The Materials Preparation and Measurement Laboratory
The Materials Preparation and Measurement Laboratory (MPML) provides facilities for sample fabrication, processing, patterning and characterization. Key capabilities include: Veeco/Digital Instruments Nanoscope IIIa and Nanoscope IV AFM/STM with capabilities for contact and tapping AFM, EFM, MFM, STM, and Electrochemistry. These AFM/STMs share two J scanners, one E scanner and one A scanner. A water-cooled J scanner with heating stage can reach +250 °C for in-situ high temperature AFM imaging. An AsylumResearch Model MFP-3D AFM provides contact and tapping AFM with much greater Z-axis scan range (up to 40 micrometers, compared with Veeco’s ~5 micrometers), and it also shows excellent high temperature performance at up to +300 °C without leaking. Thus, it is particularly suitable for researches on materials sensitive to oxidation, like polymers. A high resolution FEI Field Emission SEM–Nova NanoSEM 200 and a Hitachi S-2700 SEM are both equipped with electron-beam lithography capabilities. The former has a Nabity NPGS 9.0 system and can write patterns down to 20 nm or smaller, while the latter has a Nabity NPGS 8.0 system and can write patterns down to 50 nm. We have a near-UV and a deep-UV exposure system, an Olympus optical microscope with digital camera and a spin-coating system. We maintain an automated UV-visible single beam light spectrometer, an FTIR spectrometer, a Perkin-Elmer LS50B Fluorescence Spectrometer, and a Gaertner L116S Ellipsometer. For metal evaporations, three custom-built multi-source, turbo-pumped resistive evaporators are installed in ESB35, together with a South Bay Technology RIE-2000 reactive ion etcher and a Ted Pella sputter coater. A V&N customized E-Gun Evaporator was recently added to our evaporator family that has made evaporation of Ti, Pd, and other refractory metals possible. The lab is also equipped for crystal growth, heat treatment (atmosphere-controlled furnaces), mechanical processing, and chemical processing, as well as sample surface cleaning (ozone and UV cleaners). A key aspect of the lab is extensive one-on-one training.
Photographs of our key instrumentation are shown below.
High Resolution FEI Thermal Field Emission SEM-- Nova NanoSEM 200 |
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Hitachi S-2700 SEM |
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Veeco/Digital Instruments Nanoscope IIIa and Nanoscope IV AFM/STM (the Nanoscope IV is shown) |
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Asylum Research Model MFP-3D AFM |
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The Olympus optical microscope with digital camera, a hotplate oven, a near-UV and a deep-UV exposure system and the spin-coating system (L to R) |
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UV-visible single beam light spectrometer (r) and Perkin-Elmer Fluorescence Spectrometer LS50B (l) |
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FTIR Spectrometer |
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Gaertner L116S Ellipsometer |
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Multi-Source, Turbo-Pumped Thermal Evaporators |
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V&N customized E-Gun Evaporator |
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South Bay Technology RIE-2000 Reactive Ion Etcher(l) and a Ted Pella 208HR Sputter Coater (r) |
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Sample Surface Ozone (r) and UV+ Ozone Cleaners (l) |
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