Crystal growth of a binary compound semiconductor under microgravity conditions Original Research Article

We investigate the possibilities of growing a uniform binary compound crystal in space numerically, proposing a new crystal growth method. We develop a numerical calculation method of the growth of binary crystals. The calculation method is applied to the crystal growth analysis of an InAs-GaAs binary semiconductor and the effect of buoyancy convection induced under microgravity conditions on the crystal growth process is investigated. We find that the concentration field is disturbed and, as a result, the solution—crystal interface is deformed by buoyancy convection even when the gravitational acceleration is as low as 10−6 g, which is supposed to be the gravity level in the International Space Station. We also find that the direction of residual gravity has a strong effect on the concentration field in the solution and the crystal growth process.