The formation of macrostep during high-temperature phase of barium meta-borate （^-BaB204） single crystal growth has been investigated by both optical in-situ observation system and atomic force microscopy （AFM）. The in- si$u observation results demonstrate that the critical linear size of growing facet exceeding the size that the macrostep generates is significantly anisotropic. The critical linear sizes are around 280 ~m and 620 ~m for {1010} and （T010} planes, respectively. AFM study illustrates that macrostep train with a height of 150 nm^200 nm is one typical morphological feature of the as-grown crystal surface. The riser of each macrostep consists of several straight and parallel sub-steps, indicating the occurrence of step bunching. Additionally, triangular sub-steps with heights of several nanometers on the treads of the macrosteps are found to be another typical feature of surface morphology, which implies a microscopically competitive bunching of sub-steps between various crystallographic orientations.
This paper reports that the rapid solidification of mixed Li2B4O7 and KNbO3 melted in a Pt loop heater has been performed experimentally by the method of quenching, and various morphologies of KNbO3 crystals have been observed in different regions of the quenched melt-solution. Dendrites were formed in the central region where mass transfer is performed by diffusion, whereas polygonal crystals with smooth surface grew in the marginal region where convection dominates mass transport. Based on measurement of KNbO3 concentration along crystal interface by electronic probe analysis, it finds the variety of crystal morphologies, which is the result of different solute distributions： in the central region the inhomogeneity of solute concentration is much sharper and morphological instability is easier to take place; nevertheless in the marginal region the concentration homogeneity has been greatly enhanced by convection which prevents the occurrence of morphological instability. Additional solute distribution in the melt along the primary dendrite trunk axis as well as that in mushy zones has also been determined. Results show that the solute concentration in the liquid increases linearly with distance from the trunk tip and more solutes were found to be concentrated in mushy zones. The closer the mushy zone is to trunk tip, the lower the solute concentration will be there.
