Research Facilities : Smalley Institute

Research Facilities

Rice’s Shared Research Facilities
   characterization
     testing & processing
     nano & micro fabrication
Rice’s Other Research Facilities
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The Smalley Institute’s strives to provide the foundation for world-class nanoscale science and technology research at Rice University. Through the work of the institute and its faculty members, Rice University has a centralized, shared instrumentation program administrated by the Shared Equipment Authority (SEA). The SEA, a component of the Smalley Institute, maintains an instrument and facility portfolio valued at over $15 million including a 2 clean rooms, 4 transmission electron microscopes, 4 mass spectrometers, 2 Raman spectrometers, and 4 NMR systems. The SEA maintains the instruments and facilities, trains internal and external users, provides limited analysis services, develops the strategic plans for the university’s scientific facilities, and raises funds through private and government sources for new scientific resources.

Beyond the SEA, Rice University and the Smalley Institute provide world-class facilities for faculty to research nanoscale science and technology. A sampling of some of those facilities are …

Dell Butcher Hall

Dell Butcher Hall’ construction was completed in 1997 with the assistance of funds raised by the Smalley Institute. Dell Butcher Hall has 70,000 square feet with laboratory space for 6 Smalley Institute faculty members, 3 laboratories and 4 classrooms for undergraduate education, and 3,000 square feet of shared equipment space.
Space Science laboratories on the 3^rd floor were renovated in 1999 to house Professor Smalley’s research. Currently, the space accommodates 2 Smalley Institute Faculty Members, shared equipment resources, the HiPco laboratory, and the Smalley Institute and SEA offices.
The Class 1,000 and Class 100 Clean Rooms were completed in 2004. The clean rooms are utilized by the Smalley Institute faculty for research in nanoelectronics, nanosensing, and nanomaterials.
Faculty Laboratory Space spans the entire campus of Rice University. Over half of the natural science and engineering faculty are members of the Smalley Institute.

In addition to facilities, the Smalley Institute and Rice University provide a plethora of instrumentation capabilities managed through the Smalley Institute’s Shared Equipment Authority. For details of individual systems, please visit the SEA website.

CHARACTERIZATION

JEOL 1230 High Contrast Transmission Electron Microscope
JEOL 2010 Transmission Electron Microscope
JEOL 2010 Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscope
JEOL 2100 Field Emission Transmission Electron Microscope
FEI Quantra 400 Field-Emission Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope
JEOL 5300 Scanning Electron Microscope
JEOL 6500F Scanning Electron Microcsope
two Digital Instruments Nanoscope IIIA Atomic Force Microscopes
Polarizing Optical Microscope
Zeiss Axiovert 200M Inverted Fluorescence Microscope
Zeiss LSM410 Confocal Microscope with 4 Fluorochrome Modes
Nicolet FTIR Infrared Benchtop and Microscope System
SPEX FluoroLog-3 Spectrofluorometer-NIR only
Circular Dichroism Spectropolarimeter
Raman Microscope
Kaiser Fiber-Optic Raman, mobile
Thermo Scientific LTQ-Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer
Bruker Autoflex MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometer
micrOTOF ESI Mass Spectrometer
Reflex IV MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometer
Bruker 200 MHz NMR Spectrometer
Bruker 400 MHz NMR Spectrometer
Bruker 500 MHz NMR Spectrometer
500 MHz Varian Inova NMR Spectrometer
PHI Quantera X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy System
two Rigaku D/Max Ultima II Powder X-ray Diffraction System
Rigaku SmartLab X-ray Diffractometer
Bruker SMART 1000 CCD X-ray Diffractometer
Siemens GADDS X-ray Diffractometer

TESTING & PROCESSING

Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis with Infrared Spectroscopy
PerkinElmer Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer
PerkinElmer Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer
Quantum Design Magnetic Property Measuring System (SQUID)
Quantachrome Autosorb-3b BET Surface Analyzer
Malvern Zen 3600 Zetasizer
Colloidal Dynamics Zeta Potential Analyzer
Maestro Small Animal Imaging System
High Performance Liquid Chromatography System
Beckman-Coulter Optima L-80XP Ultracentrifuge
Leica Ultracut Microtome
Lecia VT1000S Vibrating Microtome

NANO & MICRO FABRICATION

Leo S440 SEM/NPGS Nanolithography System
Universal X-660 Laser Cutter Platform
DWL66 Mask Maker
SUSS Mask Aligner MJB4 System
Reactive Ion Etch System
Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition System
E-Beam Evaporator
Rapid Thermal Anneal/Rapid Thermal Processor
Z Corp Spectrum Z510 3-D Printing System

Other Rice University Research Facilities

Individual faculty members equip their laboratories with specialized instrumentation critical to their research interests. Some of that equipment is the following,

SYNTHESIS