A resistance heating vertical Bridgeman (VB) furnace able to maintain high temperatures up to 1830 °C in ambient air was developed to suppress weight loss of both the crucible and raw material Ga 2 O 3 . Large-size 50 mm diameter β-Ga 2 O 3 crystals with a growth orientation perpendicular to (1 0 0) plane were grown by the VB growth process in platinum-rhodium alloy crucibles using this furnace. The total weight loss during a VB growth run is very small, amounting to less than 1% of the total weight of the platinum-rhodium alloy crucible and the Ga 2 O 3 raw material.