Major Characterization Facilities

• Scanning probe microscope facility
• Optical tweezer facility
• Quartz crystal microbalance
• Self-nulling ellipsometers
• Surface plasmon resonance imaging system
• Optical microscopes
• Dynamic light scattering spectrometer
• Attenuated total reflection FTIR spectrometer
• Cryo-transmission electron microscope
• Scanning confocal laser microscope
• Polarization modulation infrared reflection absorption spectrometer
• Raman microprobe spectrometer
• Infrared microscope
• Optical profiler
  
• Differential pressure experiment

Sample Preparation Facilities

• Spincoater
• Laminar flow cabinet
• Ultrapure water facility
• Vacuum ovens
• UV/ozone cleaner
• Plasma cleaner
• CO₂ snow cleaner
• High temperature oven
• Langmuir trough
• Microbiology facilities

Spincoater

In our lab, we use a Headway spincoater (shown below) to deposit polymer films with thicknesses ranging from a few nanometers up to hundreds of nanometers.

Headway Spincoater

Technique

Spincoating is a technique by which very thin films are deposited onto a solid substrate. To fabricate thin polymer films, the polymer is first dissolved in a volatile solvent (e.g. toluene for polystyrene). If a drop of solution is placed on a substrate, it can flow to form a metastable, continuous film or form a droplet on the surface, depending on the "wettability" of the substrate. By spinning the substrate, the droplet is forced to spread out while the solvent evaporates. If deposition conditions such as choice of solvent, solution concentration and spin speed are chosen correctly, a thin film of uniform thickness is deposited on the substrate.