Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

This minor equipment application seeks the support to repair three critical components in the first ultra-high vacuum (UHV) system that we built in 1987.  This system has been used by us to study a variety of thermal and electron- and ion-induced surface reactions on silicon single-crystal surfaces for almost two decades.  Unfortunately, a few hardware failures have developed in our aging system in the past four years due to heavy use.  Support for this grant will enable us (a) to replace a 19-years-old "leaky" manipulator, the vacuum integrity of which has been precariously maintained with Vac-Seal, (b) to replace a 19-years-old worn-out four-grid retarding-field optics system to facilitate more dependable electron diffraction and new Auger measurements, and (c) to replace a 19-years-old ion source with a differentially pumped ion source to make possible ion irradiation experiments involving more reactive organic complexes.  These repairs represent a very cost-effective route to extend not only the lifetime of this home-built UHV system, but also dramatically improve the quality of our experiments made possible by the incorporation of Auger analysis and the ability to handle more reactive organic materials.  These experiments will allow us to obtain fundamental understanding of the nature and mechanisms involved in many of the surface processes mediated by low-energy electron and ion beams, particularly the interplay between sputtering and deposition reactions as a function of irradiation parameters.  We can also gain important insights into the interactions of low-temperature organic plasmas with silicon surfaces, which are important to developing better control in the manufacturing of multifunctional electronic materials.  The requested repairs are critically needed for the continued survival of our surface science program at Waterloo, and indeed the thesis works of two graduate students vitally depend on this emergency fix.