Week 7 July 10th - 16th

This week was full of collecting data. I was able to get the data, understand exactly what it means, and analyze it. Some of the data was good and able to be used and the bad data can’t be used. The bad data is when there is a combination of iron and silicon shown on the data it can’t really be used. This shows us though when the iron has been etched off too much of the silicon surface. By seeing this we can determine how fast the iron comes off. The problem we are facing is that the iron is coming off too quickly and so we had to lower the concentration of the phosphoric acid solution to make it not etch as fast. This week Dr. Nguyen presented the data to his collaborator from John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. Everything is going well. We need more data to figure out what is happening to the iron specifically. The process of etching is what is causing a problem it causes the iron surface to become rough which isn’t good for us. We will see where we can get in another week.
The most exciting news of the week is I survived my first earthquake. Born and raised in Maryland I have never experienced an earthquake before. It was a little weird to feel my house shaking. I was staying at my house in Maryland and sleeping in the basement and above me I hear walking and then all of the sudden the house shakes and feels like vibrating at a resonance frequency (yes I did think that). Well on to next week.