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Situated in the centre of Germany’s capital Berlin, SPECS forms a team of scientists and engineers with more than 70 employees engaged in the design and production of instruments for nanotechnology, material science and surface science in general.

For nearly 25 years, know-how, experience, intensive contact to scientists from all over the world, customer orientation and reliable quality control have been the keys to SPECS success.

With many of the employees having a scientific background in surface science, professional service and accomplishment of individual requests are assured.

Scanwel provides exclusive representation for SPECS in the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland

SPECS Surface Analysis Systems and Components

Electron Spectrometers

Three types of electron spectrometers are available at SPECS:

The hemispherical energy analyzer PHOIBOS 100/150 and PHOIBOS 225
The Time-of-Flight spectrometer THEMIS
The high resolution EELS spectrometer Delta 0.5

Scanning Probe Microscopy

With Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) being a key tool for nanotechnology SPECS offers dedicated solutions for highly demanding requirements:
The highly robust STM 150 Aarhus for variable temperature STM (Scanning Tunneling Micrcoscopy) studies with various options:

STM 150 Aarhus Rel.2
Expanding the proven concept of the STM 150 Aarhus edition with permanent cooling and modified suspension system.
STM 150 Aarhus HT
Dedicated high temperature version allowing to image metals and semiconductors at elevated temperatures above 1000°C
SPM 150 Aarhus NEW!
Extension for imaging insulating surfaces by non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) with a quartz KolibriSensor® and AFM control electronics from Nanonis. Nanonis recently became part of SPECS under the name SPECS Zurich
JT-STM NEW!
This newly launched STM is causing a sensation in the low temperature STM market, with a base temperature of <1K and optionally <500mK (with Helium 3 cryostat upgrade), the system offers unprecedented stability, hold time and flexibility for future upgrade. Options include AFM based on SPECS Kollibrisensor®, magnetic field capabilty up to 3 Tesla

Excitation Sources

SPECS offers a wide variety of sources which fit into 4 major categories including:

X-ray sources (with optional monochromator)
UV sources (with optional monochromator)
Ion sources
Electron sources

LEEM/PEEM

The SPECS LEEM instrument FE-LEEM P90 is a next generation Low Energy Electron Microscope with unsurpassed 5 nm resolution for dynamic LEEM microscopy experiments. With this instrument, based on the design of Dr. Rudolf Tromp, nanometer scale processes on surfaces can be observed in real-time.

Guiding the design of the SPECS FE-LEEM P90 was the goal to achieve an extremely high resolution with a minimum number of electronoptical elements.
In order to achieve this incoming and outgoing electrons are separated by a 90° magnetic prism array. This geometry allows a simple, intuitive step by step adjustment of all lens parameters. The magnetic prism transfers both the LEEM image and the LEED pattern astigmatically, allowing routine switching between real image and diffraction. Both image and LEED pattern are transferred without the negative effects of chromatic dispersion, offering superior image and diffraction capabilities.
A sophisticated energy filter enables imaging with an energy resolution down to 250 meV with a minimal impact on the high spatial resolution of the instrument.
The FE-LEEM P90 is integrated into a UHV LEEM sample analysis chamber with facilities for sample preparation and in-situ high temperature sample processing.

The SPECS LEEM instrument can be upgraded with an electron mirror for aberration correction, which is currently developed by Dr. Rudolf Tromp. The design resolution for the corrected FE-LEEM P90 is below 2nm.

LEED

Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) is one of the most powerful methods to determine surface structures. Analysis of LEED patterns and intensities provides the size and shape of the surface unit cell, the degree of order, and detailed atomic structure with a precision of the order of picometers. To exploit the full power of the technique, equally capable instrumentation is required. SPECS LEED systems together with highly sophisticated acquisition and analysis solutions provide the experimenter with many unique advantages present in no other commercial unit.

Thin-film deposition covers any technique for depositing material onto a bulk or thin film substrate. Elemental alloy or compound films are produced by non-reactive or reactive (co-) deposition. Often functionalization or tayloring of device interfaces by predeposition or deposition assisting surface treatment with atoms or ions is necessary.

Using synergies within the Network Of Competence SPECS stands for experienced consultation and design of complete, customized thin film preparation or deposition solutions for all chemical and physical deposition applications. Integration with state-of-the-art surface analysis techniques can easily be realized. SPECS offers robust, highly reliable and precise single components for thin film deposition and surface modification:

Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED) electron gun (RHD-30) for thin film growth analysis.

Single (EBE-1) and multi pocket electron beam evaporator (EBE-4) for deposition of thin metal and compound films with highest purity. The sources can be used with rods and crucibles in every configuration needed and upgraded with a wide variety of accessories.

Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) (PCS-ECR and MPS-ECR ) and Radio Frequency (RF) excited plasma cracker sources (PCS-RF ) for surface modification and deposition assisting surface treatment with inert or reactive atom or ion species. The sources can be reconfigured for new applications and be used as plasma source, atom source or ion source.

Thermal gas cracker source (TGC-H) for pure atomic hydrogen surface treatment.

SPECS is your experienced partner for integrated thin film deposition of advanced device structures.