Vacuum Techniques

A good vacuum is essential to many experimental physics applications especially those

at the physical extremes of low temperature and high energy. It is quite likely that, in the

course of your future studies, you will at some point have to use a vacuum system. In

this lab you have the opportunity to gain experience with vacuum techniques and

equipment by creating a vacuum and measuring its pressure. At the end of this lab, you

will get a chance to apply your understanding of vacuum systems to create a simple

optical device, an interference filter, by using a vacuum environment to deposit thin

films on glass. Evaporative deposition techniques, such as the one you will experiment

with, have made vacuum technology crucial in the development of solid-state

microelectronic and micromechanical devices.

Vacuum Quality and Pump Speed

A perfect vacuum is a region of space which is free of all matter. How perfect a real vacuum

is can be quantified in terms of the absolute pressure inside a chamber. The lower the

pressure, the "better" or "higher" the vacuum.

The most common way of creating a vacuum is to pump the gas out of a vessel that is

initially at atmospheric pressure. There are many different ways of pumping on a vessel, but

all of them have a limiting pressure below which they are ineffective. The lowest possible

pressure achievable by a particular pump is called the ultimate pressure of the pump. Some

pumps also have a limiting pressure (< 1 atm) above which they are ineffective. The use of

those pumps must be preceded by another pump, called a "forepump" or a "roughing pump",

which brings the pressure in the vessel within their working range. Usually pumps which

require a forepump require a backing pump as well. The backing pump is used to extract
residual gases from the main pump to keep it at low enough pressure to operate. The pressure

of the backing pump is called the backing pressure. As one might guess, different pumps will

evacuate a given vessel in different amounts of time. The time required for a pump to achieve

its ultimate pressure depends

not only on the kind of pump, but also on the volume of the vessel to be evacuated and the

size of the conduit or tubing which connects the pump to the vessel. The pump down speed,

S, of a complete vacuum system (pump + conduit + vessel) is defined by:

where Q is the throughput, or the volume of gas leaving the system in a unit of time, and P is

the pressure of the system. To define the speed of a pump we could then write:

In practice the speed of the pump can be determined by pumping on a blank. A blank is a flat

piece of metal which covers the intake of the pump. After measuring the pump with a blank it

is sensible to connect tubing to the pump and watch its effect on the pump speed. A wide tube

might not restrict gas flow or pump speed while a narrow tube might. It is useful to introduce

the conductance, F, of a tube which is the gas throughput of the tube divided by the

difference in pressure of the two ends of the tube. This is written as:

where P1 and P2 are the pressures at the two ends of the tubing.
Gaseous Flow and Mean Free:

Path Consider a system comprised of a vessel that is connected by a tube to a pump. The

pressure at the pump is lower than the pressure in the chamber. On average, gas molecules

flow from the higher pressure region into the lower pressure region.

The way in which gas flows in response to an enclosed pressure gradient depends on both the

relative and the absolute pressures involved. There are two types of gas flow possible when

evacuating a vacuum chamber: viscous flow and molecular flow. The word viscous might

bring to mind the drag force due to air on a projectile. In that instance, the collisions of the air

molecules with the projectile impede its movement. In viscous flow, the collisions of the gas

molecules with each other impede the flow of the gas itself. In molecular flow, on the other

hand, the gas molecules are more likely to run into the walls of the tubing and chamber than

they are to encounter each other. Of course, there is no sharp transition between these two

types of flow
Introduction to Vacuum Pumps:

Exactly how do we produce a vacuum? Many different kinds of vacuum pumps ex- ist, each

with their own application. The most common types of pumps are the rotary pump for

reaching rough vacuum, and the diffusion pump for reaching high vacuum.

Classifications of Pumps:

We can classify pumps in different ways; by their range of pressures, their means of

operation, their cleanliness, their ability to pump a continuous gas ow, and their ability to

pump different gases. Each of these classifications and summarize the several types of

pumps in Table. 1.1

Table 1.1: Properties of Pumps

Figure 1.1: Pressure Ranges of Vacuum Pumps

Pressure Range Roughing pumps can evacuate a chamber from atmospheric to about 10 -3

Torr. Examples include the rotary pump, the aspirator, and the sorption pump. Hi-vac pumps

provide much lower pressure, as low as 10-11 Torr, but can only start to operate when the

pressure is below about 0.1 Torr. Thus they require a roughing pump to back them up. In

addition to the common oil diffusion pump, the turbomolecular, ion, titanium sublimation,

and cryopumps are hi-vac pumps. Booster pumps span the range of pressures between the

roughing and hi-vac pumps and serve to increase the over- all speed of the system in reaching

low pressures. The Root's blower and the oil ejector are examples. The pressure range is 101

to 10-5 Torr. Figure 1.1 gives the ranges of various pumps and pump combinations. Vapor

pumps, the diffusion and oil ejection pumps, use a stream of liquid or vapor to create the

vacuum. The aspirator works on Bernoulli's principle. Entrainment pumps, the sorption, cryo,

ion and titanium sublimation pumps, create surfaces onto which vapor and gas molecules will

stick by condensation, adsorption or other mechanisms.

