A determination of the electronic conductivity of aerodynamically levitated high temperature liquid metals and semiconductors by contactless methods

In this paper we present results for the electrical conductivity of liquid silicon obtained from samples that were aerodynamically levitated on an inert argon gas stream. The conductivity has been obtained by accurate measurements of the change in the self-inductance and the resistance of a sensing coil in the presence of a conducting sample over a frequency range of 100 kHz to 5 MHz. We show that considerable care must be taken in order to obtain reliable results (especially with regard to changes in the temperature of the sensing coil) and we report on the careful data analysis procedures we have used to ensure the quality of our results.