ZnTeO3 crystal growth by a modified Bridgman technique

Zinc Tellurite (ZnTeO3) crystals were grown for the first time using a modified Bridgman method with a 2.5 kHz radio frequency (RF) furnace. Single crystal growth of ZnTeO3 was hindered by many complicating factors, such as the evaporation of TeO2 above 700 °C and the formation of more than one phase during crystal growth. While there were several successful runs that produced ZnTeO3 single crystals, it was found that large (≥10 cm3) single ZnTeO3 crystals resulted when the crucible was exposed to a steeper vertical thermal gradient and when the temperature of the melt was raised to at least 860 °C. The results of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were in accordance with the X-ray powder diffraction file (PDF) for ZnTeO3. Some optical, electrical and structural properties of ZnTeO3 single crystals were reported in this paper.