Patent ID: 7447250

Claim:
An electrostatic levitation furnace comprising a vacuum chamber, main electrodes opposed to each other within the vacuum chamber, auxiliary electrodes which move a sample levitated due to an electrostatic field generated between the main electrodes to a predetermined position, and laser irradiators which irradiate a laser beam on the sample displaced to the predetermined position to melt the sample, wherein a plurality of the main electrodes are arranged at proper intervals in a vertical direction to form electrostatic field generating interspaces between the adjacent main electrodes respectively, the auxiliary electrodes are arranged to correspond to each of the electrostatic field generating interspaces, the laser irradiators are arranged both above an uppermost one of said main electrodes and under a lowermost one of said main electrodes to be opposed to each other coaxially, and one of said main electrodes positioned midway between the uppermost one and the lowest one has a through-hole which is on an optical path of laser beam and through which a sample can be passed.