Pre- and Post-processing equipment facilities
We have a dedicated class 1000 clean room for CZT charge preparation. This facility includes ultrahigh vacuum pumping and back filling capabilities for the quartz ampoules containing the charge material. Ampoules are generally evacuated to 10-8 torr and backfilled with a variety of ultrahigh purity gases (Ar, H2, O2, N2, NO, NH3 and others). Additionally, we have a custom built automated rotary quartz ampoule sealing station that is suitable for large diameter ampoule sealing.
For powder charge prep we have an isostatic press to compact raw material powders.
Also, we have a series of post-processing facilities with box and tube annealing furnaces for various environments from inert to oxygen to hydrogen to metal vapors.
- Box furnace for annealing in oxidizing, reducing, and inert atmospheres as well as calcining raw powders up to 1600°C.
- Multiple tube furnaces for annealing in oxidizing, reducing, and inert atmospheres up to 1100°C.
Also we have all the necessary facilities for fabricating detector prisms from our grown crystals. For shaping we have a semiconductor-grade wire saw, core saws, diamond wheels, and an inner diameter (ID) saw. We also have a full range of polishing stations for chemical/ mechanical polishing and etching. IMR has intimate experience with the importance of surface preparation of high quality crystals for further processing such as electrical contacting and substrate use for further epitaxy. Finally, we have RF/DC sputtering stations, as well as more sophisticated methods in our cleanroom, for placing electrical contacts.
Laboratories: ETRL 002, ETRL 242, EME 224A, EME 224C