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Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Optimization of Crystal Growth for Neutron Macromolecular Crystallography
Published on: March 13, 2021
Microgravity-enabled growth of uniform InAsSb bulk single crystal
Jidong Huang1,2, Huaiwen Zheng1, Zhigang Yin3,4
1State Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Physics and Chip Technologies, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
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The growth of compositionally uniform InAs1-xSbx bulk crystals remains a formidable challenge due to severe solute segregation and morphological instability under terrestrial conditions. Here, we report the successful growth of a single-crystalline InAs0.933Sb0.067 alloy (x = 6.7 mol%) on an InAs seed via the vertical gradient freeze method aboard the China Space Station. Crucially, microgravity enables diffusion-dominated solidification by suppressing buoyancy-driven convection. As a direct consequence, the crystal is free of macroscopic voids and striations, exhibits a tenfold reduction in dislocation density, and maintains Sb compositional uniformity (±0.5 mol%) over its entire ~11 mm diameter and ~2.5 mm growth length. Moreover, the microgravity-grown crystal outperforms its terrestrial counterpart in both crystalline quality and electrical properties. These findings highlight that microgravity provides a unique pathway to overcome the intrinsic limitations of ground-based growth, enabling crystal quality unattainable on Earth - with potential relevance to advanced optoelectronic applications.

