Closing date has passed.
N.B. This is not a contract notice nor an invitation to tender, but a request for information. Aalto University School of Science, Department of Applied Physics seeks a combined scanning tunnelling microscope (“STM”) and atomic force microscope (“AFM”) operating at low-temperatures (< 5 K) and in ultra-high vacuum (“UHV”; < 10^−10 mbar). This instrument will be used for research within the project Artificial Designer Materials (E-DESIGN, ERC-2017-AdG no. 788185), which involves constructing designer materials where the atomic geometry, interactions, magnetism and other relevant parameters can be precisely controlled. We will use both atom manipulation and molecular self-assembly to reach the desired structures. Due to the nature of the studied systems, we need extreme stability and the possibility to operate the microscope at very small tunnelling current set-points (STM) and tip oscillation amplitudes (AFM). This requires an internal (in UHV), low-temperature preamplifier for the current and AFM signals such that STM operation (current feedback) down to set-point currents of < 200 fA and AFM operation down to tip oscillation amplitudes of < 20 pm are possible. The hold time (continuous measurement) at low-temperature (T < 5 K) should be at least 72 hours. The installation site is limited to 3 m available height, so the installation, maintenance and helium refill must be possible within this space. Finally, we require demonstrated performance of the instrument and need references from at least three installed systems with the requested specifications. For further information on the required instrument, separate document (as attachment file at the Hanki / Tarjouspalvelu Service / Supplier Portal at https://www.hanki-palvelu.fi/en/).