NAME brings together unique nanoscale materials doping capability at University of Manchester, deposition capability at University of Leeds and device fabrication at Imperial College London. This capability will be used to impact across existing – and unlock new areas of – advanced materials research and will directly lead to a new generation of highly optimised technologies that will be developed, validated and demonstrated.
Advanced Electron Microscopy
CUSTOM/SNOM
P-NAME
Royce Deposition System
Thin Film Device Materials Facility
Advanced Electron Microscopy
The University of Manchester (UoM) has an outstanding electron microscopy facility with 13 scanning electron microscopes (SEM), 6 focussed ion beam (FIB) systems and 5 transmission electron microscopes (TEM). With class 100 cleanrooms and £13 million of equipment in the national graphene institute (NGI), well-established connections to other national facilities (such as superstem, ePSIC and Rosalind franklin institute (RFI)), and over 40,000 total students, the UoM is unrivalled in its capacity to conduct high-impact, novel research.
Key capabilities:
– In situ aberration-corrected electron microscopy
– High throughput EELS and EDS spectral acquisition and data processing
– 4D STEM and precession electron microscopy
– Plasma-FIB (PFIB) for large-volume milling and tomography
– 1500m2 of ISO class 5 and 6 cleanrooms across two floors
– World-renowned labs in 2D materials fabrication, photonics, nanocomposites,
modelling, and optoelectronic transport.
Lead academic: prof. Sarah Haigh
Technical Specialist: Evan Tollitson
Links:
https://www.superstem.org/
https://www.diamond.ac.uk/Instruments/Imaging-and-Microscopy/ePSIC.html
https://www.rfi.ac.uk/
https://www.graphene.manchester.ac.uk/ngi/connect/capabilities/
https://www.materials.manchester.ac.uk/research/facilities/
CUSTOM/SNOM
The Cryogenic Ultrafast Scattering-type Terahertz-probe Optical Microscopy (CUSTOM) facility provides optoelectronic characterisation at 3 extremes: nanoscale length scales, low temperatures and ultrafast timescales. Our unique suite of scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopes (s-SNOM) enables simultaneous imaging and spectroscopy across a wide wavelength range and forms a key tool for characterising the new quantum materials and devices developed in NAME.
Key capabilities:
– time- scales <1ps,
– temperatures <10K
– length scales <30nm
– wavelength range – from visible to THz
– pump-probe operation
Lead academic: dr. Jessica Boland
Technical Specialist: dr. Baset Gholizadeh
Links
https://www.psi.manchester.ac.uk/research/facilities/
https://allthingsterahertz.com/
Twitter: @DrJessBoland | @allthingsTHz
P-NAME
The Platform for Nanoscale Advanced Materials Engineering (or P-NAME) enables the electronic, optical and magnetic doping of advanced materials to provide localised control of functionality with sub-20nm precision. The tool has 2 beams: 1) a multi-ion liquid metal alloy ion source FIB for sample doping and patterning; 2) an electron beam for sample imaging and exposure (SEM).
Key capabilities:
– sub-5nm resolution e-beam imaging enabling the target for doping to be identified
without ion contamination;
– isotopically-selected ion doping of species from liquid metal ion sources with sub-
20nm resolution;
– deterministic single ion to high dose (e.g. 1019 ions/cm2) doping at energies from
~5 to 75 keV (species dependent);
– 150mm (6-inch) sample handling with vacuum suitcase compatibility.
– in-situ electrical measurements possible
Lead academic: prof. Richard Curry
Senior Technical Specialist: dr. Maddison Coke
Links
https://www.royce.ac.uk/equipment-and-facilities/p-name/
https://www.psi.manchester.ac.uk/research/facilities/
Royce Deposition System
The Deposition System at the University of Leeds is a multi-chamber, multi-technique system for growth of thin film materials, with four growth chambers (Pulsed Laser Deposition, Sputtering, Organics MBE, Topological Insulator MBE) that are connected via ultra-high vacuum transfer chambers. In NAME we are using the Deposition System to grow topological insulator thin films for ion implantation and material property measurements.
Key capabilities:
– Preparation chamber for heating and ion milling
– MBE chamber for topological insulator thin films (e.g. Bi2Se3, (BixSb1-x)2Te3)
– Sample holders for wafers up to 2 inches
– Sample temperature control -100 to 1000 °C
– In situ RHEED for monitoring epitaxial growth
Lead academic: prof. Bryan Hickey
Technical Specialists: dr. Philippa Shepley, dr. Matthew Rogers
Links
https://condensed-matter.leeds.ac.uk/facilities/materials-growth/royce-deposition-system/
https://www.royce.ac.uk/technology-platforms/multi-chamber-deposition/
Thin Film Device Materials Facility
The Thin Film Device Materials facility at Imperial College London is comprised of a 140m2 Class 1000 Clean Room & Labs for Preparation, Deposition, Patterning & Device Characterisation. The co-location of instruments to perform each step of this process enables us to repeat the research life cycle to generate proof of principle plasmonic devices for NAME partners.
Key capabilities:
– We can conduct target preparation, thin film deposition, device patterning &
characterisation all in the same location, enabling an idea to become a device in two
weeks.
– Depositions systems include Pulsed Laser Deposition, Magnetron Sputtering, HIPIMS
& E-Beam Deposition and FIB.
– Patterning capabilities comprise ion milling, etching and photolithography.
– Full spectrum electronic device characterisation as well as surface and bulk,
including XRD and SEM.
– The unique localisation of necessary instrumentation to create, test and analyse thin
film devices and iterate, as necessary.
Lead academic: prof. Neil Alford
Technical Specialist: dr. Peter Petrov
Links: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/royce-facilities/
Connected Institutes
NAME draws on the substantial wider research capabilities of the Photon Science Institute, the Bragg Institute, and London Centre for Nanotechnology, leveraging >£200M investment in world-leading facilities that includes capital investment by the Henry Royce Institute ‘Atoms to Devices’ research area amounting to ~£15M of complementary investment.
For more information and enquiries about access to our toolbox, contact us at NAME_UK@outlook.com.