Xu Zhi has received numerous awards, including the First Prize of Beijing Science and Technology Award, the Australian ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, and the "Special Support Program" Entrepreneurial Leading Talent Award in Anhui Province. He is the project leader of the key special project "Development of Major Scientific Instruments and Equipment" under the National Key Research and Development Program, as well as the co-project leader of a national major scientific research equipment development project. He has published over 150 papers in prestigious journals such as Nature and its sub-journals. Xu Zhi has also founded a research and development as well as a manufacturing enterprise focused on material property measurement instruments, successfully transforming multiple precision instrument achievements and filling numerous gaps in domestic production, with a production value exceeding one hundred million yuan. 

Team Introduction

The team is dedicated to the research and development of precision processing, characterization, and measurement equipment in the fields of materials and semiconductors. They have achieved remarkable accomplishments in this field. They have taken the lead in realizing the localization of multiple precision instrument and equipment in China, including desktop scanning electron microscopes, in-situ property testing systems for electron microscopes, and step profilers. The successful development of these devices has filled gaps in related domestic fields. Additionally, the team has completed the industrialization of products such as scanning probe microscopes, piezoelectric-driven nanopositioning stages, and ultra-low temperature probe stations, further promoting the application and development of related technologies.

These products have not only received widespread recognition in the domestic market and entered major research institutes and related enterprises across the country, but they have also been successfully exported to international markets such as Europe, America, Japan, and Australia. This demonstrates the team's strong research and development capabilities and international competitiveness in the field of precision processing and measurement equipment. Their efforts have not only driven the progress of related domestic industries but also provided high-quality equipment and services to the international scientific research and industrial communities.

Product series

1. Scanning Tunneling Microscope

STM is an important equipment for the research of new materials and condensed matter physics. As a scanning probe microscopy tool, it can perform atomic-level imaging of materials. It not only allows atomic-scale observation of material surfaces but also enables simultaneous study of the atomic structure and electrical properties of materials.

Ultra-high vacuum and low-temperature (4K) STM systems incorporate key technologies such as piezoelectric ceramic stepper motors, low-temperature STM probes, ultra-high vacuum liquid helium double-walled Dewar flasks, etc. The series of ultra-high vacuum and low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope products not only includes high-performance STM, frequency modulation AFM, TERS, and other equipment, but also offers modularization and integration of core components. For scientific research users, customized development of required functions and equipment is available.

2. Piezo-Driven Nanopositioning Stage

The team has developed a nanopiezoelectric drive motor that uses piezoelectric ceramics as the motion actuation component and leverages the stick-slip motion principle. This motor can achieve a minimum step size of nanometers within a range of tens of millimeters, addressing the limitations of traditional nanotables with insufficient travel distance and the lack of resolution precision in micrometer electric tables. Furthermore, compared to motor-based motion control products, the team's product offers several advantages: it requires no lubrication for movement, is fully vacuum compatible, and can operate within a wide temperature range from the liquid helium temperature zone (-269℃) to room temperature. In terms of functionality and operation mode, the team's product features dual working modes of stepping and scanning, capable of achieving sub-nanometer resolution positioning within a macroscopic travel range

3.Stylus Profiler

The Stylus Profiler independently developed by our company is used for surface profile measurement of samples from micrometers to nanometers. With core components developed by ourselves, it supports a maximum sample size of 12 inches and features a compact structure, achieving a breakthrough in the localization of step profilers. After long-term technical accumulation, the research and development team has utilized piezoelectric micro-positioning stages, force sensor modules, coarse adjustment electric displacement stages, and scanning axes to control the probe to move on the sample surface under constant pressure. The step height of the sample surface is determined by the displacement of the piezoelectric micro-positioning stage. Currently, three models have been successfully developed: manual, semi-automatic, and fully automatic versions, with customers covering universities, research institutes, and industrial enterprises.

Related company

ZEPTOOLS，founded on November, 2022 in Dongguan, Guangdong Province where the company is headquartered , having set up 4 branch offices in Guangdong , Anhui , Beijing, and Shanghai respectively, is an advanced equipment manufacturing company with completely independent intellectual property rights.

ZEPTOOLS is aimed at being an internationally leading technology enterprise operating in nanotechnology industry chain solutions .

With our passion for excellence we create value for our customers and inspire the world to explore in the nano-scale world .