Tuesday, November 04, 2014, 16:08

The purpose of this experiment is to improve the fabrication of SiC.  Previously, the SiC target was heated to 2000c and yellow crystals were observed.

In this experiment, 10g of SiC powder (7um size) was previously milled down (actual size to be determined under SEM).  The powder was mixed with 5% PVA and the slurry was pour onto a glass and let dry.  The semi-dry slurry was rolled up into balls. The SiC balls were let dry in over (115C) over night. Taken out 2.903g SiC + 5% PVA, it's rolled up with a small sheet of graphite foil.  Then the targer boat is filled with the sample and wrapped with 3-layers of Ta-heat shield.

The sample will be heated up to 2000C to see if the yellow crystals are reproducible.  It is suspected that there might be a phase transformation from 6H alpha-SiC to 3C beta-SiC. 

Chamber is currently being pumped down... 

Wednesday, November 05, 2014, 14:04

TGHT was ramped up over night, currently at 485A = 1800 C. 

Will do manual step up to get to 2000C.