Key Lab of Semiconductor Materials Science, Institute of Semiconductors， Chinese Academy of Sciences； College of Materials Science and Opto-Electronic Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
The microgravity environment aboard the space provides a unique platform to synthesize materials with improved properties as compared with their terrestrial counterparts, and allows an in-depth understanding of crystal-growth-related phenomena that are masked by gravity on the earth. The main achievements in the microgravity growth of semiconductors are listed below: i) The seeking of perfect crystals with chemical homogeneity benefits a profound understanding on the crystal growth process, typically on the relationships among the convective flows, solute transport and chemical segregation; ii) based on the microgravity experiments, the underlying mechanism of detached Bridgman growth was clarified and used to guide the space- and ground-based crystal growth processes; iii) new crystal growth schemes were proposed and implemented successfully to grow chemically homogeneous semiconductor alloys under microgravity. In this review, the main progresses in these aspects are summarized and the future challenges are discussed.