9th International Workshop on Crystal Growth Technology (IWCGT-9)
Berlin/Germany · June 8–11, 2026
Crystal growth is continuing to shape the foundation of major advances in technology. We are delighted to anounce the next IWCGT to take place in Berlin-Adlershof, Germany, in June 2026, hosted by IKZ. Please visit this homepage for further updates as they appear.
Welcome Message - About IWCGT-9
The workshop - the ninth of its series initiated by Hans Scheel and Tsuguo Fukuda - is devoted to Crystal Growth Technology, which also covers industrial scale technologies and equipment. The focus lies on the preparation of bulk and substrate crystals. The workshop aimed to provide links between R & D and actual production, besides bridging science and practice. International experts will present topical lectures with additional time allotted for discussions and debate. Attendees present their research at the evening poster sessions.
Topics of the workshop include for example:
- Growth technology for crystals for electronics and photovoltaics (Si, Ge, III-Vs, etc.)
- Substrate crystals for wide bandgap semiconductors (sapphire, SiC, GaN, AlN, Ga2O3, diamond, etc.)
- Growth of piezoelectrics, lasers, optical and luminescent materials, etc.
- Crystals for scintillators, detectors and large-scale facilities (halides, CdTe, KDP, etc.)
- Modeling, machine learning, AI and process control in crystal growth
- Tools and technologies for crystal growth (novel approaches, equipment, source and hot zone materials)
- Concepts and experience in crystal growth technologies going commercial
We are very pleased to invite you to this important workshop and experts gathering! Please save the date and share this information with interested colleagues.
Steering Committee:
- Matthias Bickermann, IKZ Berlin, Germany (Chair)
- R. Radhakrishnan Sumathi, IKZ Berlin, Germany (Co-Chair)
- Edith D. Bourret-Courchesne, LBNL, USA
- Mitch Chou, National Sun Yat-Sen Univ., Taiwan
- Maria Vittoria Ciampolillo, MEMC Global Wafers, Italy
- Jeffrey J. Derby, Univ. Minnesota, USA
- John Frank, Luxium Solutions, USA
- Jochen Friedrich, Fraunhofer IISB, Germany
- Alexander Gektin, Inst. Single Crystals, Kharkov, Ukraine
- Peter G. Schunemann, OnSemi, USA
- Deren Yang, State Key Lab., Zhejiang Univ., China
- Kader Zaidat, Univ. Grenoble Alps & Krystalix, France
- Evgeny V. Zharikov, General Phys. Inst., Moscow, Russia
Program / Invited Speakers
These international experts (in alphabetical order) have agreed to provide a lecture at IWCGT-9, with the lecture title yet to be determined. We will complete the list (to about 24 lectures) in the next weeks. Note that the lecturers are determined by the steering committee.
Lecturers (tentative):
- Anis Jouini, ECM Greentech (France) "Crystal Growth Equipment Manufacturing"
- Juraj Kajan, AT Crystals (Slovakia) on "Sapphire and YAG by Horizontal Bridgman"
- Kheirreddine Lebbou, Univ. Lyon (France) on "Laser crystals by Cold Crucible methods"
- Siddha Pimputkar, Lehigh Univ. (USA) on "Ammonothermal Growth"
- Lorenz Romaner, Univ. Leoben (Austria) on „Modeling PVT Crystal Growth of SiC”
- Rick Schwerdtfeger, NexWafe (Germany) on "Silicon for Photovoltaics"
- Thomas Straubinger, IKZ (Germany) on "AlN Substrates by PVT"
- Matias Velazquez, SIMaP Univ. Grenoble (France) on “Li2MoO4 Detector Crystals”
- Akira Yoshikawa, IMR Tohoku Univ. (Japan) on "Crucible-free Growth of Oxide Single Crystals"
- Mariya Zhuravleva, Univ. Tennessee (USA) on "Halide Single Crystals for Scintillators"
Contact the Organizers
For any question or suggestion in regard to the IWCGT-9, please contact
Matthias Bickermann
Phone: +49-30-24 64 99-102
Email: matthias.bickermann@ikz-berlin.de
R. Radhakrishnan Sumathi
Phone: +49-30-246499-401
Email: radhakrishnan.sumathi@ikz-berlin.de
The workshop is organized by
