One of our main attractions is a home-built instrument, which combines molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) with a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The MBE can be equipped with up to seven effusion cells and growth monitoring techniques, which are complemented by other standard UHV sample preparation capabilities.

The STM permits low noise measurements at lowest temperatures of <1 K and in external magnetic fields of <3 T. The system design is optimized for fast sample exchange and cool-down cycles, promoting time-efficient screening of various sample types. Optical access to the tunnel junction and up to eight sample contacts further facilitate studies of van-der-Waal heterostructures, exploration of novel STM techniques with on-chip functionalities, and in-situ transport measurements.