AVS 65th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Vacuum Technology Division Wednesday Sessions
       Session VT-WeM

Paper VT-WeM1
Trace Helium Effects from High Pressure Swing Adsorption Nitrogen Generator on Semiconductor Capital Equipment Manufacturer

Wednesday, October 24, 2018, 8:00 am, Room 203B

Session: Vacuum Technology Developments
Presenter: William Johnson, Applied Materials, Varian Semiconductor Equipment
Authors: S. Borichevsky, Applied Materials, Varian Semiconductor Equipment
W. Johnson, Applied Materials, Varian Semiconductor Equipment
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A High Pressure N2 Pressure Swing Adsorption (HPN PSA) N2 generator was installed to replace the three LN2 bulk storage tanks on the AMAT VSE campus. An Ion Implanter has many multi-stage roots, exhaust lines and turbomolecular pumps that use GN2 as a purge gas. It was found that He introduced by the PSA GN2 generator was of sufficient quantity to raise the background level of many devices under test to the 10-6sccs range, desensitizing the leak testing processes. This work will describe the basic PSA N2 generation process, the methods by which errant He entered the process and the method used to alleviate the excess He.