UV ozone treatment
Surface cleaning and preparation before thin-film deposition and device fabrication.
Facilities
From discovery to device
Integrated tools for materials synthesis, processing, and characterization
Our lab combines automated perovskite processing, thin-film fabrication, electrochemistry, and advanced materials characterization. The group also leverages UC San Diego's shared-use Materials Research Center and Nano3 cleanroom and characterization facilities.
Automated synthesis
PASCAL and scalable coating
The Perovskite Automated Spin Coat Assembly Line (PASCAL) supports reproducible, high-throughput exploration of small-area perovskite recipes. Promising processes can then move toward larger-area, ambient-compatible coating workflows with the group's AutoVerde slot-die platform.
- Automated spin coating and process control
- Rapid experimental iteration
- Translation from lab-scale recipes to scalable coating
In-lab capabilities
Selected equipment
A representative look at the systems supporting photovoltaic, catalysis, and materials research in the group.
Physical vapor deposition
Controlled thin-film deposition for contacts, interfaces, and device stacks.
Thermal processing
Dedicated ovens for controlled annealing and materials processing.
Accelerated stress testing
Environmental aging and stability studies for materials and photovoltaic devices.
Cryogenic measurements
Temperature-dependent optical and electronic characterization.
Electrochemistry
Electrochemical testing for catalysis, solar fuels, and interface studies.
Gas chromatography
Product separation and analysis for catalytic reaction studies.
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Surface-sensitive chemical and electronic-state analysis with the PHI Genesis XPS.
Shared UC San Diego infrastructure
Materials Research Center and Nano3
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Materials Research Center
The 9,000-square-foot shared-use Materials Research Center occupies the basement of the Structural and Materials Engineering building. It gives the group walk-up access to diffraction, optical spectroscopy, and scanning-probe tools without leaving campus — the same instruments used across nanoengineering, chemistry, and materials science at UC San Diego.
- X-ray diffraction
- UV-visible and FTIR spectroscopy
- Raman and micro-photoluminescence
- Atomic force microscopy
- Thermal analysis (DSC, TGA, DMA)
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Nano3
Nano3 is UC San Diego’s nanofabrication cleanroom in Atkinson Hall at the Qualcomm Institute — more than 7,000 square feet of Class 100 and Class 1000 space, plus a characterization suite used by hundreds of campus and industry groups. The Fenning group relies on it for lithography, thin-film deposition, and electron-beam imaging that go beyond what fits in a single lab.
- Class 100 / 1000 cleanroom
- Photolithography and e-beam lithography
- ALD, CVD, sputtering, and evaporation
- SEM / EDS and EBIC
- Cryogenic dual-beam FIB