European Regional Development Fund

Helium is a rare gas that is very expensive and therefore it is desirable to use helium sustainably.
In experiments at the UHV systems, liquid helium is used for cooling. The cooling causes the helium to warm up and become gaseous. If it is subsequently released as a gas, it would rise into the stratosphere and from there escape into space.
The goal of the recovery system is to recapture the helium in a balloon, compress it with a compressor and store it in gas cylinders. The helim is then reused in a circular economy.
The installation of the helium recovery line was carried out by the Andrick company from Berlin.

The aim of the ERDF-funded electron beam lithography unit is to produce atomically small metallic conductors, nanowires, contacts and structures for molecular electronics.

On the one hand, they should be used for an improved understanding of electromigration for the semiconductor electronics industry. On the other hand, even smaller to atomic metallic contacts and single-electron transistors will be fabricated based on the fabricated electromigration traces and used for molecular electronics. This will allow to study the quantum physical effects and to understand their influence on the nanoelectronic and molecular electronic devices.