Vac Coat High Vacuum Systems Upgraded by the Electric Valve
Vac Coat has upgraded all its high vacuum coating systems with an electric valve installed on the line from the backing pump to the turbomolecular pump. This feature helps prevent backstreaming of backing pump oil to the turbo pump and vacuum chamber, which can cause serious problems for any vacuum coating system.
Vac Coat’s high vacuum coaters, including sputter coaters like DST1 and DST3, carbon coaters such as DCT and DCT-300, and thermal evaporators like DTE and DTT, as well as hybrid coaters that enable more than one coating method, such as DCT-T-300, DSCT, DSCT-T, DST2-TG, and DST3-T, are equipped with a turbomolecular pump to achieve pressures below 8×10-6 Torr (≈10-4 Pa). This vacuum level provides a clean environment to produce pure thin films of metals, dielectrics, or organic materials for various applications, including nano/microelectronics, sensor fabrication, thin film batteries, OLEDs, and magnetic films.
Maintaining the chamber in the proper condition is essential to attain the expected vacuum level and film purity, which can be compromised if the chamber is contaminated by substances like grease or outgassing materials.
Backstreaming is a common issue in vacuum coating systems that use oil-based pumps, such as mechanical oil pumps or diffusion pumps. This phenomenon occurs when oil vapour flows from the pump into the vacuum chamber in the molecular flow regime.
Now, Vac Coat Ltd. has provided a solution to prevent backstreaming to the chamber and turbo pump by installing an electric valve in the connection between the backing and turbo pumps.
Controlled by the system software, the electric valve automatically isolates the turbo pump and chamber from the backing pump when the system is vented or turned off.
