AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Vacuum Technology Division Wednesday Sessions
       Session VT-WeM

Invited Paper VT-WeM10
Development, Solution of Design Issues, Final Design and Performance of an Electrostatic Triode Getter-Ion Pump, 1967-1973

Wednesday, November 1, 2017, 11:00 am, Room 7 & 8

Session: Transfer and Ultraclean Systems, Particle Control, and History
Presenter: Paul Arnold, MKS Instruments, Inc.
Correspondent: Click to Email
History of a completed commercial electrostatic triode getter-ion pump, where ion pumping and getter pumping were separated allowing preservation of the getter at UHV, will be presented. Also covered will be the solutions of combining high temperature, high voltage, high getter sublimation rate, and ultra-high vacuum in one pump design from the late 1960s. The getter was operated with active gas pumping speed as a direct function of the power to the getter and was independent of the ion pumping, allowing preservation of the getter material at UHV while maintaining full ion pumping speed. The physical electronics of a hot filament ion pump design with four pumping cells, each with dual filaments, will be shown. The successful joining and assembly of many refractory materials, some at temperatures reaching 1600 Celsius, will be described. The pump operates with electrodes at voltages up to 4000 volts in the environment of a titanium sublimation rate up to 0.02 grams per hour while maintaining adequate resistance values of the many insulators. Pumping speeds for various gasses will be displayed, along with pumpdown curves for many gasses with a gas type comparison to a sputter-ion pump from the same 1960s era. Automatic turn-on and turn-off pressure indications were provided by a heat-loss gauge with full-scale resolution of 10 millitorr. This Invited Talk is part of the AVS History Committee’s endeavor to preserve and promote our vacuum technology history.