It was an interesting day when I first heard about MKS’s plans to release a new wide range cold cathode gauge. I though to myself, “does the world need another 10-2 torr Cold Cathode Ionization Gauge?” Well, if that is what you are asking yourself, too then take a closer look. This transducer provides a wide measurement range of 10-7 torr to Atmosphere, eliminating the need for multiple gauges.
Revolutionary new CCIG has a range for High Vacuum to Atmosphere. Image courtesy of MKS Instruments, Inc
The Series 523 uses two different types of discharges. The first is the normal pressure dependent discharge found in every CCIG which covers the range from 1 × 10-7 to 1 × 10-2 torr. The second range between 1 × 10-2 torr up to 10 torr is derived from a glow discharge measurements cause by the breakdown of the gas by the electric field. Above 10 torr, the pressure is measured by the arc discharge current. The published accuracy of the gauge is +/-50% over the range of the gauge.
The cost is contained by the elimination of expensive ceramic-to-metal seals. The 304 SST electrode structures inside the gauge are unique and made possible by using injection molding technology to build the sensor. The electrodes are held in place by the polymer that forms the vacuum envelope and the electrical feed through materials. The polymer, Polypropylene, was selected for low outgassing rate, mechanical and temperature stability and electrical properties.
The target market for this gauge is that set of processes that do not heavily rely on accuracy but just need basic vacuum level information. For applications that require higher degrees of accuracy, MKS provides a vast selection of vacuum measuring solutions.
Understanding Modern Vacuum Technology describes Cold Cathode Ionization Gauge technology as well as all the other pressure technology used in science and industry today. UMVT is available through Amazon.com.
LIGO is an acronym for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory. The purpose of LIGO is to detect gravitational waves. Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916 in his general theory of relativity. Einstein’s mathematics showed that massive accelerating objects (such as neutron stars or black holes orbiting each other) would disrupt space-time in such a way that ‘waves’ of distorted space would radiate from the source. In the semiconductor industry, I am concerned with a final product on a microscopic, nanometer scale on microprocessor chips. LIGO is at the other far end of the curve dealing with massive object colliding in space.
The problem is that detecting gravitational waves is an extremely difficult task. The waves will cause distortions in space on earth that are shorter than the dimension of an atom’s nucleus. In fact the distortions are on the order of 1/10,000th of the diameter of an atomic nucleus. The detector has to be super sensitive and in a very quiet location. Vacuum technology plays a key role in this experiment.
LIGO consists of two interferometers, each with two 4 km (2.5 mile) long arms arranged in the shape of an “L”. Each chamber encloses 10,000 cubic meters of volume. One interferometer is located in Hanford, Washington and the other in Livingston, Louisiana. The reason for two is that the earth is a very active place with lots of human hustle and bustle. There are earth quakes and storms. So if the detectors both capture the same signal, then that is strong evidence that the signal is a gravitational wave.
When gravitational waves pass through the system, the distance between the end mirrors and the beam splitter lengthen in one arm and at the same time shorten in the other arm in such a way that the light waves from the two arms go in and out of phase with each other. When the light waves are in phase with each other, they add together constructively and produce a bright beam that illuminates the detectors. When they are out of phase, they cancel each other out and there is no signal. Thus, the gravitational waves from a major cosmic event, like the merger of two black holes, will cause the signal to flicker, as seen here
Gravitational waves sent out from a pair of colliding black holes have been converted to sound waves, as heard in this animation. On September 14, 2015, LIGO observed gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes, each about 30 times the mass of our sun. The incredibly powerful event, which released 50 times more energy than all the stars in the observable universe, lasted only fractions of a second.
In the first two runs of the animation, the sound-wave frequencies exactly match the frequencies of the gravitational waves. The second two runs of the animation play the sounds again at higher frequencies that better fit the human hearing range. The animation ends by playing the original frequencies again twice.
As the black holes spiral closer and closer in together, the frequency of the gravitational waves increases. Scientists call these sounds “chirps,” because some events that generate gravitation waves would sound like a bird’s chirp.
Audio Credit: Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab
The lasers are operated in a vacuum level on the order of 10-9 torr. This ensures that there are no air currents causing distortion of the laser beams either through transmission of sound or thermal energy. Also it lessens the chance of particle movement in the vacuum system.
Spiral welding a section of a vacuum tube. Courtesy Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory
LIGO’s vacuum tubes were constructed of spiral-welded 3 mm thick 304L stainless steel. With its relatively low carbon content, 304L steel is resistant to corrosion, especially at the critical welded seams. The 1.2 m diameter beam tubes were created in 19 to 20 m-long segments, rolled into a tube with a continuous spiral weld. To prevent collapse, LIGO’s tubes are supported with stiffener rings that provide a significant layer of resistance to buckling under the extreme pressure of the atmosphere. The tubes must withstand these stresses for at least 20 years.
Evacuating the chambers took 40 days of constant pumping to evacuate them to their optimal operating pressure. In that time, turbomolecular pumps removed the bulk of the air in the tubes while the tubes themselves were heated to 150-170 degrees C for 30 days to drive out residual gases.
The gases that remain in the system are primarily H2 and water vapor. There are liquid nitrogen cryogenic panels in place to capture the stray water molecule and ion pumps to capture H2 gas. There is so much more technology involved in the LIGO detectors. I encourage you to visit the LIGO website. Although LIGO depends on extreme vacuum engineering, the vacuum technologies involved are explained in Understanding Modern Vacuum Technology.
NOTE: On June 1st, 2017, LIGO made their third detection of a gravitational wave event from the collapse of 32 solar mass black hole and a 19 solar mass black hole forming one large black hole of 49 solar masses. The means that two solar masses of material were transformed into energy by the collision.
Turbomolecular pumps are found in every semiconductor fab, the vast majority of helium leak detectors and research laboratories. Yet most never give them much thought, one simply roughs out the vacuum chamber and spin them up. In a few minutes, your chamber is in the high vacuum range.
Today I want to introduce to you the working principles of these pumps. First is a video that shows how a Pfeiffer HiPace 2300 moves gas molecules from the chamber to the exhaust port of the turbomolecular pump. As you watch gas flow through the pump in the video, get the idea that the pumping principle is to increase the probability that the gas molecules will be impelled by the rotor (the spinning blades) into the stator (stationary) blades towards higher concentrations of gas. Pumping is achieved by directing the gas molecules from the low pressure inlet to the higher pressure exhaust port.
Turbomolecular pumps do not have liquid or contact seals. The rotor blades are typically spinning a few tenths of a millimeter from the envelop of the pump and the rotor shaft is a few tents of a millimeter from the stator blades. These gaps are necessary for the operation of the pump, however they do allow a small fraction of the gas to backstream (flow backwards, if you will) through the pump. This is one of the reasons that turbomolecular pumps must have a mechanical pump providing a rough vacuum pressure on the exhaust port. In other words, the turbomolecular pump cannot provide sufficient compression to move gas to atmospheric pressures and they need to be “backed” by a roughing pump.
The video below was produced by Agilent. It shows how a typical turbomolecular pump is built.
I hope this gives you some basic understandings of turbomolecular pumps. Understanding Modern Vacuum Technology has a section devoted to turbomolecular pumps. It covers the development of the pumping principles, the operation and safety considerations when implementing turbomolecular pumps. UMVT is available for $59 at Amazon.com. You will find information UMVT that is not available in any other book to date.
Understanding Modern Vacuum Technology 