BACH

The BACH beamline belongs to the Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM) of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) and it is operated by a CNR team in collaboration with Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A.
The beamline works in the Extreme UV-soft x-ray photon energy range (35-1650 eV) with selectable light polarization (linear horizontal and vertical, circular and elliptical), high energy resolution (the resolving power exceeds 10000), high intensity and brilliance and time resolution (70 ps in x-ray absorption and 300 ms in photoemission). The beamline offers a multi-technique approach for the investigation of the electronic, chemical, structural, magnetic and dynamical properties of materials. The sample environment is completely in ultra-high-vacuum (UHV)The beamline consists of three branch lines, equipped with specific purpose end-stations. The installation of temporary user experimental chambers is available. The end-stations preparation chambers allow for the preparation and characterization of solid samples in-situ. Samples in static liquid environment can also be measured in fluorescence yield.

Research highlights | Publications

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Stability of van der Waals Pt-Telluride thin films

Photoemission provides insight into the synthesis conditions of Pt3Te4, and Pt2Te2 by thermal treatment starting from PtTethin films. 

Applied Surface Science 644, 158785
(2024) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2023.158785

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Impact of thermal gas treatment of Li-rich Mn-based cathode materials for Li-ion batteries

Insights on the mechanism responsible for improved stability of high-energy-density lithium rich layered structure Mn based cathodes upon double gas treatment has been obtained by quasi in situ advanced spectroscopic techniques

Materials Advances 4, 3746-3758(2023)
doi: 10.1039/d3ma00236e

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The NESSIAS effect at Si nanostructures

Si nanowells embedded in SiO2- and Si3N4 show an electronic structure shift with respect to the vacuum level. This NESSIAS effect gives origin to intrinsic Si type II homojunctions  which should remain fully functional down to extremely low temperatures, useful for peripheral electronics in qbit manipulation.

Advanced Physics Research, 2, 2200065 (2023), 10.1002/apxr.202200065

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Lithium induces the reorientation of few-layer MoS2 films

Measurements at the BACH beamline attest to the presence of lithium in interstitial sites in Li-MoS2 films prepared by a new approach.

Chem. Mater. 35 (2023) 6246-6257
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.3c00669

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Atomically-Precise Texturing of Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nanostripes

h-BN grown on a curved Rh crystal forms a continuous atomically-thin carpet revealing a transformation from 2D to 1D electronic band structure. This novel approach to nanopattering through epitaxial growth has practical technological implications. 

Advanced Science
 2101455 (2021)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202101455

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Boron nitride-graphene in-plane hexagonal heterostructure in oxygen environment

Insights into the progressive and subsequent  intercalation of oxygen, selective etching of graphene and oxidation of boron in a quasi-free standing Gr-h-BN monolayer during oxygen exposure. 


Applied Surface Science (2022)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2022.154584 

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Improving the Efficiency of Gallium Telluride through Defects Engineering and Interfacing with its Native Oxide

The formation of a nanoscale sub-stoichiometric wide-band-gap Ga2O3 skin over narrow-band-gap gallium telluride upon air exposure  is beneficial for electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, and gas sensing. 
Adv. Funct. Mat. (2022) 
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202205923

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Soft x-rays spectroscopies in liquids at BACH

We have developed suitable cells to perform soft x-ray spectroscopy in the presence of liquids and reagent gases at ambient pressure: two types of static cells working in transmission or in fluorescence modes, and an electrochemical flow cell which allows to carry out cyclic voltammetry in situ, electrochemical deposition on a working electrode and to study chemical reactions in-operando conditions.  Rev. Sci. Instrum. 92, 015115 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0025326

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Easy Hydrogenation and dehydrogenation of a hybrid graphene and hexagonal boron nitride monolayer

Insights into the mechanism of hydrogenation and dehydrogenation of a quasi-free standing Gr-h-BN monolayer are achieved by temperature-programmed photoemission. 
2D Materials (2021)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/abda10

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Altering properties of transition metal dichalcogenides by bi-intercalation

Advanced synchrotron radiation spectroscopy helped to gain insight into the origins of phase transitions in Cu and Ni doped TiSe2 dichalcogenide.

