| AVS 58th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Vacuum Technology Division | Monday Sessions |
| Session VT-MoM |
| Session: | Vacuum Measurement, Calibration & Primary Standards, Gas Flow and Permeation |
| Presenter: | Jay H. Hendricks, National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| Authors: | J.H. Hendricks, National Institute of Standards and Technology D.A. Olson, National Institute of Standards and Technology J.E. Ricker, National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Over the past decade, NIST has designed and built several high-stability transfer standard packages (TSPs) that have proven to be ideally suited for inter-laboratory comparisons in the atmospheric pressure and vacuum pressure range [1]. In the mid 1990’s the development and use of micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) enabled pressure sensor technology to make significant advances in both precision and accuracy. Resonant silicon gauges (RSGs) are MEMS sensors that are manufactured by micromachining silicon to produce silicon diaphragms nominally a few millimeters square by a fraction of a millimeter thick [2]. NIST has found that these gauges are very stable, rugged, and ideally suited as core technology for a high-stability precision pressure and vacuum standard. The RSG sensors with full-scale ranges of 10 kPa and 130 kPa have shown excellent stability [3]. However, one drawback of the RSGs is that they lack the sensitivity and resolution of capacitance diaphragm gauges (CDGs) with full-scale ranges of 133 Pa. The downside of only using these CDGs is their relatively poor calibration stability when compared to 10 kPa full scale range RSGs. The NIST solution has been to combine the high-resolution of the 133 Pa CDGs, with the high-stability of the 10 kPa RSGs into one transfer standard package. The RSG gauges are then used to determine the calibration drift in the CDGs at the time of use. A recently completed set of transportable NIST traceable vacuum standards with a range of 1 Pa to 10,000 Pa will be highlighted. These TSPs consist of pairs of 10 kPa RSGs and pairs of 133 Pa CDGs encased in temperature controlled enclosures that further enhance gauge performance. These standards will be used for an upcoming international key comparison in absolute pressure from 1 Pa to 10,000 Pa.
[1] Hendricks, J.H., Olson, D.A., Physics World, Vacuum Challenges and Solutions (2009) 18-19.
[2] Harada, K. et.al. 1999 Sensors and Actuators 73 261-266.
[3] Hendricks, J.H. et.al. Metrologia 44 (2007) 171-176.