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US 9,777,397 B2Granted
Continuous sapphire growth
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsDale N. Memering, Scott A. Myers
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for continuous sapphire growth are disclosed. One embodiment may take the form of a method including feeding a base material into a crucible located within a growth chamber, heating the crucible to melt the base material and initiating crystalline growth in the melted base material to create a crystal structure. Additionally, the method includes pulling the crystal structure away from crucible and feeding the crystal structure out of the growth chamber.
Claims18
A method comprising:
- feeding a base material into a crucible located within a growth chamber;
- heating the crucible to melt the base material;
- initiating crystalline growth in the melted base material to create a crystal structure;
- lifting a pulling system within the growth chamber to pull the crystal structure away from the crucible, the pulling system comprising rollers;
- and
- after lifting the pulling system, engaging the rollers to feed the crystal structure out of the growth chamber.
3 more elements
A system for continuous sapphire growth comprising:
- a vertical growth chamber;
- a crucible positioned within the growth chamber, the crucible comprising a die set and configured to hold molten alumina;
- a heater configured to heat the crucible;
- a feeding system for continuously feeding alumina into the crucible;
- and
- a pulling system having a set of rollers attached thereto, the pulling system being vertically translatable within the growth chamber and configured to contact a seed crystal with molten alumina at the top of the die set, translate upward, and rotate the rollers to pull a crystal ribbon upwardly and out of the growth chamber.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.