JPH0246726A - Improvement of degree of vacuum of vacuum apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a vacuum apparatus capable of increasing degree of vacuum in a short time while achieving a higher degree of vacuum by exhausting the vacuum apparatus while supplying O2 gas or an inert gas thereinto, then stopping the supply and exhausting the vacuum apparatus, and further baking the vacuum apparatus if required. CONSTITUTION:A vacuum apparatus is supplied with O2 or N2 gas by introducing either O2 gas via an O2 gas supply piping 2 or N2 gas via an N2 gas supply piping 3 into a vacuum chamber 1 which is being exhausted concurrently. After several minutes, the supply of gas is stopped and the vacuum chamber is exhausted. The supply of O2 or N2 gas causes O2 gas molecules 8 or N2 gas molecules 9 to collide against the inner wall of the vacuum chamber 1. Thereby, when the inner wall is exposed to atmospheric air, elimination of H2O gas molecules 10 adsorved on the inner wall surface is accelerated while a part of the O2 gas molecules 8 or N2 gas molecules 9 is adsorbed in place of the H2O gas molecules 10. Subsequently, the vacuum chamber 1 under these conditions is baked by a heater 7 if necessary.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method for improving the degree of vacuum in a vacuum device used in vacuum technology.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in order to increase the degree of vacuum in a vacuum device after atmospheric decomposition, a baking method has been used in which the vacuum device during evacuation is heated with a heater or the like for several hours to several tens of hours. Furthermore, in the case of equipment that cannot be baked, a method is used in which the equipment is evacuated and waited for a long time.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, according to the conventional method, in the case of a device that performs baking, for example, the toner 12 adsorbed on the inner wall of the vacuum device
In order to remove molecules such as 0 and increase the degree of vacuum in the vacuum apparatus, it was necessary to bake the entire vacuum apparatus at a temperature of 100° C. or higher for several hours to several tens of hours. Since vacuum equipment cannot be used during baking or until the equipment temperature has cooled sufficiently after baking, when baking is performed using conventional methods, vacuum equipment may not be used for dozens of hours. had become impossible.

On the other hand, in the case of vacuum equipment that does not perform baking in the sample introduction chamber of a vacuum equipment that has multiple vacuum chambers, it is necessary to improve the degree of vacuum. was difficult. Furthermore, in the case of an apparatus that cannot be baked, the apparatus must be evacuated and wait for the degree of vacuum to rise, which results in a large loss of time.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems of the conventional art as described above, and provides a vacuum device that can increase the degree of vacuum in a shorter time than before, and can also achieve a higher degree of vacuum than before. The purpose of this invention is to provide a method for improving the degree of vacuum.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a vacuum apparatus characterized in that the inside of the vacuum apparatus is evacuated while supplying 02 gas or an inert gas, and then the gas supply is stopped and the inside of the vacuum apparatus is evacuated. The present invention provides a method for improving the degree of vacuum in a vacuum device, and a method for improving the degree of vacuum in a vacuum device, which is characterized in that after the above steps, the vacuum device is roughly baked.

Examples of the inert gas in the present invention include N2 gas, Ar gas, and He gas.

[Function] According to the first invention, first, there is no zero in the vacuum device during evacuation.
Exhaust while supplying 2 gas or inert gas. At this time, the 02 gas molecules or inert gas molecules collided with the inner wall of the vacuum device, and when the inner wall was exposed to the atmosphere, the 82 gas molecules adsorbed to the inner wall surface.
Promote the elimination of 0 molecules. 02 by replacing with N20 molecule
In some cases, molecules or inert gas molecules may be adsorbed, desorbed, or adsorbed.

In other words, the inner wall of the vacuum device is dehydrated using inert gas or O2. Next, stop the gas supply and tJ1
If you do this, the inert gas or gas adsorbed on the inner wall of the vacuum device will be removed.
Since 2 is more easily desorbed than 120, the degree of vacuum can be easily increased, and in a high vacuum region, a degree of vacuum that is about one order of magnitude higher than when this method is not used can be obtained in a short time. Therefore, even without baking, a certain level of high vacuum can be achieved in a short time.

According to the second invention, before baking the vacuum device, the vacuum device is evacuated while being supplied with 02 gas or an inert gas. At this time, 02 gas molecules or inert gas molecules collide with the inner wall of the vacuum apparatus, promoting the desorption of N20 molecules adsorbed on the inner wall surface when the inner wall is exposed to the atmosphere. In some cases, 02 molecules or inert gas molecules are adsorbed/desorbed and adsorbed in place of N20 molecules. Next, when the gas supply is stopped and exhausted, the inert gas and 02 adsorbed on the inner wall of the vacuum device are removed by N.
Since it is easier to desorb than 20, the degree of vacuum can be easily increased.

If the vacuum device is baked in this state, a better degree of vacuum can be achieved in a shorter baking time than when baking is performed without using the above method. Also,
Since less N20 is adsorbed on the inner wall of the vacuum device, the baking effect can be obtained even if the baking temperature is lowered.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an apparatus for carrying out the method according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, a vacuum chamber 1 of a vacuum apparatus is provided with an 02 gas supply pipe 2 and a N2 gas supply pipe 3, and the vacuum chamber 1 is evacuated through an exhaust port 4. The vacuum chamber 1 is equipped with a gate valve 5.6 that connects to other vacuum chambers of the vacuum apparatus. Further, a heater 7 is provided along the outer peripheral surface of the side wall of the vacuum chamber 1 .

