MNCL Instrumentation

Pagina 2 di 3

EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES

In the MNC lab several techniques for surface preparation and characterization are available:

SAMPLE PREPARATION

The insitu preparation of metal surfaces is carried on by means of  well established and standardized procedure in UHV. Ion bombardment (sputtering) with Ar+ ions roughen the surface and mechanically remove the first layers, while the annealing at high temperature produce a smoothing at the atomic level.


Sputtering: Ar+ plasma (high pressure procedure) hitting the sample surface in  the Escalab preparation chamber.


Annealing: Detail of the procedure by means of e-beam (hot filament, polarized sample holder) in the STM preparation chamber.



SURFACE CHARACTERIZATION


Electron Spectroscopies and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy are the main experimental techniques available in the MNC lab. As a general view they allow to extract information on the surface chemical state (electronic configuration of the surfacial atomic species) as well as the sample topography (constant density of states profile) at the atomic level. 


Surface chemical state: inner view of the ESCA apparatus with sample manipulator (right and center), X-ray lamp (left), capillar of UV light (top right), electron gun (right) and electron analizer (top). 


Sample topography: detail of the UHV STM with tip and sample (in the circle), sample slider/scanner (center), u-shaped Cu plates for eddy current damping (bottom) and wobble-stick for tip/sample grabbing (top right)



Ultima modifica il Martedì, 30 Aprile 2013 17:15