The Zang Research Group

We have all kinds of instruments and equipments necessary for the proposed research projects, either directly available in our own labs or through the shared, centralized facilities on campus. Here is a list of the major instruments currently installed in our labs:

I. Microscopy

1. Veeco Aurora III near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM): a combined system adaptable for NSOM, AFM, and scanning confocal modes.

2. Veeco MultiMode V scanning probe microscope (SPM): a combined system suited for atomic force microscope (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscope (STM).

3. Leica DMi8 optical/fluorescence/cross-polarized microscope: a fully-integrated inverted microscope, equipped with high resolution CCD camera, a computer-controlled (temperature programmed) heating stage, and a collimated fiber based light source from a mercury lamp. It is highly adaptable to various light sources including lasers, spectrometers, electrical measurement units, enabling combined electrical and optical characterization.

4. Nikon Labophot-2 optical microscope.

All microscopy systems are anchored on self-leveling vibration-isolating tables, allowing for high resolution scanning (step < 0.1 nm) for both microscopy and spectroscopy measurement.

II. Spectroscopy and Spectrometry

1. Perkin-Elmer Lambda 25 UV-vis spectrophotometer: fully functional for solution and solid state measurements.
2. Perkin-Elmer LS 55 fluorometer: fully functional for solution and solid state measurements, with temperature control.

3. Princeton Instrument Acton PIXIS:400 Digital CCD Camera System: for high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy, deep cooled platform (up to -90 C for highest sensitivity) with back-illuminated deep depletion technology.

4. Acton SP-2300i Imaging Spectrograph system: with 300 mm focal length, micrometer controlled entrance slit, holographic grating (68x68 mm, 2400 G/mm, visible optimized).

5. Ocean Optics USB4000 CCD based fluorometer: highly adaptable for fiber based microscopy imaging and spectral recording, attached with an open sample holder suited for both solution and solid measurements.

6. Thermo Scientific gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) system: model # Thermo Trace 1310/ISQ QD. This instrument is equipped integrated electronic gas control (IEC) allowing for constant or programmable flow and pressure control.

III. Micro-Electrical Characterization and Semiconductor Analysis

1. Agilent 4156C Precision Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer: highly accurate laboratory bench top parameter analyzer for advanced device characterization, PC controlled through EasyEXPERT Software, 4x High-resolution SMU, 2xVSU and 2xVMU, measurement resolution of 1 femto-amp (10-15 A) and 0.2 microvolt , measurement scale of +/- 200 Volts and +/- 1 Amp.

2. Signatone S-1160 Probe Station: 4 probes for multi-end device characterization, equipped with Motic Microscope for poisoning and a CCD camera for in situ imaging of the device. The whole system is housed in a shielding dark box to eliminate the RF noise and/or scattering light for low current and/or light sensitive measurements.

3. Keithley 6487 Picoammeter/Voltage Source: for high resolution current and voltage measurements.

4. Keithley 236 Source Unit: fully programmable for sourcing and measuring voltage or current simultaneously, with 10fA and 10V measurement resolution.

IV. Materials Fabrication and Characterization

1. Ladd Digital Thermal Evaporator 30008BT: with two evaporation sources for sequential thin film coating of metals, inorganic compounds or small organic molecules without breaking ultrahigh vacuum, different geometries of uniform coating available upon use of shadow-masks on rotating samples, fully programmable control of coating thickness down to a resolution of angstrom.

2. Denton DESK IV sputter coater: for thin film coating of metals on various substrates, different geometries of coating available upon use of shadow-masks, fully programmable control of coating thickness up to a resolution of angstrom.

3. DataPhysics OCA 15EC Video-Based Optical Contact Angle Meter: software controlled measurement and analysis of the static and dynamic contact angle, determination of the wettability of solid surfaces, the surface free energy and their components of solids as well as the calculation of the surface and interfacial tension based on the analysis of the drop shape.

V. Optical/Laser Sources

1. Melles Griot argon ion laser (35LAP431-208): tunable wavelength 457-514 nm, with maximal at 488 nm (125 mW) and 514 nm (130 mW), linear polarized (250:1), beam diameter 0.72 mm.

2. Melles Griot HeNe laser (25LHP151-249): 5 mW, 633 nm, linear polarized (500:1), beam diameter 0.8 mm.

3. Stanford Research Systems NL-100 Nitrogen pulsed laser: 337 nm, pulse width (FWHM) <3.5 ns, pulse energy 170 J, peak power 45 kW, average power 3 mW (at 20 Hz), beam size 3 ?7 mm, 1 to 20 Hz with internal trigger.

4. Spectral Physics Q-Switched pulsed laser (J40-BL6S-532Q): 532 nm, 2.7 W@ 35kHz, pulse width 8 ns, J40 power supply chassis with single 40 W FCbar diode module, linear polarized (100:1), beam diameter 0.6-0.7 mm.

5. Newport Oriel Collimated 1.5 inch ARC Lamp Source (model 66477): 200 W mercury lamp or 150 W Xe lamp, aspheric condensers for uniform beam, collimated output via fiber.

6. Newport Oriel AM1.5G sun simulator (model 96000): 150 W Xe lamp installed, Air Mass 1.5 Global (AM1.5G) filter installed for generating approximately 1.3 sun output.

VI. Wet Chemical Lab and Facilities

The wet-chemical lab is primarily used for organic synthesis, materials preparation and fabrication, solution based spectral measurement, and other wet-chemical processing. This lab is fully equipped with all necessary equipments, tools and hardwares, including spin-coaters, rotary evaporator, Schlenk systems, water-circulation thermostat, multiple vacuum ovens, pumps, centrifugators, sonicators, balances, etc.

VII. Other On-Campus Resources

Broad range of facilities for nanoscale fabrication and characterization are available through the Nanofab network of UU: http://www.nanofab.utah.edu/

Specifically,
1. high resolution TEM, SEM and XRD from the MSE Materials Characterization Facility: http://sem.coe.utah.edu/

2. high resolution SEM (for direct imaging of non-conducting materials with feature size down to 2 nm) from the Physics Department Scanning Electron Microscopy Laboratories: http://www.physics.utah.edu/facilities/sem.html

3. XPS, AES, spectroscopic ellipsometer, stylus and optical profilometers from the new Surface & nano Imaging lab: http://www.nanofab.utah.edu/index.php?n=Main.SurfaceAmpNanoImaging

4. full range micro-fabrication and characterization facilities from the UU Microfab Lab: http://microfab.utah.edu/

5.broad range of NMR, Mass spectrometry and XRD facilities from the Chemistry Department: http://www.chem.utah.edu/research/facilities/index.html

6. full range laser sources (both CW and pulsed) and spectrometers from the Dixon Laser Institute: http://www.physics.utah.edu/laser/

7. full range bio-related microscopy imaging and spectroscopy facilities from the UU Health Science Center Core Research Facilities: http://www.cores.utah.edu/Index.htm