Next, a first embodiment of a baking method using the apparatus configured as described above will be described.

In other words, as shown in Fig. 1, when evacuating the vacuum device, the 02 gas supply pipe 2 is connected to the vacuum chamber 1 during evacuation.
2 gas, or from N2 gas supply pipe 3
2. Supply gas. After a few minutes, stop the gas supply and evacuate. Due to the supply of 02 gas or N2 gas, 02 gas molecules 8 or N2 gas molecules 9 collide with the inner wall of the vacuum chamber 1, and when the inner wall is exposed to the atmosphere, N2 adsorbed on the inner wall surface
While promoting the desorption of 0 gas molecules 10, some 02 gas molecules 8 and N2 gas molecules 9 are substituted with N20 gas and adsorbed. For this reason, by vacuum evacuation after stopping the gas supply,
O2 and N2, which are more easily desorbed than G120, are desorbed, and the degree of vacuum is easily increased in a short time.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, before baking the vacuum apparatus, 02 gas is supplied from 02 gas supply pipe 2 to vacuum chamber 1 during evacuation, or N2 gas is supplied from N2 gas supply pipe 3. . After a few minutes, turn off the gas supply and
Evacuate. By supplying 02 gas or N2 gas,
The 02 gas molecules 8 or the N2 gas molecules 9 collide with the inner wall of the vacuum chamber-1, promoting the desorption of the N20 gas molecules 10 adsorbed on the inner wall surface when the inner wall is exposed to the atmosphere, and some
2 gas molecules 8 and N2 gas molecules 9 replace and adsorb N20 gas molecules 10. Therefore, by evacuation after stopping the gas supply, the amount of 820 molecules adsorbed on the walls of the vacuum chamber decreases, and 02 and N2, which are more easily desorbed than N20, are desorbed, and the degree of vacuum increases in a short time. do.

Next, the vacuum chamber 1 in this state is baked by the heater 7. Since the 1120 molecules already adsorbed on the inner wall are reduced and the adsorbed molecules are more 02 or N2, a sufficient baking effect can be obtained even by baking at a low temperature and for a short time.

This made it possible to achieve the desired degree of vacuum at a lower temperature and in a shorter time.

FIG. 2 shows the change over time in the degree of vacuum when a vacuum chamber of a vacuum apparatus is evacuated using the method according to the present invention, in comparison with a conventional example. In the figure, (a) shows the case of exhausting without any treatment, and (b) shows the case of baking using the conventional method. (In this case, the time on the horizontal axis is the baking time) , (C) shows the case where 02 gas is introduced and exhausted during evacuation according to the first embodiment, and then the evacuation is performed, and (d) shows the case where the evacuation is performed using the second embodiment. The graphs show the cases in which 02 gas was introduced and exhausted, and then baking was performed (also in this case, the time on the horizontal axis is the baking time). In the above experimental examples, the degree of vacuum when the 02 gas was introduced was 10'Torr, and the baking temperature was 150°C in both cases.

As can be seen from the figure, (C) using the first method of the present invention is better than (A) when exhausting without any treatment.
In this case, even though baking was not performed, the degree of vacuum was increased in a short time, and the degree of vacuum reached was also increased. In addition, compared to (b) when baking is performed using the conventional method, the increase in the degree of vacuum is achieved in a shorter time in (f) using the second method of the present invention. ) Similar data were obtained when the baking temperature was set to 120°C.

FIG. 3 shows a comparison of N20 with a conventional example among the results of mass spectrometry analysis of the residual gas in the vacuum chamber 1 when the vacuum chamber 1 is evacuated using the method according to the present invention. (a), (b).

(C) and (d) are respectively shown in Figure 2 (a) and (b).
).

Corresponds to (C) and (d). For each sample, (a) and (C) are after 18 hours of vacuum evacuation, (b) is at a baking temperature of 150°C and after 18 hours of baking time, and (d) is at a baking temperature of 18 hours. The results are shown after 8 hours of baking at 120'C.

From the same figure, in the case of the first embodiment of the present invention, there is less residual 82 ON than in the case of vacuum evacuation without any treatment, and in the case of the second embodiment of the present invention, the baking temperature is lower. Despite the low temperature and short baking time, the residual amount is the same as when baking using conventional methods.
It can be seen that the number is 201.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the degree of vacuum can be increased in a shorter time during evacuation of a vacuum device, and the degree of vacuum can be increased in a shorter time, and the baking temperature can be lowered without baking. The ultimate vacuum level can be made even higher. Therefore, by applying the present invention to vacuum equipment that cannot perform high-temperature baking or that needs to increase the degree of vacuum in a shorter time, it is possible to create a higher vacuum in a shorter time. If the technology is used in electronic device manufacturing technology that requires a vacuum, it will have the effect of greatly contributing to improving work efficiency and device characteristics.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of an apparatus used in the method of the present invention, FIG. Figure 3 is a diagram comparing the intensities of the residue 1201 in the vacuum chamber after evacuation by mass spectrometry. 1...Vacuum chamber

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A method for improving the degree of vacuum in a vacuum device, which comprises evacuating the vacuum device while supplying O_2 gas or an inert gas, then stopping the gas supply and evacuating the inside of the vacuum device. (2) Vacuum degree of the vacuum device characterized by evacuating the vacuum device while supplying O_2 gas or inert gas, then stopping the gas supply and evacuating the inside of the vacuum device, and then baking the vacuum device. How to improve.