Patent ID: 7494616

Claim:
A refractory container for evaporating metals having: an electrically conductive compound that is selected from the group consisting of titanium diboride, zirconium diboride, titanium nitride, silicon carbide, chromium carbide, compounds, derivatives, and mixtures thereof; a non-electrically-conductive compound that is selected from the group consisting of yttrium oxide and calcium oxide; an evaporation surface in contact with molten metal; the refractory container having a direction of conduction parallel to a length axis of the refractory container; the refractory container having a plurality of grooves in the evaporation surface; the refractory container is characterized in that the plurality of grooves each having at least one of: a depth of at least 1.2 mm; a width of at least 1.75 mm; and an interval spacing of at least 2.2 mm; and at least two of the grooves have at least 20% of length at an angle of 10 to 170 degrees to the direction of electrical conduction of the refractory container.