Facilities

Shared Facilities

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SMIF logo

Our group uses Duke's Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility (SMiF) for most fabrication & characterization work.

Custom PE-ALD-Evap System

Our group has a custom plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) system that is linked to an electron-beam evaporator (Evap) via an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) loadlock.  Additionally, a focused (KDC 40 gridded) ion source is included in the Evap for pre-deposition cleaning or co-deposition "doping" with a low energy ion beam of N2, Ar, H2, or O2 maintained in UHV.  This Kurt J. Lesker-built system is housed in the SMIF cleanroom facility here at Duke and some representative pictures are included below.

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Lesker System

Franklin Group Facilities

Our lab is in the French Family Science Center (FFSC) at Duke University's West Campus.  

Lab in 2014:

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Lab in 2014

Lab in 2020 . . . (well used!):

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Lab in 2020

The following is a summary of the equipment and capabilities in our lab:

1) Cryogenic Probe Station (Lakeshore CRX-6.5K)--Cryogen-free closed cycle refridgerator (CCR) allows for cooling to sub-10K without monitoring or external tanks.  Includes triax connections with an Agilent (Keysight Technologies) B-1500 Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer.

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Cryogenic Probe Station (Lakeshore CRX-6.5K)

2) Aerosol Jet Printer (Optomec 300 Series)--Advancement on inkjet printing; the ink is pneumatically or ultrasonically atomized into an aerosol that is printed through a nozzle with a sheath of inert gas (like a jet) onto any substrate (e.g., plastic, paper, glass, etc.).  Exceptional tool for printing nanomaterial inks into thin films for electronic devices.

     

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Aerosol Jet Printer (Optomec 300 Series)
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Aerosol Jet Printer (Optomec 300 Series)

3) Manual Analytical Probe Station 1 (Signatone H150W)--Tabletop probe station setup for electrical characterization of devices/circuits on rigid or flexible substrates up to 4" in diameter, including stereo-zoom microscope with digital camera. Includes interface with high-precision SMUs.

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Manual Analytical Probe Station 1 (Signatone H150W)-

4) Manual Analytical Probe Station 2 --Tabletop probe station setup for electrical characterization of devices/circuits on rigid or flexible substrates up to 4" in diameter, including stereo-zoom microscope with digital camera. Includes interface with high-precision SMUs.

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Manual Analytical Probe Station 2

 

5) Ferroelectric Tester (Radiant Tech Rt66B)--System for characterization of ferroelectric materials, including polarization measurement in single-pass hysteresis loop in 5 ms with no interlacing.

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Ferroelectric Tester (Radiant Tech Rt66B)

6) Nitrogen Dessicator Dry-Box--Storage of wafers, samples, and supplies in a recirculated pure nitrogen environment with UV-filtering.

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Nitrogen Dessicator Dry-Box

7) Hood-Mounted Spin Coater (Laurel WS-650-23B)--Spinner that is mounted in one of our solvent hoods in a UV-filtered light environment for processing solution-based thin films.

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Hood-Mounted Spin Coater (Laurel WS-650-23B)-

8) Compound Microscope (Zeiss Axio Lab)--Light microscope configured with 5x to 100x objective lenses and a digital camera interface to a dedicated computer for image capture and analysis.

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Compound Microscope (Zeiss Axio Lab)

9) Stereomicroscope (Olympus SZ61)--Equipped with LED transmitted and reflected light imaging with 10x eyepieces and 45x zoom.

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Stereomicroscope (Olympus SZ61)-

10) Vacuum Oven (Isotemp 281A)--Vacuum oven for curing/sintering inks printed in the aerosol jet printing system.  Oven can provide inert gas (N2) or low vacuum ambient conditions.  Temperatures up to 280 ºC.

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Vacuum Oven (Isotemp 281A)

11) Fume Hoods (Nu Aire)--Three fume hoods are in the lab: 1 acid hood, 1 solvent processing hood, and 1 spinner hood (with solvent processing area).

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Fume Hoods (Nu Aire)