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Chapter II Solution Growth….
“nutrient” phase (gas, liquid or solid). To start the growth process, the nutrient
is often “seeded” with small crystal to be grown and some workers speak of
“repeating the harvest” after a certain length of time.
There are many well written books available on subjects like, fundamentals of
crystal growth [9]; different crystal growth techniques, their theories,
characterization and applications [10-14] and understanding the growth
mechanism [15]. A handbook of crystal growth is also published [16]. Even
books are available with wonderful photographs of crystals [17], whereas, the
authors Stangl and Stang [18] have considered the growth of a variety of
beautiful crystals as the growth of flowers in a garden which one can do,
thereby, they have agreed to the concept of Gilman [8].
The basic common principle in all these methods is that a nucleus is
first formed and it grows into a single crystal by organizing and assembling
ions or molecules with specific interaction and bonding, so that the process is
slow and multiple nucleations is minimized. Crystal growth processes and size
of grown crystals differ widely and are determined by the characteristics of the
material.
Each category of Crystal growth consists of a number of methods.
The model for selection of a particular method depends on the properties of
materials such as melting point, vapor pressure, decomposition, solubility in
solvent, etc. The growth methods are also heavily dependent on growth
kinetics involved, crystal size requirement and shape of crystal, purity and
nature of application of crystal. However, the present thesis deals with the
growth of pure and amino acid doped KDP crystals by the slow solvent
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