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Producing high purity aluminum nitride crystals by the sublimation-recondensation technique is difficult due to the inherently reactive crystal growth environment, normally at temperature in excess of 2100 °C. The durability of the furnace fixture materials (crucibles, retorts, etc.) at such a high temperature remains a critical problem. In the present study, the suitability of several refractory materials for AlN crystal growth is investigated, including tantalum carbide, niobium carbide, tungsten, graphite, and hot-pressed boron nitride. The thermal and chemical properties and performance of these materials in inert gas, as well as under AlN crystal growth conditions are discussed. TaC and NbC are the most stable crucible materials with very low elemental vapor pressures in the crystal growth system. Compared with refractory material coated graphite crucibles, HPBN crucible is better for AlN self-seeded growth, as crystals tend to nucleate in thin colorless platelets with low dislocation density.

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Raman scattering and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy with sub-bandgap excitation has been applied to explore tracing of common impurities (in particular of oxygen) in AlN. Bulk AlN crystals grown by the high temperature sublimation method were studied. PL bands have been observed at around 375 nm and at 560–660 nm and have been attributed to oxygen and to nitrogen vacancy/aluminium excess defects, respectively. The 375 nm UV PL band was found to shift with oxygen concentration. Micro-Raman spectra of the bulk AlN samples were measured in different polarisations. Besides normal Raman modes of AlN the presence of additional vibrational modes was detected. The modes were discussed and tentatively attributed to oxygen and silicon local vibrational modes (LVMs) in AlN.