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School of Engineering

Equipment

We maintain an atomic layer deposition (ALD) facility and are core users of the Science City Cleanroom in the School of Engineering. We also have our own characterisation laboratories. We are regular users of various Research Technology Platforms at Warwick, including Electron Microscopy, Spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, and X-Ray Photoemission Spectroscopy.

Atomic Layer Deposition

We have an Ultratech Fiji plasma-enhanced ALD system. Our standard precursors are Al, Si, Zn, Hf, and our standard co-reagents: H2O, O2 plasma, O3, N2 plasma.
ALD

Battery Cycler

We have a Biologic BCS-805 battery cycler.
Battery Cycler

Gloveboxes

  • We have two MBRAUN UNIlab modular gloveboxes with a gas purification system, solvent filter, and a controlled low-humidity atmosphere (<0.1 ppm of O2 and H2O). These are used for processing superacidic solutions and battery electrode materials
  • We also have a lower specification glovebox for superacid passivation
ALD

Photoconductance decay

  1. Quasi-steady-state photoconductance (QSS-PC). We have a SintonLink opens in a new window WCT-120 lifetime tester, which enables the minority carrier lifetime to be determined as a function of the excess carrier concentration. In model system this can be used in a semi-spectroscopic manner to isolate fundamental properties of recombination-active defects. This system was modified by the manufacturer to fulfil our research requirements, and has a smaller coil than standard (1cm diameter). It is also possible to make temperature-dependent measurements (room temperature to ~150°C) using our system.
  2. Quasi-steady-state photoluminescence (QSS-PL). Arriving in Summer 2014 will be a Sinton WCT-120PL system, which can also be used in QSS-PC mode. It can be used to determine minority carrier lifetime accurately at low levels of injection.
Sinton Lifetime Tester

Photoluminescence Imaging

We have a a BT ImagingLink opens in a new window LIS-L1 photoluminescence imaging system. This enables material quality images of whole wafers to be acquired within seconds. Under some conditions these maps can be calibrated in terms of the carrier lifetime and bulk interstitial iron concentration.

    PL imaging

    Scanning Kelvin Probe

    We have a SKP5050 Scanning Kelvin Probe with an XYZ stage fitted with a 2 mm gold tip. We can measure:
    • Contact Potential Difference
    • Surface Photovoltage
    • 3D maps of surface potential
      PL imaging

      Other characterisation equipment includes two corona charging apparatus which can apply either positive or negative corona charge, and a

      SS1.6kW 1600W Fully Reflective Solar Simulator. We also have a fumehood for chemical handling.