Design and Construction Examples

DIP COATER provides a means for holding and extracting a silicon sample from solution at a very slow adjustable, constant rate. Incorporated into this device is a three station magnetic, adjustable speed stirring mechanism, and a magnetic clutch to enable pre-positioning of the samples.

HIGH VOLTAGE RELAYS enables user to switch voltages up to 15KV on each of 8 channels via computer control for micro-channel research. Several copies of this design have been built. 

NANO AMMETER is a 4-1/2 digit precision meter designed to be elevated to 30 KV. Magnetic controls are used to avoid necessity of physical entry into the high voltage chamber. 

Ion LensION LENS is a stack of stainless discs with decreasing radius holes driven by RF and DC. It is used in FTMS research to enable better focusing control of the sample being injected into the mass spectrometer. 

FUEL CELL CYCLER is an electronic load providing automatic cycling of fuel cells up to 20 amps. Several units of various capacities were designed and built.

DAC HV CONTROLLER PROVIDES six channels of computer controlled voltages of 200 and 2000 volts. Several channels of voltage and current metering are also provided.

QUADROPOLE HV OSCILLATOR provides an inexpensive alternative for obtaining 1-2 MHz RF at up to 500 volts p-p using a novel approach. The capacitance of the Quad rods is incorporated into an oscillator circuit. Digital frequency and voltage readouts are provided. Several units built.

RF and DC PLASMA TUNERS designed for use at 13 MHz to enable ionization of various gases used in etching and deposition of layers on silicon wafers.

RF Plasma Tuner
RF Plasma Tuner
DC Plasma
DC Plasma
DC Plasma Controller
DC Plasma Controller

 

X-RAY SAMPLE TEMPERATURE CONTROLLER provides heating and cooling (+120° to -10° C) of 20 samples inside a vacuum chamber of an x-ray diffraction instrument. Water cooling of a Peltier cell via an inexpensive computer processor cooling device in combination with electronic reversal and constant current control is then combined with a commercial temperature controller.

X-Ray Diffraction Sample
X-Ray Diffraction Sample
X-Ray Diffraction Sample Chamber
X-Ray Diffraction Sample Chamber

 

LEVITATOR / ELECTRONIC DETECTOR is a device for levitating a droplet of solution and detecting an emitted photon after laser stimulation. This three-cabinet, rack-mounted instrumentation connects to external, off the shelf instruments including a controlling PC computer, laser, power amplifiers, high voltage power supply, and optics centered around a reaction chamber fabricated in the SCS Machine Shop.

Photomultiplier Amplifier Component of Droplet Levitator
Photomultiplier Amplifier Component of Droplet Levitator
Front
Front

 

AUTO ZERO 8 CHANNEL NANO-AMP DISPLAY provides the user with a computer display of long period nano-amp level changes riding atop a 1-2 milliamp baseline. This is accomplished using 3 cascaded inexpensive 8 bit D/A converters on each of 8 channels in an "auto-zeroing" circuit which makes 3 passes determining, with increasing resolution, the zero point of the quiescent current through each of the samples. The result is a zero offset of 24 bit accuracy and opposite polarity added to the sample current, which enables the observation of tiny long time period changes in the baseline via 8 computer screens of data. Data logging is also provided.

ETALON FINDER is a device for determining the wavelength of a laser by ramping the separation of mirrors on piezo-electric plates, detecting the interference fringes and plotting these fringes on the ramp level. 

ATOMIC JUNCTION is a device to grow junctions of 1 to 5 atoms between gold nano-wires. Quantized resistance levels are detected which causes the growth to stop. 

DIFFERENTIAL AMPLIFIER is a specially designed device to permit offsetting a very large DC signal for the purpose of observing, at very high gains, particularly small changes.