Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Welcome to the MBE lab

The illustration below shows our MBE system. The system consists of three separate chambers under Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) conditions.

The right chamber is used for analyzing the surface structure using LEED (Low Energy Electron Diffraction) and the film composition using XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy).

The middle chamber is the preparation chamber, which incorporates facilities for annealing and sputtering of substrates. The load- lock for inserting samples is also connected to the preparation chamber (not visible, at the back). The left chamber is where the MBE takes place. This chamber is equipped with several sources from which materials are evaporated to form a molecular beam. Evaporation can take place both through heating of the source material (Knudsen Cells) or bombardment of a source material with high energy electrons (E-beam evaporators). The molecular beams are controlled using computer-controlled shutters. For growth of oxides, oxidizing gas (Oxygen, Ozone, NO₂) is supplied through a tube directed to the sample. The thin film growth can be controlled with atomic precission by monitoring the inensity oscillations of the RHEED (Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction) patterns during growth.

The lab is located in room 5112.0073 of the Physics and Chemistry Building (Zernike Complex, Groningen), phone: +31 (0)50 363 4775

Last modified:

04 June 2019 11.01 a.m.