About the Facility
The Tufts Epitaxial Core (TEC) Facility offers advanced molecular beam epitaxy capability for growth of epitaxial semiconductor film structures. Use of the facility and its equipment is open to Tufts internal users, outside academic users, and outside non-academic users. Our staff is particularly experienced in the epitaxial growth of III-V and SiGe thin film heterostructures and offer training in the use of vacuum equipment and performing deposition by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).
Housed in the TEC Facility suite is also the Materials Characterization Laboratory service center offering instruments for optical and materials characterization and student focused semiconductor device fabrication equipment. Also housed in the TEC Facility suite is the Renewable Energy and Applied Photonics (REAP) laboratory and optical laboratory.
The Tufts Epitaxial Core Facility offers a laboratory built around the deposition and characterization of semiconductor thin films by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Within the TEC Facility are housed MBE systems for the deposition of both III-V and group IV semiconductor materials. These MBE systems include:
- A dual-chamber Veeco GEN Xplor MBE system for deposition of III-V materials and device structures
- A retro-fitted and modernized dual-chamber VG90 MBE system for deposition of group IV materials and devices.
- Additional fully facilitized MBE systems for future collaboration and expansion into new material sets.
More information on the specifics of the facility MBE systems can be found on the capabilities page. The TEC Facility is a user facility, and all active MBE systems are available for use by Tufts internal, outside academic, and outside non-academic users following appropriate safety and equipment training.
The TEC Facility was created with support from the Tufts University School of Engineering, the Tufts University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation grant, and an Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Defense University Research Instrumentation Program grant. The facility is maintained and operated with the continuing support of the Tufts University School of Engineering.
Other Laboratories in the TEC Facility Suite
The TEC Facility laboratory also houses the Materials Characterization Laboratory service center and the REAP Optical laboratory.
The Materials Characterization Laboratory contains student focused semiconductor fabrication equipment and instruments for optical and materials characterization including:
- VASE UV-NIR Spectroscopic Ellipsometer
- IR-VASE NIR-FIR Spectroscopic Ellipsometer (Arriving Spring 2018)
- Model 8404 Hall Effect System (Arriving late Spring 2018)
The Renewable Energy and Applied Photonics (REAP) Optical laboratory contains equipment for the optical characterization of light-emitting materials, infrared materials, and photovoltaic (PV) and thermophotovoltaic (TPV) materials. The primary characterization equipment types are:
- Black-body Radiation Sources (low to high temperature)
- Photoluminescence (PL) characterization setups
- 10 AMU Solar Spectrum Simulator and characterization equipment