Cleanliness, Certain pumps are cleaner than others, and this is very important in some

applications such as the micro-electronics industry. “Dirty" pumps have a fluid, usually oil,

which may travel into the working chamber by a process called back-streaming. These pumps

include the rotary vane and oil diffusion pumps. “Clean" pumps add very little or no vapors

to the system. Sorption, turbomolecular, ion, titanium sublimation, and cryopumps are clean.

Continuous Operation?

In applications such as gas lasers and sputtering we need a continuous flow of gas at low

pressures. Sorption pumps and cryopumps have difficulty with this type of load, while ion

and titanium sublimation pumps must have elements periodically replaced. The other pumps

can handle continuous gas flows.

Sensitivity to Different Gases:

Different gases are pumped with different efficiencies by all pumps. Noble (inert) gases and

low-mass gases cause the most problem. The problem is more severe with entrainment pumps

than with other types of pumps.Table 1.1 should help to sort out the various pumps and

properties.

Compression Ratio:

Mechanical pumps can also be thought of in terms of their compression ratio, the ratio of the

pressure at the outlet to the pressure at the inlet. For "dry pumps" such as Root's blowers the

ratio might be small such as 10 to 50. Oil sealed rotary pumps can have compression ratios of

100 000. Turbo-pumps have compression ratios of 2 x 107. Diffusion pumps have ratios at or

above 109.

1.Mechanical Pump-(Rotary Pump: (760 Torr to 10-4 Torr)

Rotary vane pumps (usually called rotary pumps) take a volume of gas at a low pressure,

compress it so that the pressure becomes slightly higher than atmospheric, and vent the gas to

the atmosphere.

A typical rotary pump is shown in Figure1.2. The vacuum chamber is connected to the inlet,

and the pressure in region I is about the same as that of the chamber. Region I is an

expanding volume. As the rotor moves it eventually traps a relatively large volume of gas at

chamber pressure. In the diagram this is region II. This region is decreasing in volume. The

rotor continues to move and region II is made accessible to the outlet valve. In diagram this

is the region III. Region III continues to be compressed in volume, and thus its pressure rises.

Eventually the pressure exceeds atmospheric and the gas is expelled through the outlet valve

and through the oil into the room. The low-pressure limit on this pump is determined by the

leakage of gas around the seals and by gas dissolved in the oil. For a single-stage pump this is

at about 50 mTorr, while a two-stage

Figure 1.2: Rotary Mechanical Pump. A single stage is shown. The output of this is

connected to a similar second stage in two stage pumps. Standard AVS and European

symbols are shown.

pump has a base pressure of about 0.1 mTorr. In a two-stage pump the vent of one stage goes

to the inlet of the other stage. Adding more stages has no practical benefit.

Roughing pumps such as the rotary pump have a problem if they pump on a chamber that

contains condensable vapors. The most common condensable vapor is water vapor. As the

low-pressure gas from the inlet is compressed, we may reach a pressure where the water

vapor will condense into a liquid. At 30 0C the vapor pressure of water is 32 Torr. When,

upon compression in the pump, the partial pressure of the water vapor exceeds 32 Torr, the

vapor condenses into liquid prior to the opening of the outlet valve. The liquid dilutes the oil,

and may corrode the pump. For some vacuum applications there is a large vapor load such as

freeze drying (water vapor), Chemical Vapor Deposition (HCl), or plasma etching (organics)

and large quantities of condensable liquids are possible. To prevent the condensation in

moderate vapor loads we use gas ballast. The gas ballast valve, GB, adds a small amount of

dry gas such as nitrogen to region III. This reduces the amount of compression that the vapor

undergoes and thus reduces the condensation problem. The ultimate pressure of the pump is
not as low when we use gas ballast.The oil that surrounds the stator serves to seal the outlet

valve from leaks, and also lubricates the moving parts since some oil gets inside the pump.

Good rotary pump oils must have low vapor pressures and yet be viscous enough to form a

seal across the rotary vanes. In addition, the oil must be chemically stable. The stability of the

oil depends on the type of gas passing through the pump. The cheapest and most common oil

is a highly refined or synthetic hydro- carbon oil. If we are continually pumping large

amounts of oxygen, we must not use a hydrocarbon oil since it may become explosive. More

expensive synthetic oil is needed. In addition the pump must be modified to eliminate seals

impregnated with hydrocarbon oils. Other uses of pumps may involve the pumping of

corrosive materials such as acid vapor, and appropriate modifications of the pumps should be

made, usually in consultation with the manufacturer. Rotary pump oils cost between $10 and

$1000 per liter. Rotary pumps are available with speeds ranging from 0.25 to more than 80

L/s. Older rotary pumps are usually belt driven, with the pump and the motor separate and

connected by a fan belt. This means that the belts must be regularly checked. Newer pumps

are direct drive, with the motor and pump connected by a shaft. The dependence of pumping

speed on pressure is shown in Figure 1.3. Clearly the speed is not constant but at higher

pressures, some average speed may be used without much error. The conductance of the

piping and out gassing will mask some of the variations in pumping speed. Usually the

pumping speed for roughing pumps is given in L/min or cubic feet per minute, cfm.

speed in L/min = speed in cfm X 28:32……….(1)

