A Versatile UHV Molecular Beam Epitaxy for High-purity Thin Film Growth

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) has long been at the forefront of high quality thin film growth. Here we describe the design and construction of a universal MBE system with the capability of thin film growth on various sample holders that are currently used in experimental set ups such as angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The MBE has seven effusion cells (High-T, low-T and standard) and electron beam evaporators for evaporating a host of different materials (Ti, Se, Bi, Sb, Mo, Nb etc). This universal MBE system uses a sample holder-holder to accommodate different sample holders. After deposition, the sample holder-holder can be unloaded via a vacuum shuttle for in-situ transfer to the respective systems. We will describe the growth and characterization of dichalcogenides on a variety of substrates using this MBE system.