Resources on Campus

Applied Science has facilities in ISC-3 in the center of campus and the Applied Research Center (ARC) adjacent to the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) further described below. Computational facilities include the Beowulf-like SciClone parallel computing system consisting of over a hundred networked workstations from Sun Microsystems. The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) in Newport News is 17 miles from the William & Mary campus. Of particular note is the Free Electron Laser (FEL) at Jefferson Lab, for materials processing applications that are of particular interest to Applied Science. Several state of the art instruments are housed in various research laboratories at the Applied Science Department.

The College of William & Mary has a very open policy when it comes to providing faculty and student access to all equipment on campus across the departments. Generally, all service equipment is available to all faculty and students completely free of charge. Faculty will typically grant other faculty members access to their equipment. Prof. Schniepp and his students have access to Renishaw inVia dispersive Raman spectroscope instrument (see Figure), which we use for Raman spectroscopy on functionalized graphene and its polymer nanocomposites. The Raman spectrometer has three different laser sources, offering the wavelengths 488 nm (Ar ion), 514 nm (Ar ion laser), 632 nm (HeNe laser), and 785 nm (diode laser); the lasers are shown in Figure (right). Furthermore, Prof. Schniepp students have access to highly sensitive EMCCD camera (Del Negro Lab) that is sensitive enough to identify single photons. Typically employed in fluorescence studies.

Renishaw inVia dispersive Raman spectroscope. Left: front view. Right: back view, showing the three different laser source

http://www.wm.edu/sites/arc/equipment/descriptions/index.php

Jefferson Center and the ARC are home to a unique collaboration between four Virginia universities working with Jefferson Lab to explore and develop new technologies relating to materials processing of significant importance to industries. The Applied Research Center (see Figure 9, left) is an $18 million, seven-story, 122,000 sq. ft. office and laboratory facility that gives over 150 Ph. D. scientists access to 27 state-of-the-art laboratories, including office space, classrooms, advanced computer facilities, and a technical library. The College of William & Mary is one of the local Universities affiliated to the ARC, and faculty members of the Applied Science Department have offices at the ARC center. The list of characterization and processing facilities available to all faculty of the William & Mary Applied Science Department at the ARC comprises:

• Hummer 6.2 Sputter Coater
• Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (ToF-SIMS), (see Figure 9, center bottom)
• Kelvin Probe (KP-6500), (see Figure 9, center top)
• Shimadzu Vickers Microhardness Tester Type M (see Figure 9, right)

Figure 9: The Applied Research Center (ARC). Left image: ARC main building. Center top: KP6500 McAllister Digital Kelvin Probe. Center bottom: Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometer (ToF-SIMS). Right: Shimadzu Vickers micro hardness tester.

• KW-4A Precision Spin Coater
• Etching, plating, plasma processing capability
• Veeco/Digital Instruments Dimension 3000 Scanning Probe Microscope with acoustic enclosure and many optional add-ons, including liquid cells and equipment for the electric and magnetic imaging modes (EFM/MFM)
• Variable-Angle Spectroscopic Ellipsometer (VASE)
• Nicolet Nexus 670 Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectrometer (FT-IR), ATR and DRIFT operation modes available.
• Optical Spectroscopy System
• Buehler Minimet 1000 Polisher/Grinder
• Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD)
• Radio frequency planar coil inductively coupled plasma source to conduct large-scale immersed ion implantation.
• Leica Stereo Zoom 4
• Gryphon Diamond Band Saw, Model C
• Cole-Parmer Ultrasonic Cleaner 8890
• 6“ V-speed Delta Bench Grinder
• Low Speed Diamond Wheel Saw 650, SBT
• OLYMPUS Microscope AH2 VANOX-T
• Ultrasonic Cleaning Generator, Model 5300 (Ultrasonic Power Corporation)
• Lindberg/Blue M Gravity Convection Oven SW-17TA1
• Zeiss Axiolab Transmitted & Reflected Light Microscope
• Dektak 3 ST Surface Profiler
• E-pure Deionized Water System
• Hitachi S-570 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
• Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS)
• E-beam lithography capability
• Hall Effect & 4-Point Probe
• Hitachi 4700 SEM with EDAX – scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive analysis of X-rays, 1.5-nm spatial resolution at 15 kV (see Figure 10, left)
• Hirox KH-3000VD High Resolution Digital-Video Microscopy System (see Figure 10, right)

Equipment at ARC. Left: Hitachi 4700 Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy-Dispersive X-Ray. Right: HIROX KH-3000VD High Resolution Digital-Video Microscopy System.

• Koslow Metal Identification Kit
• Precision Wire Cutter (Wire Saw type WS-22)
• UHV Surface Analysis Instrument
• Surface Analysis (LEED, ESCA, Auger, ISS, Sample Heating and Cooling, High Pressure Load Lock for heating in a reactive gas)
• ProScope Digital UBS Microscope

http://www.wm.edu/as/chemistry/

In agreement with the college's general policy, Prof. Schniepp has free access to all the general service devices and instruments available in the chemistry department, including:

• TA Instruments 2920 Modulated DSC, Differential Scanning Calorimeter (including optional temperature chamber and dry box)
• TA Instruments TGA Q500 thermal gravimetric analysis system
• MTS 810 Materials Testing System (MTS Corp.) tensile testing unit
• TA Instruments Advanced AR 1000 rheometer (optional environmental test chamber installed)
• A whole range of different ovens, vacuum ovens, and furnaces
• Digilab FTS-700 FTIR Spectrometer
• Perkin–Elmer Lambda 35 UV/VIS spectrometer 2
• Perkin–Elmer LS55 Luminescence Spectrometer
• Agilent 4263B LCR Meter
• HP Solartron 1260 Impedance/Gain Phase Analyzer
• Wyatt Optilab 903 refractometer
• Carver 30-ton Laboratory Press
• Agilent 6890N Network Gas Chromatograph
• Perkin–Elmer AAnalyst 700AAS Atomic Absorption Spectrometer
• Multi-angle light scattering liquid chromatography (MALS)
• XRD single crystal machine: Bruker SMART APEX II: 4K CCD System with 3-circle goniometer, Oxford Cryostream Plus variable temp. system (80-500 K). Full software suites for single crystal and powder determinations. Upgraded in 2016 to DUO system with Mo sealed tube and Cu Imus microfocus sources (see Figure).

XRD single crystal in the chemistry department (Bruker SMART APEX II)

http://www.wm.edu/as/biology/

In agreement with the college's general policy, Prof. Schniepp has free access to the Ultra-speed centrifuge and Superspeed centrifuge instruments available in the Biology department (see Figure).

Biology centrifuges, Ultracentrifuge (left) and super-centrifuge (right)

Schniepp lab has also access to several other instruments including:

• Zeiss 109 TEM
• RMC, MT6000XL Microtome
• Anatech Hummer 6.2 Sputter Coating Device
• Samdri PVT-3B Critical Point Dryer
• Confocal microscope: fully automated Nikon TE2000 inverted microscope equipped with BioRad scanning lasers.