Twin chamber sample assembly in DAC and HPHT studies on GaN nano-particles

Abstract

In this paper, we have suggested a novel idea of twin chamber sample assembly for separating ruby from the sample to overcome certain problems during high pressure-high temperature experiments using diamond anvil cell. Two holes of diameter 70μm were drilled symmetrically about the centre of the preindented area (500 μm diameter) in a stainless steel gasket using EDM. Using ruby pressure calibration, good pressure correlation between these two holes was established up to about 15GPa. Also, high pressure - high temperature (HPHT) experiments on the III-V compound semiconductor GaN were performed up to ∼ 3GPa and 2000K using the two chamber sample assembly and a laser heated diamond anvil cell facility. NaCl, both hydrous and anhydrous, were used as the pressure transmitting media in two separate experiments. Micro-Raman spectroscopy was used to characterise the HPHT treated samples. While GaN remained stable in its wurtzite phase when heated in anhydrous NaCl medium, it transformed to Ga2O3 with rocksalt structure in the hydrous NaCl medium.