Ultra high vacuum cryogenic pumping apparatus with nanostructure material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11111910-B2
Application number	US-201816207470-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2018
Priority date	Oct 22, 2013
Publication date	Sep 7, 2021
Grant date	Sep 7, 2021

Abstract

Cryogenic pump apparatuses include nanostructure material to achieve an ultra-high vacuum level. The nanostructure material can be mixed with either an adsorbent material or a fixed glue layer which is utilized to fix the adsorbent material. The nanostructure material's good thermal conductivity and adsorption properties help to lower working temperature and extend regeneration cycle of the cryogenic pumps.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cryogenic pumping apparatus comprising: a canister having a flange to be coupled to a vacuum chamber; a cryogenic blade array arranged within the canister, the cryogenic blade array including a first plurality of repeated blades one vertically stacked over another and closer to the vacuum chamber and a second plurality of repeated blades one vertically stacked over another and further from the vacuum chamber; a fixed glue layer on the second plurality of repeated blades of the cryogenic blade array; and an adsorbent material on the fixed glue layer, at least one of the adsorbent material or the fixed glue layer including a carbon nanotube material; wherein the carbon nanotube material is arranged on the second plurality of repeated blades and absent from the first plurality of repeated blades.

2. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adsorbent material comprises an active charcoal material with the carbon nanotube material mixing inside pores therein.

3. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the fixed glue layer comprises the carbon nanotube material.

4. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the carbon nanotube material is mixed with the fixed glue layer.

5. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the adsorbent material comprises an activated charcoal material.

6. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 4 , wherein a thermal conductivity of the fixed glue layer is larger than that of a second fixed glue layer not being mixed with the carbon nanotube material.

7. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 4 , wherein a working temperature of the cryogenic blade array is approximately 8 kelvin.

8. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the carbon nanotube material includes single-walled carbon nanotubes.

9. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the carbon nanotube material includes multi-walled carbon nanotubes.

10. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the carbon nanotube material has crystallographic defects.

11. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the crystallographic defects are bonding sites for particles to be absorbed by the carbon nanotube material.

12. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the particles comprise H 2 O, O 2 , CO 2 , H 2 , N 2 , or He.

13. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the vacuum chamber is utilized for Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE), or implanter chambers.

14. A cryogenic pumping apparatus, comprising:
a canister having a flange to be coupled to a vacuum chamber;
a cryogenic blade array arranged within the canister;
a fixed glue layer disposed on a blade of the cryogenic blade array; and
an adsorbent material disposed on the fixed glue layer,
wherein the fixed glue layer and the adsorbent material are formed on both upper and lower surfaces of the blade of the cryogenic blade array; and
wherein the adsorbent material includes a nanostructure material mixed inside pores of an active charcoal material.

15. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the nanostructure material is configured to absorb particles and be saturated before the active charcoal material starts absorbing more particles.

16. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the nanostructure material has crystallographic defects.

17. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the crystallographic defects of the nanostructure material form bonds with molecules through chemisorption.

18. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the crystallographic defects of the nanostructure material form bonds with atomic species through physisorption.

19. A cryogenic pumping apparatus, comprising:
a canister having a flange to be coupled to a vacuum chamber;
a first stage within the canister, the first stage to be in fluid communication with the vacuum chamber and including an inlet array to condense gases having boiling points within a first temperature range; and
a second stage within the canister, the second stage to be in fluid communication with the vacuum chamber but fluidly downstream of the first stage relative to the vacuum chamber, the second stage including a cold header to cool a cryogenic blade array in the second stage, the cryogenic blade array including a fixed glue layer disposed on a blade of the cryogenic blade array and an adsorbent material disposed on the fixed glue layer, wherein a carbon nanotube material is mixed with the fixed glue layer to trap gases having boiling points within a second temperature range that is less than the first temperature range;
wherein a thermal conductivity of the fixed glue layer mixed with the carbon nanotube material is larger than that of the fixed glue layer not mixed with the carbon nanotube material.

20. The cryogenic pumping apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an inlet array disposed within the canister above the cryogenic blade array.

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Anantharaman Surendra Babu
• Yang Wen-Cheng
• Kao Chung-En
• Lu Victor Y
• Chin Wei

Classifications

• F04B37/085

  Regeneration of cryo-pumps · CPC title

• F04B37/08 Primary

  by condensing or freezing, e.g. cryogenic pumps · CPC title