Several undoped and Ga-doped germanium single crystals were grown by the vertical Bridgman method using a translating furnace and a multizone furnace, respectively. In both cases it was possible to exert influence on the contact between the growing crystal and the wall of the container. This allows growing nearly completely detached crystals as well as attached crystals in pyrolytic boron nitride containers. In detached-grown crystals the gap thickness between the container wall and the crystal, determined by profilometer measurements, varies from 5 to 50 pm. Observed fluctuations of the detachment gap up to 8 pm along the crystal axis in one of the crystals can be explained by a kind of stiction of the melt/crucible interface, which causes a variation of the meniscus shape. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.