Equipment

The Surface Coatings and Characterisation Group has an extensive range of thin film deposition equipment based on magnetron sputtering, ion beam assisted sputtering, electrochemical deposition and hot filament chemical vapour deposition. In addition the group has access to high resolution TEM, SEM, SIMS, RBS, AFM, Laser Profilometer and mechanical testing facilities. A new field emission SEM has been purchased with micro-Raman, Cathodo-Luminescence, Wavelength Dispersive Analysis (WDA), Electron backscatter diffraction (EBDS), Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) and a cold stage to allow analysis of samples with volatile species. This has now been installed and is a unique facility allowing analysis with high spatial resolution in the nanometre range, chemical and structural analysis. It gives information on charge migration and recombination in semiconductor and optical materials. The group also has special facilities for microbiological studies, including contact angle measurement and epifluorescence microscopy.

Dual ion beam systems for ion-assisted deposition (picture1, picture2)

XPS (picture)