Last week I put identical ErTe3 growths in Furnace C and Furnace E, two in each furnace; both were spun at 515 C. The growths in Furnace C spun clean, whereas half of the contents of each Furnace E growth was encased in a tellurium lump.
RTe3 growers: Have you observed this tellurium lump phenomenon and have you thought about how to avoid it? My thought is that this occurs when the spin temperature is too low, and too close to the tellurium melting point.
My hypothesis is that Furnace E is calibrated so that 515 C is lower than it is in Furnace C. For this week's ErTe3 growths, I will spin Furnace E at 520 C and Furnace C at 515 C.
Any comments?
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Update: My Furnace E growths spun at 520 C came out fine. I might continue doing this in the future, although I suspect that my spin problems may not actually result from issues with furnace calibration. It's possible that my spin technique for Furnace E is a second or two slower than it is for the upstairs furnaces. The downstairs centrifuge has not been wired for protruding buttons and I need to take off a glove before pressing the start button.
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