labs

This laboratory is dedicated to electron and ion microscopy, and to nanolithography.

It is part of the QR INRiM laboratory complex where a particle control chamber is available in ISO class 5.

Other environments are in ISO 7, where several systems are operative for deposition and chemical etching of metallic insulating and magnetic thin films.

The microscope is a Dual beam Quanta 3D FEG (Field Emission Gun) that works with a Ga+ ion beam. A Nano Pattern Generator System (J. C. Nabity), 4 nano-handlers (Kleindeik Nanoteknik), and a STEM detector complete this set up.

In this pic a researcher is working on… and teaching the students the secrets of this art.

The figure shows some step in the preparation process of lamellae for Transmission Electron Microscopy.

At the end of this process the lamaella is 50 nanometers thick. The lateral dimensions are instead typically of 3 micrometers by approximately 5 micrometers. For to be clear, a hair has a typical diameter of 70 micrometers!

Click here to read more about this preparation process.

Two young researchers work under the chemical hood in the nanofabrication laboratory at the Italian National Metrology institute (INRiM).

Irdi Murataj and Alessandra D’Aquino are preparing ordered matrix of silicon nanowires by means of self-assembly nanolithography and chemical etching methods.

These nanowires will be characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and sent to other partners in the NanoWires project for further analysis.

Different rounds of fabrication are needed to optimize their structure for energy harvesting applications.