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<p class="MsoNormal">Hello everyone,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#323130;background:white">Sorry, this is going to be long e-mail.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#323130;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#323130;background:white">We have an RTA, JetFirst 100/150 from Jiplec (yes, it is old but was working fine). We use it mostly for annealing PZT/PLZT films around 750 C. We started noticing some changes to the quartz
window (picture attached) and the films are damaged after annealing and develop a white layer on the surface. These films don’t show any ferroelectric properties after annealing in RTA furnace.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#323130;background:white">At this point we are kind of stuck as we cannot make progress on the research projects without annealing the films. We have contacted the company and they suspect that the quartz window is creating
the issue. We have cleaned the quartz window using the procedure the company provided but the problem still exists. The company is suggested to replace quartz window ( with additional parts) and buy a special sample holder (~30K)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#323130;background:white">My questions are:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ol style="margin-top:0in" start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="color:#323130;margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="background:white">Does anyone have RTA from this company? If so, can you provide your contact so that we can connect off line?<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="color:#323130;margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="background:white">Those who use similar RTA furnaces, have you faced similar issues?<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="color:#323130;margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="background:white">I am not positive if the issue is with the RTA or with the samples. When we anneal other samples (magnetic- eg. Ni ferrite etc.), we have no issues with those samples. Anyone who has a RTA furnace- would you be willing to help
us by annealing a couple of samples for us?<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="color:#323130;margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="background:white">At this point, I don’t have the money to buy the components but before I even start looking for resources, I want to make sure the problem is RTA and not the process itself (graduate student is using process established by previous
graduate students but not getting results).<o:p></o:p></span></li></ol>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#323130;background:white">Any help/suggestions/comments would be highly appreciated.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sushma<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="color:#990000">Sushma Kotru</span></b><span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#51575B">Associate Professor<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#51575B">Senior Member IEEE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black">Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black">Materials Science PhD Program<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black"><a href="https://www.ua.edu/"><span style="color:maroon">The University of Alabama</span></a><br>
<br>
2034 NERC, Box 870286 <br>
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 <br>
Phone <a href="tel:205-348-7235"><span style="color:black">205-348-7235</span></a><br>
<a href="mailto:skotru@eng.ua.edu"><span style="color:black">skotru@eng.ua.edu</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black"><img border="0" width="317" height="22" style="width:3.302in;height:.2291in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01DA504E.745C05F0" alt="Divider line"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.ua.edu/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#990000;background:white;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="274" height="54" style="width:2.8541in;height:.5625in" id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image002.gif@01DA504E.745C05F0" alt="The University of Alabama"></span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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