Patrick Research Group Instrumentation

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Home Research Liquid crystals Organic electronics Thin Films Nanomaterials Theory & simulation Instrumentation People Current members Hall of fame Awards Photo Album Environs Lab tour City of Bellingham Directions & map Other stuff Publications News stories Getting involved liquid crystal nanomaterial STM scanning tunneling microscopy AFM atomic force microscopy nanoparticle organize order disorder ordered nematic smectic magnetic field electric field organic semiconductor carbon nanotube optical microscopy surface science materials science university research chemistry physics physical chemistry mesogen phase transition publication simulation molecular nano nanometer nanoscience nanomaterial nanotechnology technology patent scanning probe microscopy rhk multimode spm atomic resolution nanometer scale oriented film monolayer David L Patrick David Patrick Dr. Patrick WWU Washington		Instrumentation. This page summarizes the main instrumentation in our lab. We also use other equipment available in WWU's Materials Characterization Laboratory, especially scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, DSC, TGA and thin film deposition instrumentation. Scanning tunneling microscopy Our custom-built scanning tunneling microscopes (STM) are optimized for low current imaging in air for studying organic thin films. With over 15 years experience designed and building STMs, our 5th generation instruments are among the best performing ambient STMs in the world. Atomic force microscopy AFM provides nanometer- to micron-level imaging capabilities of conductive and insulating samples. The technique generates images by scanning a sharp stylus over the sample and measuring the interaction force between the two. We have a Digital Instruments Multimode AFM, which sits on a Newport vibration isolation table. For highest resolution imaging, the microscope is placed on a platform suspended by long springs. FT-IR microscopy Fourier-transform infrared microscopy is a powerful technique for performing spectroscopic analysis on small, well-defined sample regions. The technique works in both transmission and reflection modes and can be used to measure spectra over areas as small as 10 x 10 microns. Our instrument is a state-of-the-art Nicolet Continuum model, coupled to a Nexus FT-IR spectrometer. Optical microscopy Optical microscopy is used extensively in our research. We have several instruments for this purpose, including a Polam P-312 polarizing microscope, a long-working distance digital microscope, and a new Olympus BX-51 metallurgical microscope. Film growth & characterization Organic crystalline films are grown in a custom-built deposition chamber with controlled pressure and temperature and a quartz crystal microbalance to monitor film thickness. A separate vacuum system for depositing metals is available in the Materials Characterization Laboratory. Film electrical properties are characterized using our two Tektronix 370A curve tracers.	Working at the bench. A molecule corral. Nick Gislason at one of the STMs. A sampling of STMs made by honors general chemistry students.