The micro-pulling down system is of very high quality, and was built by Cyberstar (France) – a well-known company producing crystal growth systems. The furnace has an inductive heating system which enables 150°C/mm temperature gradients, next to the crystal/melt interface; a wide range of pulling rates (from 0.01 mm/h to 99 mm/minute); temperatures up to 2100°C. The setup build is equipped with a hermetic chamber allowing crystal growth with a controllable atmosphere (air, nitrogen, CO2, argon and vacuum), powerful Huttinger generator working at frequencies 5-20 kHz, and an X-Y seed motion controller. 

Samples in the form of rods from 150µm up to few mm in diameter can be manufactured. To fabricate larger samples, it is necessary to apply larger crucibles. The die attached at the crucible bottom influences the shape and the size of the obtained rod. The geometry of the rod depends on the shaper at the bottom of the crucible (rectangular, square, rod).

Another new system of very high quality, and also built by Cyberstar. It is equipped with an induction heating system. Following parameters are available: high temperature gradients up to 150 K/mm next to the crystal/melt interface; a wide range of pulling rates (from 0.01 mm/h to 99 mm/min.); and temperatures up to 2100°C. The newest solution proposed by the IMIF/CeNT team group is the apparatus which allows weighing rods during the solidification process; it also enables rotation of the growing rod. The apparatus is prepared to be equipped in a continuous feeding system in future, which can greatly help in the homogeneity of dielectric materials doped with various nanoparticles (plasmonic nanoparticles, quantum dots).