Facilities
Sample Synthesis
Molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE)
Our primary synthesis tool is a molecular-beam epitaxy system equipped with 8 effusion cells, a 4-pocket e-beam evaporator, and a RHEED for in situ real-time growth monitoring. It has a liquid N2 cooled cryo-shroud with a base pressure of 3e-11 mbar. The system is designed for epitaxial synthesis of a variety of functional inter-metallic systems as well as III-antimonides. ​​​
Magnetron sputtering
Our lab operates two magnetron sputtering setups with dc, pulsed dc, and rf power sources allowing us to synthesize both metallic and insulating materials. Reactive sputtering with both oxygen and nitrogen also possible. ​​​
Chemical vapor deposition
Our lab is equipped with one single zone split furnace and a three-zone furnace capable of reaching 1200 C and 1500 C, respectively. We also operate a home-built rapid thermal annealing setup in collaboration with Arnab Bhattacharya's group at TIFR.​​​
CVD furnaces
Gas Handling for CVD
RTA
Measurement Setups
We have one commercial Quantum Design PPMS system and a home-built VTI with an American Magnetics make cryostat. Both the systems are equipped with a 14T magnet and can reach a base temperature of 2K. We have several home-made inserts for both the systems. In addition, we have signal generators, current and voltage sources, lock-in amplifiers, pre-amplifiers for various measurement requirements.
Shared Facilities for Nanofabrication
Our work often requires fabrication of devices using top-down lithography techniques. For this we make use of TIFR nanofabrication facility. It is equipped with a Raith e-line for e-beam lithography and a Karl Suss mask aligner for optical photolithography. It also has ICP-RIE, PECVD, and ALD. For metallization we make use of an 8-pocket e-beam evaporator and magnetron sputtering.
Shared Characterization Facilities
We frequently make use of shared sample characterization facilities at TIFR. This includes a four-circle thin film XRD setup from Rigaku, which has a 9KW rotating anode source, an AFM with both contact and tapping modes from Park Systems, Zeiss ultra field emission SEM, FEI Tecnai TEM, and an FEI Titan HR-TEM.