At low pressures, the speed drops of rapidly, and the ultimate pressure is likely to be

somewhere in this drop-of region. The ultimate pressure will depend on the vapor pressure of

the oil and on the rate of out gassing and leaks in the system. Throughout most of the

operation of the rotary pump the gas is in either turbulent flowor viscous flow. Below about

100 mTorr the flow becomes molecular for typical piping sizes. When molecular flow occurs,
some of the oil molecules in the roughing pump can back stream into the working chamber to

cause unwanted contamination of the system by the roughing pump oils. Hence we wish to

avoid operation of the roughing pump below 100 mTorr, or else we need to put in a trap to

limit back streaming. Typically we would stop using the rotary pump at about 70 mTorr and

switch to a high vaccum pump. We can compute approximate pump down times from the

equation

P = P0 exp-(S/V )t ……………..(2)

using an average value of S. The effective speed at the chamber must be used since it

includes the effects of piping conductance.

Figure 1.3: Rotary Pump Speeds for Some Varian Rotary Pu

Advantages and Disadvantages:

The pump is relatively cheap and mechanically sturdy. It can operate from atmospheric

pressure down, and is thus used before many of the higher vacuum pumps. It is commonly

referred to as a roughing pump (to get rough vacuum), a backing pump (back behind the
diffusion pump), or a fore pump (before the diffusion pump). Other types of mechanical

pumps are available that work on slightly different principles. These include rotary piston

pumps, dry scroll pumps, and trochoid pumps. The rotary piston pump can have larger

speeds,up to 500 liter/second.

The rotary pump requires some routine maintenance. If the motor-to-pump connection is

made by fan belt, the belts must be checked and periodically replaced. Some oil is lost during

the process of pumping.

The oil level must be checked regularly and maintained at the proper level. Periodic oil

changes are necessary, especially if condensable vapors are pumped in large amounts.

Auxiliary items for the rotary pump include mist eliminators, foreline traps, and filtration

systems. On each pump-down from atmospheric, a considerable amount of oil vapor is

expelled from the exhaust of the pump. For safety, and for cleanliness, this vapor should be

vented to the outside. If such venting is not possible, mist eliminators should be used. These

prevent the fine oil droplets from leaving the pump. Instead they condense and run back into

the pump, greatly reducing the loss of oil from the pump.

Foreline traps will be discussed in more detail shortly. They act to prevent oil from

backstreaming from the rotary pump into the chamber, and thus prevent contamination. The

level of backstreaming can be reduced by properly switching from rotary to diffusion pump at

a pressure near 70 mTorr when the gas flow is not yet molecular.

Vapors that condense in the system can contaminate the oil. This may lead to corrosion of the

pump, or degradation of the oil leading to gumming of the working parts of the pump.

Frequent oil changes or using gas ballast can reduce these problems. An oil filtration system

can be added to the system which will continually remove particulates from the oil and

neutralize acids dissolved in the oil, thus extending its useful lifetime, and the life of the

pump.
If the vacuum system and pump are shut down and left under vacuum, the oil in the pump

will be sucked back into the vacuum lines. Normally the pump is vented to atmospheric

pressure when it is shut off. If a fan belt breaks, this problem will occur. Solenoid activated

pressure relief valves may be added to the system that will close of the chamber and vent the

roughing pump when a broken fan belt or a loss of electrical power occurs. Malfunctions of a

roughing pump rarely cause permanent damage to the pump itself.

However high vacuum pumps beyond can be severely damaged if the roughing pump fails to

operate, so inspect the roughing pump regularly!

2.Turbomolecular Pump
The principle of the molecular pump – well known since 1913 – is that the gas particles to be

pumped receive, through impact with the rapidly moving surfaces of a rotor, an impulse in a

required flow direction. The surfaces of the rotor – usually disk-shaped – form, with the

stationary surfaces of a stator, intervening spaces in which the gas is transported to the

backing port. In the original Gaede molecular pump and its modifications, the intervening

spaces (transport channels) were very narrow, which led to constructional difficulties and a

high degree of susceptibility to mechanical contamination. At the end of the Fifties, it became

possible – through a turbine-like design and by modification of the ideas of Gaede – to

produce a technically viable pump the socalled “turbomolecular pump”. The spaces

between the stator and the rotor disks were made in the order of millimeters, so that

essentially larger tolerances could be obtained. Thereby, greater security in operation was

achieved. However, a pumping effect of any significance is only attained when the

circumferential velocity (at the outside rim) of the rotor blades reaches the order of

magnitude of the average thermal velocity of the molecules which are to be pumped.
in which the dependency on the type of gas as a function of molar mass M is contained. The

calculation involving cgs-units (where R = 83.14 ・ 106 mbar · cm3 / mol · K) results in the

following Table:
the following:

• Oil lubrication / steel ball bearings

+ Good compatibility with particles by circulating oil lubricant

- Can only be installed vertically

+ Low maintenance

• Grease lubrication / hybrid bearings

+ Installation in any orientation

+ Suited for mobile systems

± Air cooling will do for many applications

+ Lubricated for life (of the bearings)

• Free of lubricants / magnetic suspension

+ No wear

+ No maintenance

+ Absolutely free of hydrocarbons

+ Low noise and vibration levels

+ Installation in any orientation

Steel ball bearings / hybrid ball bearings (ceramic ball bearings): Even a brief tear in the

thin lubricating film between the balls and the races can – if the same type of material is used

– result in microwelding at the points of contact. This severely reduces the service life of the

bearings. By using dissimilar materials in so called hybrid bearings (races: steel, balls:

ceramics) the effect of microwelding is avoided. The most elegant bearing concept is that of

the magnetic suspension. As early as 1976 LEYBOLD delivered magnetically suspended

turbomolecular pumps – the legendary series 550M and 560M. At that time a purely active

magnetic suspension (i.e. with electromagnets) was used. Advances in - electronics and the

use of permanent magnets (passive magnetic suspension) based on the “System KFA Jülich”

permitted the magnetic suspension concept to spread widely. In this system the rotor is

maintained in a stable position without contact during operation, by magnetic forces.

