Jan 15, 2021 11:30:00 AM
Vacuum Coating — also called ‘Thin Film Technology’; or Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) — represents an impressive share among the various applications of vacuum technology. In this blog post, we share an overview of the historical development, the various basic principles underpinning the generating of thin films, and the general layout of coating devices.
As applications using vacuum technologies evolve and become ever more precise, the vacuum systems and pumps used have even less margin for error than ever before. In every operation that uses vacuum – particularly where incredibly precise instruments are involved (R&D, mass spectrometry) – the preservation of the vacuum is of the utmost importance.
The reality is that unforeseen problems in a vacuum can be catastrophic for the process, the environment and the operator, and one which can prove tricky is a vacuum leak.
Given the situation with COVID-19, many questions are being asked about how vacuum technology (specifically mass spectrometers) can help with health diagnostics and research.
With this in mind, in this short blog we’ll explore how mass spectrometers can be used in the medical field to tackle pandemics like COVID-19.
Oil diffusion pumps have been the workhorse in high-vacuum pumping for many decades and remain the standard for industrial applications like brazing/soldering, E-Beam welding and large-area coating. Their investment costs are relatively low, and they can provide pumping speeds of up to 50.000 l/s. In this blog, we will explain the working principles of oil diffusion pumps, including how to apply and control them in vacuum systems, the typical dos and don'ts, and provide several application examples.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCSUSA) about 2,200 active satellites orbit our planet and an additional 100 are launched every year. Most of these satellites are used for telecommunication and, with GPS projects like the European GALILEO and the SPACE-X Starlink (which intends to bring internet connection to every spot on earth) on the horizon, their number will continue to grow.
Secondary pumps require a primary pump to initially ‘prime’ them for operation and/or to support their continuous operation. There are several factors which need to be considered for the correct combination or ‘matching’ of primary and secondary pumps to ensure safe and optimized performance.
Cryopumps offer several advantages compared to other high-vacuum pumps. For instance, their pumping speed for water vapour is up to 4x higher than any other vacuum pump with the same inlet diameter. Furthermore, unlike gas transfer pumps, i.e. turbomolecular pumps or oil diffusion pumps, cryopumps condense all the gasses within them. The goal of this blog is to explain to you how they operate and where their capabilities are beneficial to the vacuum process.
Screw pumps belong to the family of dry compressing gas transfer pumps. (Learn more about the origins of dry pumps here) They are positive-displacement pumps that use two screw shaped intermeshing rotors to move gas along the screw’s axis. They are frequently used in industrial vacuum applications, often in combination with roots blowers and as oil-free roughing pumps in high and ultrahigh vacuum systems.
The presence of gaseous molecules, whether slow or fast moving, is what gives rise to pressure. A vacuum is created by reducing the number of molecules that exist within, for example, a chamber or a flask. However, by reducing the number of molecules that exert a pressure on the internal surface of such a chamber, one reduces the pressure. Unfortunately, this causes “additional” molecules to enter into play.
