Patent ID: 8647433

Claim:
A method of growing monocrystalline germanium (Ge) crystals in a crystal growth furnace including a heating source, a plurality of heating zones, an ampoule and a crucible, the method comprising: loading raw Ge material into the crucible; sealing the crucible and the container; placing the crucible into the crystal growth furnace having a crucible support; melting the raw Ge material in the crucible to create a melt; controlling a crystallizing temperature gradient of the melt while placing the melt in contact with the seed crystal; forming a monocrystalline germanium ingot via movement of the crystallizing temperature gradient and/or the crucible relative to each other; and cooling the monocrystalline germanium ingot; wherein monocrystalline germanium ingots having a micro-pit density (MPD) of greater than about 0.025/cm 2 and less than about 0.51/cm 2 are reproducibly provided.