Absolutely no lubricants are required. So-called touchdown bearings are integrated for

shutdown. Fig. 2.52 shows a sectional drawing of a typical turbomolecular pump. The pump

is an axial flow compressor of vertical design, the active or pumping part of which consists of

a rotor (6) and a stator (2). Turbine blades are located around the circumferences of the stator

and the rotor. Each rotor – stator pair of circular blade rows forms one stage, so that the

assembly is composed of a multitude of stages mounted in series. The gas to be pumped

Fig. 2.52 Schematic diagram of a grease lubricated TURBOVAC 151 turbomolecular

pump

a arrives directly through the aperture of the inlet flange (1), that is, without any loss of

conductance, at the active pumping area of the top blades of the rotor – stator assembly. This
is equipped with blades of especially large radial span to allow a large annular inlet area. The

gas captured by these stages is transferred to the lower compression stages, whose blades

have shorter radial spans, where the gas is compressed to backing pressure or rough vacuum

pressure. The turbine rotor (6) is mounted on the drive shaft, which is supported by two

precision ball bearings (8 and 11), accommodated in the motor housing. The rotor shaft is

directly driven by a medium-frequency motor housed in the forevacuum space within the

rotor, so that no rotary shaft lead-through to the outside atmosphere is necessary. This motor

is powered and automatically controlled by an external frequency converter, normally a solid-

state frequency converter that ensures a very low noise level. For special applications, for

example, in areas exposed to radiation, motor generator frequency converters are used.

The vertical rotor – stator configuration provides optimum flow conditions of the gas at the

inlet. To ensure vibration-free running at high rotational speeds, the turbine is dynamically

balanced at two levels during its assembly. The pumping speed (volume flow rate)

characteristics of turbomolecular pumps are shown in Fig. 2.53. The pumping speed remains

constant over the entire working pressure range. It decreases at intake pressures above

10-3 mbar, as this threshold value marks the transition from the region of molecular flow to

the region of laminar viscous flow of gases. Fig. 2.54 shows also that the pumping speed

depends on the type of gas. The compression ratio (often also simply termed compression)

of turbomolecular pumps is the ratio between the partial pressure of one gas component at the

forevacuum flange of the pump and that at the high vacuum flange: maximum compression

k0 is to be found at zero throughput. For physical reasons, the compression ratio of

turbomolecular pumps is very high for heavy molecules but considerably lower for light

molecules. The relationship between compression and molecular mass is shown in Fig.

2.55. Shown in Fig. 2.56 are the compression curves of a TURBOVAC 340 M for N2, He

and H2 as a function of the backing pressure

Fig. 2.52a Cross section of a HY.CONE turbomolecular pump
Because of the high compression ratio for heavy hydrocarbon molecules, turbomolecular

pumps can be directly connected to a vacuum chamber without the aid of one or more cooled

baffles or traps and without the risk of a measurable partial pressure for hydrocarbons in the

vacuum chamber (hydrocarbon-free vacuum! – see also Fig. 2.57: residual gas spectrum

above a TURBOVAC 361). As the hydrogen partial pressure attained by the rotary backing

pump is very low, the turbomolecular pump is capable of attaining ultimate pressures in the

10-11 mbar range in spite of its rather moderate compression for H2. To produce such

extremely low pressures, it will, of course, be necessary to strictly observe the general rules

of UHV technology: the vacuum chamber and the upper part of the turbomolecular pump

must be baked out, and metal seals must be used. At very low pressures the residual gas is

composed mainly of H2 originating from the metal walls of the chamber.

The spectrum in Fig. 2.57 shows the residual gas composition in front of the inlet of a

turbomolecular pump at an ultimate pressure of 7 · 10-10 mbar nitrogen equivalent. It

appears that the portion of H2 in the total quantity of gas amounts to approximately 90 to 95

% . The fraction of “heavier” molecules is considerably reduced and masses greater than 44

were not detected. An important criterion in the assessment of the quality of a residual gas

spectrum are the measurable hydrocarbons from the lubricants used in the vacuum pump

system. Of course an“absolutely hydrocarbon-free vacuum” can only be produced with pump

ystems which are free of lubricants, i.e. for example with magnetically suspended

turbomolecular pumps and dry compressing backing pumps. When operated correctly

(venting at any kind of standstill) no hydrocarbons are detectable also in the spectrum of

normal turbomolecular pumps. A further development of the turbomolecular pump is the

hybrid or compound turbomolecular pump. This is actually two pumps on a common shaft in

a single casing. The high vacuum stage for the molecular flow region is a classic

turbomolecular pump, the second pump for the viscous flow range is a molecular drag or

friction pump. LEYBOLD manufactures pumps such as the TURBOVAC 55 with an

integrated Holweck stage (screw-type compressor) and, for example, the HY.CONE 60 or

HY.CONE 200 with an integrated Siegbahn stage (spiral compressor). The required backing

pressure then amounts to a few mbar so that the backing pump is only required to compress

from about 5 to 10 mbar to atmospheric pressure. A sectional view of a HY.CONE is shown

in Fig. 2.52a.

