Temperature Controller

Real-time temperature controller designed for industrial/laboratory applications. The system leverages the dual-core architecture of the ESP32 to separate the PID regulation logic from the communication stack.

Technical Implementation

The project focuses on high-precision thermal regulation with the following stack:

• FreeRTOS: Multitasking implementation for deterministic PID timing.
• PID Algorithm: Custom-tuned feedback loop for stabilization.
• Web Interface: Live monitoring via ESPAsyncWebServer with WebSocket support for real-time graphs.

System Interface and Data Visualization

Technical Documentation Assets

Practical Application: Zinc Oxide (ZnO) Synthesis

In the field of semiconductor research, precise thermal control is critical for processes such as thermal oxidation. Using the interactive simulator below, I have modeled the interaction between Zinc and Oxygen atoms under the influence of thermal energy regulated by our PID system.

The Mechanism of Zinc Oxidation

The oxidation of Zinc is a thermally activated process that depends on overcoming a specific activation energy barrier. In the simulation above, you can observe this phenomenon by adjusting the temperature slider:

• Agitation Phase: At lower temperatures (below 400°C), the Zn atoms (grey) and O atoms (red) undergo elastic collisions, maintaining their individual chemical identities.
• Activation Energy: As the PID controller ramps up the temperature, the average kinetic energy of the particles increases according to the kinetic theory of gases: $$E_k = \frac{3}{2}kT$$
• Chemical Reaction: Upon reaching the critical threshold, collisions become energetic enough to overcome electron shell repulsion, facilitating the formation of ZnO (visualized as white-grey particles).

Importance in Semiconductors

Zinc is a fundamental building block for advanced nanostructures. By precisely controlling the temperature profile (Ramp-up and Soak times), we can directly influence the morphology and crystalline quality of the resulting ZnO.

This simulation demonstrates why the thermal stability provided by the FreeRTOS + PID algorithm is essential: even a minor fluctuation of a few degrees can halt the reaction or lead to incomplete oxidation, which would drastically alter the electrical properties of the semiconductor.