shared facilities

MRSEC researchers enjoy ready access to a number of multiuser instrumentation facilities at the University of Minnesota, as well as to selected equipment in individual laboratories within the College of Science and Engineering, including:

• Characterization Facility (CharFac)
• Minnesota Nano Center (MNC)
• Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI)
• Polymer Characterization and Processing Facility
• Molecular Characterization Facilities
• Materials Research Facilities Network (MRFN):
  
• DMR-FIRST: Search a nationwide network of shared facility instruments for materials research:
  
  
  

  These facilities are available to UMN investigators and external academic and industrial customers. The CSE Characterization Facility, the Minnesota Nano Center, and the Polymer Characterization Facility offer a tiered user fee structure. Users from the UMN, other academic institutions, and IPRIME Visiting Scientists are charged at University rates. Students, postdocs, faculty, MRSEC summer participants, and external academic and industrial visitors have full hands-on access to the equipment after training and certification by the appropriate staff. These shared facilities create a natural environment for stimulating collaborative interactions among individuals from numerous sectors. Many of the professional staff are internationally recognized experts in their fields and formally collaborate with MRSEC investigators and individuals from other institutions.

This facility provides access to:

• Microscopy via electron beams, force probes, and visible light
  Six TEMs (ThermoFisher), 2 SEMs (Hitachi, ThermoFisher), one EPMA (JEOL) and one dual-beam FIB (ThermoFisher) including analytical (EDS, EELS, EBSD/TKD, WDS, e-diffraction), cryogenic methods and tomography/3D reconstruction; seven SPMs including a Bruker NanoIR3 AFM-IR and large-sample Icon AFM, four other AFMs (Bruker, Keysight) including environmental capabilities (w/temperature/RH control, liquid immersion) and ancillaries for heated-tip thermal analysis (Anasys), fast force-curve mapping (WITec as well as Bruker), and multifrequency methods (Intermodulation Products as well as Keysight), plus a UHV/low-temp STM (Omicron); various LM systems (Nikon, Zeiss; multiple contrasting modes)
  
  
• Electron and vibrational spectroscopies with mapping
  Phi XPS/UPS spectrometer with cluster ion sputtering for soft material depth profiling and inorganic surface cleaning; FTIR (Thermo, with micromapping) and confocal Raman (Horiba and WITec, with micromapping)
  
  

• Atomic/molecular/meso structure analysis via X-ray scattering
  Seven systems (Bruker, Rigaku, Photonic-Laue, Xenocs) spanning wide, medium, and small angle measurements, including 2D detectors, 2-axis sample goniometers, variable temperature/RH
  
  
• Nuclear scattering methods (National Electrostatics) for nondestructive elemental depth profiling
  Alpha-particle acceleration (up to 5 MeV) for RBS, FReS (H analysis), PIXE, PIGE and channeling analysis (element- and depth-specific crystallinity/epitaxial characterization)
  
  
• Nano- and micro- mechanical testers (Hysitron, Keysight)
  including in-TEM; nano- to macro- tribological probes (tip and colloid-probe FFM, pin-on-disk tribometer)
  
  
• Other tools for surface and thin-film characterization
  Optical profilometer (Keyence) stylus profilometer (Tencor), microtensiometer (Kyowa), spectroscopic ellipsometer (Woollam)
  
  

This facility provides access to:

• dc and rf sputtering systems for the deposition of metals, metal oxides, and metal nitrides
  
  
• two rapid thermal processing systems for growing oxides and annealing thin films deposited on various substrates
  
  
• two plasma and chemical vapor deposition systems for depositing undoped and doped polysilicon, silicon dioxide, PSG, BPSG, silicon nitride, low stress nitride, silicon oxynitride, and amorphous silicon; thermal and plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition systems
  
  
• three reactive ion etching systems for both fluorine and chlorine-based chemistries including through-wafer etching
  
  
• a high density plasma etching tool; and an ion mill
  
  
• additional tools for nanotechnology include a 100 keV direct write electron beam lithography system, a nano imprint tool, and a focused ion beam system.
  
  

• state-of-the-art electron beam lithography system
  
  
• nano-imprint lithography tool
  
  
• three reactive ion etching systems for both fluorine and chlorine-based chemistries, including through-wafer etching, a high density plasma etching tool, and an ion mill
  
  
• focussed ion beam system
  
  
• analyzers for particle size, shape, and charge
  
  
• bioscience tools and facilities for cell culture and imaging
  
  

This facility provides access to:

• eight rheometers: five rotational, one extensional (DMA), one capillary, and one capillary breakup (extensional, for fluids) that collectively allow measurements over a wide range of conditions.
  
  
• lab-scale polymer melt mixers (5 cc, 15 cc, 50 cc, and a 16 mm twin screw extruder)
  
  

• three hot presses
  
  
• two size-exclusion chromatographs (one room-temperature, one high-temperature) for measuring polymer molecular weight
  
  
• differential scanning calorimetry
  
  

These facilities provide access to:

Mass Spectrometry Laboratory

Seven mass spectrometers:

• Bruker BioTOF II
  
  
• Bruker AutoFlex MALDI/TOF
  
  
• Sciex X500R QTOF
  
  
• Waters Acquity UPLC-triple quadrupole
  
  
• Waters UPLC/Synapt G2 QTOF
  
  
• Agilent GC/QTOF
  
  
• Fluidigm mass cytometer

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory

Five NMR spectrometers:

• HD-500 Bruker Avance III HD with SampleXpress with Prodigy cryoprobe
  
  
• AV-500 Bruker Avance III with SampleCase
  
  
• AM-400 Bruker Avance III HD
  
  
• AX-400 Bruker Avance III HD with SampleXpress
  
  
• 400 MHz Bruker Avance Neo spectrometer
  
  

X-Ray Crystallographic Laboratory

• Single crystal diffraction
  
  
• Unit cell determination of known materials

Funded by the National Science Foundation through the University of Minnesota MRSEC under Award Number DMR-2011401