Information on the operation of turbomolecular pumps

Starting

As a rule turbomolecular pumps should generally be started together with the backing pump

in order to reduce any backstreaming of oil from the backing pump into the vacuum chamber.

A delayed start of the turbomolecular pump, makes sense in the case of rather small backing
pump sets and large vacuum chambers. At a known pumping speed for the backing pump SV

(m3/h) and a known volume for the vacuum chamber (m3) it is possible to estimate the cut-in

pressure for the turbomolecular pump:

When evacuating larger volumes the cut-in pressure for turbomolecular

pumps may also be determined with the aid of the diagram of Fig. 2.58.

Venting

After switching off or in the event of a power failure, turbomolecular pumps should always

be vented in order to prevent any backdiffusion of hydrocarbons from the forevacuum side

into the vacuum chamber. After switching off the pump the cooling water supply should also

be switched off to prevent the possible condensation of water vapor. In order to protect the

rotor it is recommended to comply with the (minimum) venting times stated in the operating

instructions. The pump should be vented (except in the case of operation with a barrier gas)

via the venting flange which already contains a sintered metal throttle, so that venting may be

performed using a normal valve or a power failure venting valve.

Barrier gas operation

In the case of pumps equipped with a barrier gas facility, inert gas – such as dry nitrogen –

may be applied through a special flange so as to protect the motor space and the bearings

against aggressive media. A special barrier gas and venting valve meters the necessary

quantity of barrier gas and may also serve as a venting valve.

Decoupling of vibrations

TURBOVAC pumps are precisely balanced and may generally be connected directly to the

apparatus. Only in the case of highly sensitive instruments, such as electron microscopes, is it

recommended to install vibration absorbers which reduce the present vibrations to a

minimum. For magnetically suspended pumps a direct connection to the vacuum apparatus

will usually do because of the extremely low vibrations produced by such pumps. For special

applications such as operation in strong magnetic fields, radiation hazard areas or in a tritium

atmosphere, please contact our Technical Sales Department which has the necessary

experience and which is available to you at any time.

3. Sputter-ion pumps (Ionization Pump)

The pumping action of sputter-ion pumps is based on sorption processes that are initiated by

ionized gas particles in a Penning discharge (cold cathode discharge). By means of

“paralleling many individual Penning cells” the sputter ion pump attains a sufficiently high

pumping speed for the individual gases.

Operation of sputter-ion pumps

The ions impinge upon the cathode of the cold cathode discharge electrode system and

sputter the cathode material (titanium). The titanium deposited at other locations acts as a

getter film and adsorbs reactive gas particles (e.g., nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen). The energy
of the ionized gas particles is not only high enough to sputter the cathode material but also to

let the impinging ions penetrate deeply into the cathode material (ion implantation). This

sorption process “pumps” ions of all types, including ions of gases which do not chemically

react with the sputtered titanium film, i.e. mainly noble gases. The following arrangement is

used to produce the ions: stainless-steel, cylindrical anodes are closely arranged between,

with their axes perpendicular to, two parallel cathodes (see Fig. 2.61). The cathodes are at

negative potential (a few kilovolts) against the anode. The entire electrode system is

maintained in a strong, homogeneous magnetic field of a flux density of B = 0.1 T, (T = Tesla

= 104 Gauss) produced by a permanent magnet attached to the outside of the pump’s casing.

The gas discharge produced by the high tension contains electrons and ions. Under the

influence of the magnetic field the electrons travel along long spiral tracks (see Fig. 2.61)

until they impinge on the anode cylinder of the corresponding cell. The long track increases

ion yield, which even at low gas densities (pressures) is sufficient to maintain a self-sustained

gas discharge. A supply of electrons from a hot cathode is not required. Because of their great

mass, the movement of the ions is unaffected by the magnetic field of the given order of

magnitude; they flow off along the shortest path and bombard the cathode. The discharge

current i is proportional to the number density of neutral particles n0, the electron density n-,

and the length l of the total discharge path:

i = n0 · n-1  · l (2.25)

The effective cross section s for ionizing collisions depends on the type of gas. According to

(2.25), the discharge current i is a function of the number particle density n0, as in a Penning

gauge, and it can be used as a measure of the pressure in the range from 10-4 to 10-8 mbar.

At lower pressures the measurements are not reproducible due to interferences

from field emission effects.

In diode-type, sputter-ion pumps, with an electrode system configuration as shown in Fig.

2.62, the getter films are formed on the anode surfaces and between the sputtering regions of

the opposite cathode. The ions are buried in the cathode surfaces. As cathode sputtering

proceeds, the buried gas particles are set free again. Therefore, the pumping action for noble

gases that can be pumped only by ion burial will vanish after some time and a “memory

effect” will occur.

