The Characteristic of the La<sub>3</sub>Ga<sub>5</sub>SiO<sub>14</sub> Single Crystal Grown by Vertical Bridgman Method in Ar Atmosphere

Abstract

Langasite (La3Ga5SiO14: denoted by LGS) single crystal is one of the lead free piezoelectric materials with high piezoelectricity that is maintained up to its melting point (1470°C). Although LGS single crystals have usually been grown by Czochralski (CZ) method in oxygen contained atmosphere to prevent evaporation of Ga, they were grown by the vertical Bridgman (VB) method in Ar atmosphere without oxygen, and their properties were evaluated in this work. Transparent and colorless LGS single crystals were successfully obtained without Ga evaporation by the VB method in Ar atmosphere, and their resistivity at room temperature was much higher than that grown by conventional CZ method. Piezoelectric constant d11 of the crystal grown by the VB method was 6 x 10-12 C/N, which was close to that of the crystal grown by CZ method. The colorless transparent LGS single crystal turned to orange and its resistivity decreased by annealing in air. Since an orange-colored transparent LGS single crystal has been grown by conventional CZ method, this indicates that color change and the resistivity decrease of LGS crystal is caused by extra interstitial oxygen atoms in the crystal.