BENEQ installed new ALD equipment at University of Bath

A new Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) Suite, installed in the Department of Chemistry this week, will allow researchers to deposit thin films of molecules onto surfaces with greater precision than ever before.
 

 

DTC students Joe Thompson and Andrew Rushworth watch as Dr Jeff Hamilton makes some final adjustments (picture from University of Bath press release)

 

Technicians and staff from Beneq, who manufactured the equipment, have been working with Dr Andrew Johnson and Professor Michael Hill to deliver the new facility. They have trained three DTC PhD students alongside post-doctoral researcher Dr Jeff Hamilton in a series of new ALD techniques using the equipment.

 

ALD involves depositing ultra-thin layers of material, using either plasma or thermal deposition methods. The device is also integrated with a Quadrupole mass analyzer, which will enable close monitoring of deposition products and processes.

This exciting new piece of equipment will play an important role in many Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) research projects projects. Ibbi Ahmet, a second-year PhD student in the DTC supervised by Dr Johnson and co-supervised by Professor Hill and Professor Simon Bending (Department of Physics), said:

''Exciting times are ahead of us and we hope to trial many of the novel ALD precursors we have been developing over the past few years in order to produce materials, such as graphene, molybdenum disulfide, tin disulfide and tungsten disufide layers.''