Microscopy

Equipment includes:

• 2 UHV Omicron Nanotechnology SPMs (1 STM/AFM, 1 STM/ESCA and 1 STM/SEM)
• 5 Vecco AFMs (2 explorers, 1 Nanoman and 1 Picoforce)
• 2 Vecco SNOMs (Aurora II and III)
• 5 desktop SPM systems

Many of these systems have been adapted for a variety of environments and novel applications, for example the in situ growth of organic and inorganic material and the combination of AFM with highspeed photography (5ns intervals) to study cavitation in fluids

Spectroscopy

A variety of spectroscopic techniques are available:

• XPS
• AES
• confocal RAMAN
• mass spectrometry
• ICP spectroscopy
• photo correlation spectroscopy for particle sizing down to 1nm

Semiconductor Fabrication Facilities:

• K J Lesker PVD75 Sputtering tool – Sputters thin films of metals, dielectrics. Heated deposition and pre-deposition plasma clean facility. Moving shutter.
• Oxford Instruments Plasmalab80plus – RIE (Reactive Ion Etcher) for semiconductor dry etching.
• Oxford Instruments Plasmalab80plus – Deposition. Deposition of a-Si, SiO2, nitride for microelectronics or PV.
• Oxide growth tube furnace – For high quality thermal oxide growth (up to 1100º)
• Jipelec Rapid Thermal Anneal Furnace – (up to 2000ºC in around 2 minutes)
• Mask Aligner – Photolithography
• Electrical Testing – Probe station and electrical analyzer.
  

 Other Equipment

Additional apparatus includes:

• Laser diffraction particle sizing
• Free solution electrophoresis BET
• Gas porosimetry
• Microcalorimetry
• A comprehensive range of rheometers
• Gas liquid chromatography
• HPLC
• A fully-equipped cleanroom for device fabrication
• A new biotechnology pilot plant
• Pilot-scale membrane filtration equipment (micro- to nano-filtration)
• Reverse osmosis

Modelling

The research is supported by theoretical modelling of:

• Quantum properties of nano-structures
• Cavitation in fluids
• Process control
  

Access to External Facilities

The Centre has access to a plethora of techniques and facilities throughout Wales with our partners in the Pan-Wales Nanotechnology initiative that the Centre co-ordinates.