Friday, January 31, 2014, 11:28

Target container is coated with TaC.

The container is wrapped with 3 x Ta heat-shield.

Chamber was pumped down to 1.9e-7 Torr.

HS water valves were opened, no leak detected.

TGHT and TBHT were stepped up to 35A. Waited ~20min, current stabilized and vacuum starting to drop.

TGHT will be ramped up to 580A at 0.2A/min, max voltage = 11.05V.

TBHT will be ramped up to 230A at 0.2A/min, max volatge = 5V.

Initiating auto-ramping: Good Vac = 3.0e-5 Torr, Bad Vac = 4.0e-5 Torr.

 Monday, February 03, 2014, 10:21

TGHT reached 580A pver the weekend.

TBHT sitting at 1.4A, checked archive: never went over 1.6A. Aborted auto-ramp, re-starting auto ramp process for TBHT.

IGP1 = 1.6e-7 Torr.

 Monday, February 03, 2014, 15:23

TBHT running smoothly, must have been and electrical problem.

TBHT currently at 85A, vacuum has not changed, increasing TBHT auto-ramp to 2.0A/min

 Tuesday, February 04, 2014, 10:10

TBHT reached 230A yesterday pm. Measured temp this morning at 1800C.

Initiated TGHT/TBHT auto-cooling at 2.0A/min.

 Wednesday, February 05, 2014, 11:33

Chamber cooled down overnight, vented and opened up this morning.

Smooth run! Container fully sintered.