Message from Tobias Persson, Vice President, Sales & Services
During the very challenging year with a pandemic affecting all of us, customers, and suppliers as well as our families, adaptation to a new normal has been crucial.
Despite the challenges from the pandemic, Scienta Omicron stayed committed to the scientific community, increasing speed by hiring more staff, ramping production, and investing in the sales and services organisation.
To overcome the international travel restrictions, we have continuously developed methods and offerings of remote training. Thereby we have managed to provide customer training as well as dedicated installation training of our local teams from our headquarters in Europe. A great example of the power of our Global access to Local presence is the achievements made in China throughout 2020. The combination of continuous remote training and support of the skilled local China Team prepared them for installation of entirely new products at the same time as we reduced the overall average installation time with more than 50 %.
Take care and stay safe.
Product Launch: PEAK
Electron Spectroscopy Control and Acquisition Software
Scienta Omicron is delighted to announce the launch of our latest offering PEAK – Electron Spectroscopy Control and Acquisition Software. PEAK is designed to control acquisition of photoelectron spectra with Scienta Omicron analysers. With its modern software architecture, PEAK offers improved performance for data acquisition, workflow, and live visualisation of data. Watch the video to hear what the experts have to say and get in touch with us for more information at info@scientaomicron.com or contact your local sales representative.
Photodriven Transient Picosecond Top‐Layer Semiconductor to Metal Phase‐Transition in p‐Doped Molybdenum Disulfide
In this work, Nomi L A Sorgenfrei et al. establish how visible light itself can create a transient metallic top layer on bulk crystalline p‐doped 2H‐MoS2. Electron–hole pairs created by optical excitation separate in the surface band bending region of p‐doped semiconducting 2H‐MoS2. This causes a transient accumulation of electrons in the surface region, driving the top‐layer within several picoseconds from the p‐doped semiconducting 2H‐MoS2 into a sheet of metallic 1T‐MoS2 at a remarkably low optical fluence threshold. This mechanism has significant implications on how optically illuminated MoS2 surfaces behave.
Scienta Omicron's HAXPES Lab brings hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) capability directly to the local laboratory environment. Using world class technology and expert engineering, the HAXPES Lab sets the standard for laboratory based high energy photoelectron spectroscopy. This novel system probes bulk samples properties and accesses deep core level electrons via photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) without the need for a synchrotron end station.
The Acidity of Individual Atoms - Breakthrough at TU Wien
Researchers at the Institute of Applied Physics at TU Wien can now determine the proton affinity of different surface sites of indium oxide with atomic precision. In a recently published Nature paper, they probed the strength of the hydrogen bonds at the surface sites of indium oxide with the tip of a non-contact atomic force microscope and found quantitative agreement with density functional theory calculations. The experiments were carried out in two different UHV chambers based on a two-vessel system with base pressure of <2x10-10 mbr and <2x10-11 mbr in the preparation and analysis chambers. The analysis chambers are equipped with a Scienta Omicron low-temperature STM/AFM head and a Tribus head respectively, using qPlus sensors and low noise amplifiers.
Graphene Nanoribbons Need to be Protected from Oxygen to Remain Functional
Atomically precise graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are increasingly being hailed as the potential future of molecular electronics due to the tuneability of their electronic properties, which can be altered via adjusting their length, width, edge structure and the addition of heteroatoms or other doping groups. In their recently published study in ACS Nano, 2021, 15, 3, a team of researchers has used a combination of bond-resolving scanning probe microscopy (BR-SPM), along with theoretical calculations to study (3,1)-chiral graphene nanoribbons [(3,1)-chGNRs] that were synthesized on a Au(111) surface and then exposed to oxidizing environments. All STM experiments were performed using a Scienta Omicron Low Temperature Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (LT-STM), cooled to 4.3 K.
Department of Physics of the University of Basel, Switzerland
We are very happy to announce that the TESLA JT SPM System installed at the Department of Physics of the University of Basel. Here´s what Prof. Ernst Meyer and his group have to say: "We are delighted to celebrate the final acceptance of the newly installed TESLA JT SPM system developed by Scienta Omicron at the University of Basel. This low temperature (1K) STM/AFM microscopes equipped with an external magnetic field of 3T will be used to characterize structure, electronic and magnetic properties of quantum materials, nanographene and superconductors down to the atomic scale."
Latest Video
Semi Automated Sample Transfer of 4” Wafer Holders
This video demonstrates the semi-automated sample transfer of 4” wafer holders with a robotic arm from Scienta Omicron. The system features include highly reliable transfers with few operator interactions; a remote-controlled process; interlocks to secure safe operation of the cluster system; and convenient access to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements after ALD growth cycles. Thanks for watching, and please contact Scienta Omicron if you would like to learn more about this system.
Do you have strong background in Surface Science and UHV Systems? Scienta Omicron is looking for a new team member as a 1st Line Service Physicist to join our Services and Support Team in Taunusstein, Germany. This is an opportunity to join a team of specialists with focus on services, support and installations in Europe and Asia Pacific.
As a compliment to onsite visits, our Remote Support Sessions are a great choice to keep your system operating effectively. Remote Support Sessions with our Service Engineers are a fast and cost-efficient method to get the technical advice and help your need to address issues, trouble-shoot problems or install upgrades.
We offer a variety of support packages and solutions. Please contact your service representative for a dedicated quotation customised to your needs.
You are cordially invited to attend our 8th Focus PEEM Workshop, which will be held in an online format jointly by FOCUS GmbH and Scienta Omicron on June 16th and 17th, 2021.
The workshop is addressed to all researchers who are interested both in PEEM and NanoESCA / Momentum Microscopy and its techniques and capabilities or are already working with such kind of instruments and are interested to improve theory and working practices.
