Natural convection in the melt phase of the Czochralski crystal growth syst
em is unavoidable due to the gravitational field. Both horizontal and verti
cal temperature gradients influence the stability of the melt convection. F
or a tall crucible, a boundary layer type of convection is dominant, while
Rayleigh-Benard-type convection occurs for a shallow crucible. A low Reynol
ds number kappa-epsilon model was employed, but found to be inadequate for
prediction and a more sophisticated model is required. (C) 1998 Elsevier Sc
ience S.A. All rights reserved.