Cryopump for condensed matter physics thin film laboratory

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The most versatile and heavily used system in the Condensed Matter Physics thin film laboratory features a six-pocket rotatable electron-beam evaporation source that can be operated simultaneously with two thermal sources. It is used in the work of several research groups at the University of Alberta and the National Institute for Nanotechnology, in areas ranging from fluorescent nanocrystals for light emission applications, to specimen preparation for electron microscopy in many research projects, to the development of integrated spectrometers for medical diagnostics, threat detection, and industrial process control. Virtually everything from the bell jar (originally glass, now stainless steel) to the e-gun and thermal evaporators, power supplies, thickness monitors, specimen holders, shuttering system, temperature controllers: all of it - has been upgraded to the point where we now have the most advanced system on campus. Only the high vacuum pump, absolutely necessary for operation, is original - and it is truly ancient by any standard for scientific equipment. It is, in fact, older than the principle investigator on this grant application. Although the system was well maintained over many decades, now the water cooling lines on this old pumping system are corroded and leaking. Once the cooling line leakages become unmanageable, the system will become unusable. After more than 40 years of operation, it is time to consider a replacement. We hope to replace this ancient unit with a modern, oil free vacuum pump that will not only permit continued operation of the infrastructure into the next decades, but will make it run cleaner and much more cheaply, as the new pumping unit we request requires only a minimum of consumables for maintenance and operation. That is the heart of this proposal: replacement infrastructure for more than 40-year-old equipment that will permit a heavily used lab to keep running, will improve the cleanliness of the infrastructure and therefore the quality of the science that can be done, and will represent a long term cost savings.