| AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Vacuum Technology | Monday Sessions |
| Session VT-MoA |
| Session: | Vacuum Measurement, Applications of UHV and Ultraclean Processes |
| Presenter: | Simon Naef, INFICON Ltd., Liechtenstein |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Hot ionization gauge have been on the market for decades and many refinements have been made over the time. A lot of common knowledge how to build a stable, sensitive, and accurate BA-gauge is recorded. How about overall power consumption and the energy efficiency of hot ion gauges? The topic of energy conservation has been neglected so far.
The saved energy per gauge is not essential, but on the global view the power consumption can be reduced significantly. Even the high energy consuming semiconductor industry tries to reduce their footstep, since 80% of energy used in this industry is manufacturing and transportation.
How can that are achieved? Integration and miniaturization is way used in the past. So there are many compact hot ion gauge designs available on the market today, which use obviously less energy than larger full-size hot ionization systems. But what is drawback of going small and is worth going small?
On one hand the heated cathode defines mainly the power consumption, which is based on the electron emissivity of the surface material used and the resistance of the used wire material. On the other hand the sensitivity of BA-gauge is based on the geometry of the electrodes, which can be correlated to the efficiency of the gauge. Is there any option with any optimal compromise size?