Unlike diode-type pumps, triode sputter-ion pumps exhibit excellen stability in their

pumping speed for noble gases because sputtering and film forming surfaces are separated.

Fig. 2.63 shows the electrode configuration of triode sputter-ion pumps. Their greater

efficiency for pumping noble gases is explained as follows: the geometry of the system favors

grazing incidence of the ions on the titanium bars of the cathode grid, whereby the sputtering

rate is considerably higher than with perpendicular incidence. The sputtered titanium moves

in about the same direction as the incident

ions. The getter films form preferentially on the third electrode, the target plate, which is the

actual wall of the pump housing. There is an increasing yield of ionized particles that are

grazingly incident on the cathode grid where they are neutralized and reflected and from

which they travel to the target plate at an energy still considerably higher than the thermal

energy 1/2 k T of the gas particles. The energetic neutral particles can penetrate into the

target surface layer, but their sputtering effect is only negligible. These buried or implanted

particles are finally covered by fresh titanium layers. As the target is at positive potential, any

positive ions arriving there are repelled and cannot sputter the target layers. Hence the buried

noble gas atoms are not set free again. The pumping speed of triode sputterion pumps for

noble gases does not decrease during the operation of the pump. The pumping speed of

sputter-ion pumps depends on the pressure and the type of gas. It is measured according to

the methods stated in DIN 28 429 and PNEUROP 5615. The pumping speed curve S(p) has a

maximum. The nominal pumping speed Sn is given by the maximum of the pumping speed

curve for air whereby the corresponding pressure must be stated. For air, nitrogen, carbon

dioxide and water vapor, the pumping speed is practically the same. Compared with the

pumping speed for air, the pumping speeds of sputter-ion pumps for other gases amount to

approximately:

Sputter-ion pumps of the triode type excel in contrast to the diode-type pumps in high-noble

gas stability. Argon is pumped stably even at an inlet pressure of 1 · 10-5 mbar. The pumps
can be started without difficulties at pressures higher than 1 · 10-2 mbar and can operate

continuously at an air inlet producing a constant air pressure of 5 · 10-5 mbar. A new kind of

design for the electrodes extends the service life of the cathodes by 50 %. Influence on

processes in the vacuum chamber by magnetic stray fields and stray ions from the

sputter-ion pump. The high-magnetic-field strength required for the pumping action leads

inevitably to stray magnetic fields in the neighborhood of the magnets. As a result, processes

in the vacuum chamber can be disturbed in some cases, so the sputter-ion pump concerned

should be provided with a screening arrangement. The forms and kinds of such a screening

arrangement can be regarded as at an optimum if the processes taking place in the vacuum

chamber are disturbed by no more than the earth’s magnetic field which is present in any

case. Fig. 2.64 shows the magnetic stray field at the plane of the intake flange of a sputter-ion

pump IZ 270 and also at a parallel plane 150 mm above. If stray ions from the discharge

region are to be prevented from reaching the vacuum chamber, a suitable screen can be set up

by a metal sieve at opposite potential in the inlet opening of the sputter-ion pump (ion

barrier). This, however, reduces the pumping speed of the sputter-ion pump depending on the

mesh size of the selected metal sieve.

 4.Introduction to vacuum gauges

i.Vacuum Gauges where the Pressure Readings are Independent of the Type of Gas

1.(Mechanical Vacuum Gauges)

BOURDON Vacuum Gauge

The inside of a tube which is bent into a circular arc (the so-called Bourdon tube) is

connected to the vacuum system. Due to the effect of the external atmospheric pressure, the

end of the tube bends more or less during the evacuation process. This actuates the pointer

arrangement which is attached to this point. The corresponding pressure can be read off on a

linear scale. With Bourdon gauges it is possible to roughly determine pressures between 10

mbar (7.5 Torr) and atmospheric pressure.

2.Capsule

3. Capsule Vacuum Gauge

This vacuum gauge contains a hermetically sealed, evacuated, thin-walled diaphragm capsule

which is located within the instrument. As the vacuum pressure reduces, the capsule bulges.

This movement is transferred via a system of levers to a pointer and can then be read off as

the pressure on a linear scale.

4.Diaphragm Vacuum Gauge

In the case of the diaphragm vacuum gauge which is capable of absolute pressure

measurements, a sealed and evacuated vacuum chamber is separated by a diaphragm from the

vacuum pressure to be measured. This serves as the reference quantity. With increasing

evacuation, the difference between the

pressure which is to be measured and the pressure within the reference chamber becomes

less, causing the diaphragm flex. This flexure may be transferred by mechanical means like a

lever, for example, to a pointer and scale, or electrically by means of a strain gauge or a

bending bar for conversion into an electrical measurement signal. The measurement range of

such diaphragm vacuum gauges extends from 1 mbar (0.75 Torr) to over 2000 mbar (1500

