Ronald Vane1 and Michael Cable1
1. XEI Scientific Inc, Redwood City, CA.
Residual Gas Analyzers (RGA) are powerful tools to measure and identify gases and contaminants in vacuum chambers. XEI Scientific has manufactured Evactron® plasma cleaners for SEMs since 1999 to remove hydrocarbon contamination. XEI has recently invented a new plasma generation technology with RF external hollow cathode excitation. This new Evactron E50 plasma cleaner operates from a lower base pressure and rapidly removes most hydrocarbons from a vacuum chamber. Because the E50 model operates at lower pressures, RGA spectra can be obtained quickly after the plasma cleaning is stopped. Previous results documented faster pump down times after plasma cleaning with the E50. Fast pump down allows a RGA spectrum to be taken soon after the plasma is stopped so that hydrocarbons can be monitored before being changed by migration.
