Similarities and differences in sublimation growth of SiC and AlN

The similarities and differences in development of crystal growth of bulk silicon carbide (SiC) and aluminum nitride (AlN) are discussed. It is concluded that AlN is going to become the second crystal grown in production scale using PVT technique. The growth technology of AlN may take advantage of learning from SiC technology as the latter is based on significant advances achieved in the course of last 20 years. The main differences between two materials are in incongruent evaporation of SiC and in poor compatibility of AlN with regular high-temperature crucible materials.