-axis direction from a C-plane and 0.05|a|0.8 is satisfied.

A method for slicing a crystalline material ingot includes providing a crystalline material boule characterized by a cropped structure including a first end-face, a second end-face, and a length along an axis in a first crystallographic direction extending from the first end-face to the second end-face. The method also includes cutting the crystalline material boule substantially through a first crystallographic plane in parallel to the axis to separate the crystalline material boule into a first portion with a first surface and a second portion with a second surface. The first surface and the second surface are planar surfaces substantially along the first crystallographic plane. The method further includes exposing either the first surface of the first portion or the second surface of the second portion, and performing a layer transfer process to form a crystalline material sheet from either the first surface of the first portion or from the second surface of the second portion.

Production of highly pure comminuted polycrystalline silicon from polycrystalline silicon rods produced by the Siemens process is facilitated by removal of graphite residues from the electrode ends of the rods by removing the contaminated end portions by means of mechanical impulses.

Production of highly pure comminuted polycrystalline silicon from polycrystalline silicon rods produced by the Siemens process is facilitated by removal of graphite residues from the electrode ends of the rods by removing the contaminated end portions by means of mechanical impulses.

A monolithic crystal having the atomic formula W.sub.nX.sub.mY.sub.pZ.sub.r, with at least one dimension greater than about 10 mm. A method for top seed, solution growth of a monolithic crystal, wherein the method includes the steps of: preparing a precursor, forming a seed crystal, and forming the monolithic crystal. Some configurations of the method include the differential control of the crystal flux temperature in a furnace and the rotational frequency of a seed crystal in the crystal flux.