Deposits and Analysis under Ultra-high vacuum of nanoMaterials Competence Center (CC D.A.U.M.)

The 28 chambers connected to the ultra-high vacuum transfer tunnel of D.A.U.M. platform allow development and in situ analysis of innovative materials, combining the properties of elementary materials, in order to improve the performance of the final object.

The combination of different materials (metals, semiconductors, oxides, nitrides, organic materials, alloys) to manufacture new devices is made possible thanks to the availability of different thin-films elaboration techniques, interconnected under ultra-high vacuum:

Equipment for developing thin layers:

• 1 Evaporation
• 6 Sputtering
• 6 Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE)
• 1 Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD)
• 1 Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD)

At each stage of their growth, these hybrid materials can be studied and characterized, while staying under ultra-high vacuum, by using different surface analysis techniques:

Equipment for surface analysis:

• Chemical: Spectroscopies (XPS, Auger, ARPES)
• Physical: Magneto-optical Kerr effect; Spectroscopies; Photo- and Cathodo-luminescence
• Structural: Electron diffraction (RHEED, LEED); Microscopies (STM, AFM, SEM)

The research topics currently developed on the platform cover the following areas:

• Materials for spintronic: ferromagnetic, magnetic oxides, strong spin orbit coupling, topological effect, etc.
• Nanomaterials for optoelectronics, photovoltaics, etc.
• 2D materials: molecular, ultra-thin oxides, etc.
• Complex alloys and quasi crystals
• Functional materials: ternary oxides, Heusler alloys, etc.

Some significant publications involving CC D.A.U.M. members:

• Local Structure and Point-Defect-Dependent area-selective atomic layer deposition approach for facile synthesis of p-Cu₂O/n-ZnO segmented nano-junctions, C. De Melo, M. Jullien, J. Ghanbaja, F. Montaigne, J.-F. Pierson, F. Soldera, F. Rigoni, N. Almqvist, A. Vomiero, F. Mücklich, D. Horwat, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2018, 10, 37671-37678
   
• Formation of SiP2 nanocrystals embedded in SiO₂ from Phosphorus-Rich SiO_1.5 hin films, S. Geiskopf, M. Stoffel, X. Devaux, E. André, C. Carteret, A. Bouché, M. Vergnat, H. Rinnert, J. Phys. Chem. C 2020, 124, 14, 7973-7978
   
• Ultra-low magnetic damping in Co₂Mn- based Heusler compounds: promising materials for spintronic, C. Guillemard, S. Petit-Watelot, L. Pasquier , D. Pierre, C. Rojas-Sanchez, A. Bataille, J. Rault, P. Le Fevre, F. Bertran , S. Andrieu, Phys. Rev. Applied 11, 064009 (2019)

D.A.U.M. puts its technical and scientific skills at your disposal and offers you:

• tailor-made training in thin films deposition and characterization under vacuum conditions
• research collaborations
• engineering solutions to your industrial R&D issues

Technical staff

• Alexandre BOUCHE
• Maoxiang ZHU
• Ludovic PASQUIER
• Danielle PIERRE
• David PILLOUD

Contract researcher

• Oleg KURNOSIKOV