Torr.5. Capacitance Vacuum Gauge: The pressure sensitive diaphragm of these capacitive

absolute pressure sensors is made of Al2O3 ceramics. The term “capacitive measurement”

means that a plate capacitor is created by the diaphragm with a fixed electrode behind the

diaphragm. When the distance between the two plates of this capacitor changes, a change in

capacitance will result. This change, which is proportional to the pressure, is then converted

into a corresponding electrical measurement signal. Here too, an evacuated reference

chamber serves as the reference for the pressure measurements. With capacitance gauges it is

possible to accurately measure pressures from 10-5 mbar/Torr to well above atmospheric

pressure, whereby different capacitance gauges having diaphragms of different thickness (and

therefore sensitivity) will have to be used.

ii.Vacuum Gauges where the Pressure Readings Depend of the Type of Gas

Thermal Conductivity Gauge (Pirani)

This measurement principle utilizes the thermal conductivity of gases for the purpose of

pressure measurements in the range from 10-4 mbar/Torr to atmospheric pressure. Today,

only the principle of the controlled Pirani gauge is used by LEYBOLD in order to attain a

quick response. The filament within the gauge head forms one arm of a Wheatstone bridge.

The heating voltage which is applied to the bridge is controlled in such a way, that the

filament resistance and thus the temperature of the filament remains constant regardless of

the quantity of heat given off by the filament. Since the heat transfer from the filament to the

gas increases with increasing pressures, the voltage across the bridge is a measure of the

pressure. Improvements with regard to temperature compensation have resulted in stable

pressure readings also in the face of large temperature changes, in particular when measuring

low pressures

Pirani Gauge
The Pirani vacuum gauge is a sensor that measures pressure through the thermal

conductivity of gas. It is one of the oldest vacuum sensors. The simplest version of

the gauge contains a heated plate. The measurement is done by detecting of amount of

heat lost from the plate that depends on gas pressure. Operation of the Pirani gauge is
based on the pioneering works by MarianVon Smoluchowski [15]. He established that

when an object is heated, thermal conductivity to the surrounding objects is governed

by

whereGs is thermal conductivity via the solid supporting elements,Ge is the radiative

heat transfer, a is the area of a heated plate, k is a coefficient related to gas properties

and PT is a transitional pressure which is the maximum pressure that can be measured.

Figure 10.14A illustrates different factors that contributes to a thermal loss from

a heated plate. If the solid conductive and radiative loss is accounted for, the gas

Fig. 10.14. (A) Thermal conductivities from a heated plate; (B) transfer function of a Pirani
vacuum gauge.

conductivity Gg goes linearly down to absolute vacuum. The trick is to minimize

the interfering factors that contribute to G0. This can be achieved by use of both the

heated plate that is suspended with a minimal thermal contact with the sensor housing

and by the differential technique that to a large degree cancels the influence of G0.

There are several designs of the Pirani gauge that are used in vacuum technologies.

Some use two plates with different temperatures and the amount of power spent

for heating is the measure of gas pressure. The other use a single plate that measures

thermal conductivity of gas by heat loss to the surrounding walls. Temperature

measurement is usually done with either a thermocouple or platinum resistive

temperature detector (RTD). Figure 10.15 illustrates one version of the gauge that

employs a thermal balance (differential) technique. The sensor chamber is divided

into two identical sections where one is filled with gas at a reference pressure (say

1 atm =760 torr) and the other is connected to the vacuum that is to be measured.

Each chamber contains a heated plate that is supported by the tiny links to minimize

a conductive heat transfer through solids. Both chambers are preferably of the same

shape, size, and construction so that the conductive and radiative heat loss would be

nearly identical. The better the symmetry, the better is the cancellation of the spurious

thermal conductivity G0. The heaters on the plates are warmed up by electric current.

In this particular design, each heater is a thermistor with a negative temperature coefficient

(NTC) (see Chapter 16). Resistances of the thermistor are equal and relatively

low to allow for a Joule self-heating (Fig. 16.11 of Chapter 16). The reference thermistor

Sr is connected into a self-balancing bridge that also includes resistors Rr , R1,

and R2 and an operational amplifier. The bridge automatically sets the temperature
of Sr on a constant level Tr that is defined by the bridge resistors and is independent

of ambient temperature. Note that the bridge is balanced by both the negative and

positive feedbacks to the bridge arms. Capacitor C keeps the circuit from oscillating,

Fig. 10.15. Pirani vacuum gauge with NTC thermistors operating in self-heating mode

The same voltage E that feeds the reference plate is applied to the thermistor Sv on

the sensing plate via Rv =Rr . The output voltage _V is taken differentially from the

sensing thermistor and the bridge. The shape of the transfer function is shown in Fig.

10.14B.Avacuum sensor often operates with gases that may contaminate the sensing

plates so the appropriate filters must be employed.

PENNING VACUUM GUAGE

Cold Cathode Ionization Vacuum Gauge (Penning)

Here the pressure is measured through a gas discharge within a gauge head whereby the gas

discharge is ignited by applying a high tension. The resulting ion current is output as a signal

which is proportional to the prevailing pressure. The gas discharge is maintained also at low

pressures with the aid of a magnet. New concepts for the design of such sensors permit safe

and reliable operation of these socalled Penning sensors in the pressure range from 10-2 to 1

x 10-9 mbar/Torr.

