Single crystals of AlN have been grown by seeded (on SiC substrates) and unseeded (spontaneous nucleation) sublimation techniques. Tantalum carbide coated graphite crucibles were used. Temperature gradient and source-substrate distance have been found to be the most influencing parameters of crystal growth. AlN crystals of maximum dimension 12 mm (length) × 10 mm (width) × 300 μm (thickness) were grown on 6H-SiC substrates and the best (0002) oriented crystal showed an XRD omega rocking curve FWHM of 4.81 arcmin. AlN nucleated as independent hexagonal islands and coalesced as growth progressed on. Growth rate of AlN grown on C-face SiC has been found to be higher than that on Si-face SiC. Tantalum carbide coated crucibles have been found to be better suited for AlN growth as the impurity incorporation in to the crystals due to crucible was very less. Spontaneously nucleated crystals exhibited an incompleted pyramid-like structure with (1010) and (1100) as their prominent faces.

Mesoscopic structures of SiC fibers produced from polycarbosilane by different methods were studied by diffraction and small-angle scattering of neutrons and x-rays. Microvoids of a size of 4–10 Å in diameter have been observed for the first time by neutron scattering in a medium momentum transfer range (Q = 0.1–1.0 Å−1). The size and the volume fraction of β–SiC particles were determined for fibers prepared at different heat-treatment temperatures. The results show that wide-angle neutron scattering measurements are especially useful for the study of the mesoscopic structure of multicomponent materials.