ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the basics of a diversity of growth techniques used so far to obtain bulk single crystals of transparent semiconducting oxides (TSOs), along with their advantages and drawbacks. In terms of crystal growth from the gas phase, the chemical vapor transport growth proceeds at temperature not only much below the melting point of the TSOs to be grown, but also below their thermal decomposition temperature. The molten materials in the form of droplets pass downward to the cooler crystal growth zone, where they solidify on a crystal seed, which is rotated and translated downward as the growth proceeds. The growth proceeds inside the melt until substantially the whole melt is crystallized on the seed, after which the crystal is cooled down to room temperature. The development of bulk TSO single crystals has enormously been intensified in the last decade.
