A device for film application
by Langmuir—Blodgett technique LT-103

Full free surface area:	400 cm2
Maximum free surface area confined with the barrier:	365 cm2
Compressed (effective) area:	258 cm2
Liquid medium volume:	1000-1050 cm3
Dipping well:	75 mm deep, diam. 60 mm
Maximum dimensions of the immersed substrate:	70õ55x4 mm (h-w-t)
Number of barriers:	One
Velocity range of the barrier motion:	54–210 mm/min (single side comression)
Dipper mechanism stroke:	85 mm (verticalposition of the unit can be adjusted manually)
Dipper mechanism velocity range:	0.12–70 mm/min,
Step of the dipper mechanism velocity change:	0.1 mm/min,
Possibility of altering different monomolecular layers deposition:	Available
Delay between the layers deposition:	0–100000 s
Surface tension sensor:	Wilhelmy plate (vertical position of the sensor can be adjusted manually)
Working range of the surface tension sensor:	0-100 mN/m (stepped and fine adjustment of the range are available)
Sensitivity of the surface tension sensor:	0.01 mN/m
Overall dimensions:	Trough with mounted rig - 400x200x250 mm (w-d-h); Control unit - 220x165x105 mm (w-d-h); Weight 7/8 kg.
Supply voltage:	220 V 50 Hz
Power consumption:	not more than 40 W
Additional accessories:	Substrate clamping holder for fixing the sample on the dipper lever. Rig for film application by the horizontal precipitation method (by liquid medium draining)*. PTFE inserts for reduction of the working fluid volume. PTFE cylinder for restricting free surface area around the immersed substrate.

 

TECHNIQUES

Deposition of X-type LB film
Deposition of Y-type LB film
Deposition of Z-type LB film
Note. * Horizontal precipitation (HP) method (by liquid medium draining) is developed by scientists from Institute for Chemistry of New Materials of National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (Minsk, Belarus). [Article]     The method provides surface modification by extremely uniform and homogenous monolayer films (see, for example this paper). HP method allows transferring of monolayer films at various surfaces simultaneously from huge variety of surfactants (both in solid and liquid state) despite of polar head structure. The process of deposition is simple and fast. In particular, the surface of metallized silicon wafer can be modified by HP method within 3–5 minutes.

* Host PC not included in the delivery set

Software for LB trough control and data acquisition is a Win32 application running under OS Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista.

The software is built according to the modular scheme oriented to perform specific application technique and provides all preliminary settings and calibration necessary for the LB trough operation as well control over the systems (mechanisms of the barrier movement and sample dipping/lifting) at the film application.

Acquired data can be saved in special format or text files and can be then processed, visualized and analysed in the program itself or with third party software (e.g. SurfaceXplorer package or Microsoft Excel).

Minimal configuration of host PC (not included in the delivery set): Celeron^® 1.7 GHz, RAM 512 MB, HDD 160 GB, VRAM 64 MB, monitor 1024x768x32 bit, MS Windows^® XP SP2, 1 free USB port.