In this paper, we present our progresses on single‐crystal growth of a variety of compounds from new borates to industrial semiconductors, reflecting our efforts in new compounds exploration, structure analysis, property characterization, flux growth, and vapor growth of industrial semiconductors. Typical examples are selected with each serving to show one theme. YBa3B9O18 and ErBa3B9O18, two members of a newly discovered series RBa3B9O18 (R = Y, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb) are found to be potential scintillation materials and laser hosts. KZnB3O6, the first borate with edge‐sharing BO4 tetrahedra obtained under ambient conditions, shows a very interesting selective ion exchange. The study of a well‐known crystal YVO4 reveals that the negative refraction (NR) is an intrinsic property of all uniaxial crystals. For technically important crystals, our emphases are placed on the study of growth methods. GaN is successfully realized to grow under very facile conditions based on a flux method developed from combining the phase relation calculation and experiments. Achievements on growth of 2–4 inch quality SiC wafers, both semi‐insulating and conducting, through improved physical vapor transport (PVT) method are also reported. A brief summary and our perspectives on crystal growth are given at the end.
2–4‐inch n‐type 4H‐SiC wafers grown by a PVT method.