Facilities

Ralph S. O'Connor Building for Engineering and Science

The Martin Lab is housed in the newest science and engineering building at Rice University. This 250,000 sq. ft., research-focused facility was opened in fall 2023 and was designed to maximize research space and foster interaction, accommodating ~50 labs, two classrooms, a café, and areas for meetings/events.

Located on the first floor of the building, the Martin Lab has numerous modern researcher offices adjacent to the laboratory facility allowing individuals easy access to their work and the other amenities in the building.

Synthesis and Processing

Making and fabricating materials

Pulsed-laser Deposition

Looking north seeing lasers 1, 2, and 3 (from front to back).

Looking southwest seeing lasers 1 and 2 on the left and 3 on the right. Further to the right will laser 4 soon.

RHEED-assisted PLD

NBM Design, Inc. custom system with multi-target capability and double differentially pumped RHEED

RHEED-assisted PLD

Neocera system with multi-target capability, double-differentially pumped RHEED, and IR-laser heater capable of deposition at > 1000C

Data-rich PLD Deposition

NBM Design, Inc. custom system with multi-target capability, doube-differentially pumped RHEED and various in situ capabilities (e.g., Auger, Langmuir probe, variable wavelength/fixed angle elliposmetry, etc.)

Custom-built and Commerical Pulsed-laser Deposition Systems

The laboratory is constructed around laser/chamber clusters to maximize access to a range of materials in a rapid and agile fashion. Currently there are six (6) standard PLD chambers with multi-target carousels capable of handling up to six (6) targets and including computer-controlled interfaces for automated growth. The chambers are a mixture of custom-designed and commerical systems.

UHV Sputter Deposition

Kurt J. Lesker Company PRO Line PVD 75 system with six (6) sources and robotic sample exchange designed for metal and nitride material growth

Argon Ion Mill

Intlvac Nanoquest PICO ion mill with end-point detection which allows for precision milling of a diverse range of materials.

Direct-write Laser Litho

Raith Picomaster 100 system which allows for direct-write lithography down to 600 nm feature size

Hoods (Processing)

The in-lab processing area includes two chemical hoods that allow for convenient processing of lithography and acid work

Hoods (Synthesis)

The in-lab synthesis area includes two chemical hoods that allow for convenient efforts such as substrate cleaning, target polishing, etc.

Bulk Ceramics

The laboratory now has the ability to process bulk ceramics and targets in house - this includes a ball mill, a hydraulic press and CIP, a drying oven, and high-temperature (1700C) muffle and tube furnaces

Characterization

Probing materials

Structure and (Di)Electrical Properties

X-ray Diffractometers

The laboratory includes two (2) diffractometers: 1) Rigaku SmartLab with 5-axis assembly, rotating anode source, a HyPix-3000 array detector, and a Anton Paar TTK 600 (-190 to 600C) and 2) Panalytical X’Pert MRD Pro 4-circle assembly optimized for complex-oxide thin film characterization

Probe Stations

The laboratory has four (4) ambient environment probe stations capable of going from 25-600C. Equipped with compound microscopes or high-magnification cameras, two systems also have laser Doppler vibrometry setups and the lab has extensive external electronics for a range of measurements

Vacuum Probe Stations

The laboratory has two (2) vacuum probe stations, one "wet" and one "dry" Lake Shore Cryotronics systems including the ability to go from 4-400 K and apply up to 2 T applied fields

Scanning Probe Microscopy

Atomic Force Microscope

Oxford/Asylum MFP-3D system capable of AFM, PFM, c-AFM, MFM studies at voltages up to 100 V and temperatures up to 300°C

Atomic Force Microscope

Oxford/Asylum Jupiter system capable of all the same measurements as the MFP-3D, but is equipped with a high-speed piezostage and larger area (8 inch) scans

Scanning NV Microscope

Qnami ProteusQ scanning NV (nitrogen-vacancy) microscope for analyzing magnetic materials at the atomic scale

Magnetic and Transport Properties

The laboratory has a cluster of self-contained, "dry" systems that allow for extensive study of transport and magnetic properties.

Physical Property Measurement System

Quantum Design 9T PPMS DynaCool system is a cryogen-free system that allows for temperature- and field-dependent studies of physical properties of materials from 1.8-400K

SQUID Magnetometer

Quantum Design Magnetic Property Measurement System (MPMS) capable of operation at 4-400K and 7 T for the meaurement of magnetic properties of materials

Magnetooptic Kerr Effect System

Durham Magneto Optics NanoMOKE3 is an ultra-high sensitivity Kerr effect magnetometer that allows for optical study of magnetic systems

Shared Facilities

Places we do our work

Shared Equipment Authority (Rice University)

Rice established the Shared Equipment Authority (SEA) in 2001 as a way to provide its faculty superb experimental facilities, research equipment, and support services at an affordable cost. The Rice SEA supports more than 100 instruments, including: X-ray Diffraction, Microscopy, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Mass Spectrometry, Thermal Analysis, Class 100 Cleanroom, Sample Preparation, Surface Analysis, and more

Among the various facilities used by the group are the Rice Nanofabircation Facility which has ~3000 sq ft of Class 100 (ISO 5) process bays, with another ~3000 sq ft of back-end work space and service chases. Leverages a suite of research-scale semiconductor industry tools to enable device fabrication. Other facilities, ranging from X-ray diffraction, to (S)TEM, to extensive cheimcal/spectroscopic systems are available for researchers to leverage.

Other Facilities

Ion Beam Analysis Laboratory

National Electrostatics Corp. model 5SDH pelletron tandem accelerator this facility offers a complete suite of capabilities, including Rutherford backscattering, for rapid thin-film analysis utilizing an energetic ion beam

National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM)

Features cutting-edge instrumentation, techniques, and expertise required for exceptionally high-resolution imaging and analytical characterization of a broad array of materials

Molecular Foundry

Nanoscience research user facility that provides access to cutting-edge expertise and instrumentation in a collaborative, multidisciplinary environment

Advanced Photon Source

Premier national research facility provides ultra-bright, high-energy x-ray beams to more than 5,000 (and growing) scientists from across the United States.

Advanced Light Source

Synchrotron facility that provides access to the brightest beams of soft X-rays, together with hard X-rays and infrared, for scientific research and technology development

Beamline 4.0.2 – Magnetic Spectroscopy and Scattering

Beamline 6.3.1 – Magnetic Spectroscopy/Materials Science

Beamline 11.0.1 – PEEM3

Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences

National user facility providing access to a broad range of nanoscience research, including nanomaterials synthesis, nanofabrication, imaging/microscopy/ characterization, and theory/modeling/ simulation

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