ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,227,877, issued on Feb. 18, was assigned to II-VI DELAWARE INC. (Wilmington, Del.).
"Continuous replenishment crystal growth" was invented by Nathan Stoddard (Winchester, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An apparatus for growing a crystal includes a growth chamber and a melt chamber thermally isolated from the growth chamber. The growth chamber includes: a growth crucible configured to contain a liquid melt; and a die located in the growth crucible, the die having a die opening and one or more capillaries extending from within the growth crucible toward the die opening. The melt chamber includes: a melt crucible configured to receiv...