The Penning gauge is a cold cathode type ionisation gauge consisting of two electrodes anode

and cathode. The outer cylinder of the gauge is the cathode and is at room temperature. The
anode consists of a tungsten wire mounted in the center of the tube A potential difference of

about 2 to 3 KV is applied between anode and cathode through current limiting resistors. A

magnetic field is introduced at right angles to the plane of the electrodes by a permanent

magnet having nearly 800 gauss magnetic field which will increase the ionisation current.

The electrons emitted from the cathode (gauge head body) of the gauge head are deflected by

means of magnetic field applied at right angles to the plane of the electrodes and are made to

take helical path before reaching the anode loop. Thus following very long path, the electrons

ionize the gas by collision, even at low pressures. The secondary electrons produced by

ionisation themselves perform similar oscillations and the rate of ionisation increases rapidly.

Eventually, the electrons are captured by the anode and equilibrium is reached when the

number of electrons produced per second by ionisation is the sum of positive ion current to

the cathode and the electron current to the anode. This small current is calibrated to give a

measure of the pressure of the gas and hence the chamber to which it is attached. The Cold

Cathode Penning gauge can detect vacuum from 10-2 to 10-7 Torr or mbar.

Cold cathode gauges or, better, crossed-field ion gauges The inventor of this type of gauge

was Penning in 1937. He used a high voltage of up to 2kV to generate a discharge between

cathode and anode. At low pressures (< 1 Pa or so) this discharge could only be maintained,

if a magnetic field crossed the electrical field. The magnetic field greatly increased the path

length of an electron from cathode to anode, so that it could generate another electron by

impacting on a gas molecule to maintain the discharge.

from 1 mPa to 0.1 Pa. Due to the magnetic field the electron is prevented from going directly

to the anode and moves instead in helical paths through the gauge. The ions, because of their

large mass, are virtually unaffected by the magnetic field and travel directly to the cathode.

Secondary electrons released from the cathode by ion bombardment serve to build up and

maintain the discharge (Fig. 4). The discharge is generally not stable in crossedfield gauges.
In the early designs the discharge became erratic below 10-3 Pa, and was often extinguished

completely at 10-4 Pa. Therefore better designs were invented with the aim to increase the

active volume of the discharge and so reduce discontinuities. In Fig. 4 can be seen Penning’s

version of 1949, where the anode was changed from a ring in his original version to an open

cylinder. This geometry is now widely used in ion pumps, but only for rugged and simple

vacuum gauges. A kind of breakthrough was accomplished by Redhead and Hobson, who

invented the so-called magnetron and inverted magnetron gauge, the latter earlier designed by

Haefer in 1955.

Fig. 4 Electrode arrangement, fields, and trajectories in the Penning gauge. From James M.

Lafferty, Foundations of Vacuum Science and Technology, John Wiley & Sons, New York,

1998.
Fig. 5 Schematic diagram of the magnetron gauge. From ref. [2]. Fig. 6 Schematic diagram of

the inverted magnetron gauge. From ref. [3].

In the magnetron gauge [2] (Fig. 5) the anode is an open cylinder with the cathode on axis

and as endplates, in the inverted magnetron gauge [3] (Fig. 6) the anode is a rod on the axis

of an almost closed cylinder as cathode. In the magnetron gauge, the end discs of the cathode

are shielded from high electric fields by two annular rings held at cathode potential. Any field

emission that can occur from the shield electrodes is not measured by the ion current

amplifier. One of the important features in the inverted magnetron gauge (IMG) is the use of

guard rings held at cathode potential to prevent field emission currents from the cathode to

the anode. The magnetic field is parallel to the anode axis. This gauge can be operated at up

to 6 kV with 0.2 Tesla. In these gauges the electrons are trapped more efficiently than in the

original Penning design. Due to this, the starting conditions are improved, the relations

between p, B, V follow reasonably the theoretical predictions, and the discharge is stable to

much lower pressures. Redhead and Hobson claimed that their gauges could be used from 10-

11 Pa up to 10-2 Pa. Almost all available commercial crossed-field gauges are of the Penning

design or of the Redhead and Hobson design as Magnetron or Inverted Magnetron. Normally,

at low pressures, the gauges are operated with constant voltage, measuring the discharge

current, while at higher pressures (> 10 mPa) they are operated at constant discharge current
with accordingly reduced voltages. Otherwise, at constant voltage, the discharge current

would be so high at higher pressures that heating and sputtering of material on the electrodes

would become a problem.

In crossed-field gauges, the ion current vs. pressure relationship follows the equation

I + = K X pm, (2)

where m depends on the type of gauge and varies between m = 1...1.4. However, m also

depends on pressure (Fig. 7) and this makes the situation rather complicated for reliable

measurements. Generally, m is higher for lower pressures than for higher and may reach

values up to 2. If therefore in gauge controllers the relation for higher p is extrapolated to

very low pressures (< 10-7 Pa), the gauge will indicate at these small pressures lower

pressures than actually present. At pressures as high as 10 -10 Pa this error may be an order of

magnitude.

Fig. 7 Discharge current on a Penning gauge vs. argon pressure. From W.J. Lange, J.H.

Singleton and D.P. Eriksen, JVST 3 (1966), 338.

Fig.8 The original design of the Bayard-Alpert gauge. From R.T. Bayard and D. Alpert, Rev.

Sci. Instr. 21 (1950), 571