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TC03277H,
This article is Open Access

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Branchline A: MultiSpectroscopy endstation

In the UHV (low 10-10 mbar) endstation of the BRANCH A it is possible to perform a multi-spectroscopy investigation with photoemission UPS/XPS (including polarization and photon energy-dependent ultra-violet (UV) and soft-x SX-ARPES, RESPES and energy-dependent Photoelectron DIffraction PhD, temperature-progarmmed photoemission TP-XPS), x-ray absorption XAS (TEY,PEY,TFY,PFY) including GAP SCAN acquisitions, x-ray emission XES and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism XMCD (in remanence in the branch A).   A LEED and several electron beam evaporators are available to deposit  selected metals on the sample surface at different temperatures. A sample-preparation UHV chamber, directly connected to the EndstationA can be used to grow thin films of metals or metal oxides and deposit organic/inorganic molecules on solid surfaces for in-situ investigations. High-partial pressure gas exposures (up to 100 torr) and sample annealing are also possible in a dedicated chamber. Connection of vacuum suitcases is also feasible. Samples in static liquid environment can also be measured in fluorescence yield.

VG-Scienta R3000 analyser (RESPES, TP-XPS, Dichroic ARPES, EUV ARPES, SX-ARPES, RES-ARPES, fast XPS and UPS, PhD, PY-XAS)

A VG-Scienta hemispherical electron analyzer (CNR) has been installed in mid December 2011 on the branch A, replacing the VSW 150 mm analyser (Elettra - Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A.). This instrument offers the possibility to perform angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) with energy resolution better that 3 meV and angular resolution better than 0.1° and full control of the polarization in a wide photon energy range (from 35 to 1600 eV) for band mapping and surface structural studies. 

This instrument can be used to perform polarization and photon energy dependent 
ARPES from the Extreme UV to the Soft X ray range (35-1650eV).
In particular RES SX ARPES can be performed for example at resonance of transition metals L23 edge. quick acquisition mode is available to perform Fast XPS/UPS/ARPES, e.g. during Temperature-programmed XPS or photo-induced or chemical reactions, with 320 msec total acquisition time per spectrum. The same instrument can be used to acquire Partial-Yield XAS (secondary or Auger electrons), together with the drain current from the sample (TEY). Gap-scan partial yield XAS is also possible. Resonant PhotoemissionEnergy-dependent Photoelectron Diffraction spectra, as well as high-resolution valence band maps along the vertical kz direction, are acquired in a fully automatized mode.
 

 

Pump-Probe Time resolved XAS 

The experimental setup of the BRANCH A can also combine Laser and Synchrotron Radiation (SR) in order to study the dynamics of the photo-induced excited states of electronic and magnetic systems with optical pump- x ray probe time-resolved XAS. Elettra Synchrotron radiation source provides radiation pulse widths sufficiently short to investigate dynamic processes in the time between 70 ps up to 0.5 μs. Typically, optical excitation of the sample is done by laser pulses (synchronized to either hybrid or multi bunch SR pulses), and probing is performed by time-delayed synchrotron radiation pulses. 

“Gap/Phase Energy scan” acquisition mode (synchronization of the undulator gap and phase with the monochromator) has been implemented to XAS, XMCD, RESPES, ARPES and PhD. This has been possible thanks to the collaboration with undulator group (D. Millo, ST), Undulator server group (L. Pivetta, L. Scafuri, ST), A. Barla (ISM-CNR), L. Stebel (ST)
XAS, XANES measurements are possible from the Si L23 edge to Al K edge, including all 3d transition metals L23, C K, B K, N K, O K and all lantanides N45 and M45. Gap-scan has also been implemented for PY-XAS.