Open Top Seeding Crystal Growth Control System

The majority of crystal growth systems require overcoming problems related to process monitoring and continuous electronic control. In order to monitor and control such systems, high quality industrial equipment has to be used, due to its high reliability, requiring minimum long-term maintenance. In particular, reliable temperature controllers, are prevalent components which are devoted to thermal control of high temperature profiles in crystal growth systems. The following paper describes an inexpensive top seeding crystal growth system, using open-source software and low-cost electronics. This system was built in order to control and monitor the entire growth process in a Bridgman method growth system at our laboratories in Ariel University, Israel.