Vacuum equipment and method for rapidly pumping high vacuum and user interface

Abstract

The invention discloses vacuum equipment and method for rapidly pumping high vacuum and a user interface. The vacuum equipment for rapidly pumping high vacuum comprises a feeding cavity and a pre-pumping cavity. The feeding cavity comprises a feeding cavity body. A lower cavity is defined by the feeding cavity in a surrounding mode. And the feeding cavity is provided with at least one valve port of which the space is communicated with the lower cavity. The pre-pumping cavity comprises a pre-pumping cavity body and at least one airtight valve unit, wherein the pre-pumping cavity body is arranged on the top side of the feeding cavity body. A space is defined by the pre-pumping cavity in a surrounding mode and communicated with an upper cavity of the valve port. And the volume of the upper chamber is larger than that of the lower chamber. When the airtight valve unit seals the valve port, the upper cavity is not communicated with the lower cavity. And when the airtight valve unit opens the valve port, the upper cavity is communicated with the lower cavity. The time for establishing the high vacuum degree of the feeding cavity can be shortened, and the productivity is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a vacuum device, and more particularly to a vacuum device, method and user interface for quickly pumping a high vacuum. Background Art

[0002] Existing vacuum processing equipment discharges the gas in the internal space of the vacuum chamber through a vacuum pump, so that the internal space presents a vacuum state, in order to perform related processes on at least one workpiece.

[0003] However, in addition to the general gas in the internal space, the surface of the workpiece will also carry gas molecules containing water vapor. When the pressure is pumped down to less than 10 -3 Torr, the mean free path of the gas molecules begins to be greater than the size of the vacuum chamber, indicating that the gas molecules hit the wall of the vacuum chamber before colliding with other gas molecules, causing them to continuously move back and forth and collide on the wall of the vacuum chamber, and each time they are physically adsorbed on the wall of the vacuum chamber and then desorbed and released, and it is difficult to be captured by the vacuum pump, so the pressure cannot be quickly reduced, and the time for pumping a high vacuum will be prolonged. Therefore, the time required to establish a high vacuum degree such as 10 -6 Torr is several times longer than the time required to establish a low vacuum degree such as 10 -3 Torr, which will lengthen the working time and reduce the production capacity.

[0004] According to the experimental results: when a metal carrier with the workpiece placed on it is first placed in the vacuum chamber overnight, then removed from the vacuum chamber and re-entered into the vacuum chamber one hour later, and the vacuum chamber is evacuated, at this time, it takes 40 seconds for the vacuum chamber to establish a vacuum degree of 10 -3 Torr, but it takes nearly 1000 seconds to establish to 5×10 -6 Torr, obviously it is not easy to establish a high vacuum environment. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The first object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum device for quickly pumping a high vacuum that can shorten the time for establishing a high vacuum degree.

[0006] The vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention is applicable to transporting workpieces. The vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum includes a feeding chamber and a pre-pumping chamber. The feeding chamber includes a feeding cavity body and a chamber door. The feeding cavity body defines a lower chamber for accommodating the workpiece around it. The feeding cavity body has at least one valve port located on the top side and spatially communicating with the lower chamber, and a feeding port communicating with the atmospheric environment space and adapted for the workpiece to pass through. The chamber door is used to close the feeding port. The pre-pumping chamber is connected to the feeding chamber. The pre-pumping chamber includes a pre-pumping cavity body arranged on the top side of the feeding cavity body along the top-bottom direction, and at least one airtight valve unit. The pre-pumping cavity body defines an upper chamber spatially communicating with the valve port around it. The volume of the upper chamber is larger than the volume of the lower chamber. The number of the airtight valve units matches the valve port and is used to close the valve port. When the airtight valve unit closes the valve port, the upper chamber is not communicated with the lower chamber. When the airtight valve unit opens the valve port, the upper chamber is communicated with the lower chamber through the valve port.

[0007] For the vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention, the feeding cavity body is directly connected to the pre-pumping cavity body.

[0008] For the vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention, the volume of the upper chamber is V1, the volume of the lower chamber is V2, the volume of the workpiece is V3, and V1≧5×(V2 - V3).

[0009] For the vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention, when the airtight valve unit closes the valve port and under normal conditions, the vacuum degree of the upper chamber is higher than that of the lower chamber.

[0010] For the vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention, the feeding chamber further includes a first vacuum pump arranged in the feeding cavity body and used to pump vacuum for the lower chamber, and the pre-pumping chamber further includes a second vacuum pump arranged in the pre-pumping cavity body and used to pump vacuum for the upper chamber.

[0011] For the vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention, when the airtight valve unit closes the valve port, the second vacuum pump pumps air for the upper chamber to reach a vacuum degree of at least 4×10 -5 Torr, and the first vacuum pump pumps air for the lower chamber to reach a vacuum degree of at least 4×10 -3 Torr.

[0012] For the vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention, the bottom side of the valve port is separated from the upper surface of the workpiece by a distance h1, and h1 is between 5 mm and 15 mm.

[0013] The vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention, the airtight valve unit has a first valve for closing the valve port, and a driving device for driving the first valve to move downward along the top-bottom direction to close the valve port, and when the driving device drives the first valve to move upward, the valve port will be opened.

[0014] For the vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention, when the airtight valve unit opens the valve port, the bottom surface of the first valve is spaced apart from the valve port by a distance h2, the radius of the valve port is r, and h2 > r / 2.

[0015] The vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention further includes a second valve disposed on a side of the feeding chamber different from the feeding port, and a processing chamber connected to the second valve and used for receiving and processing the workpiece. The volume of the processing chamber is larger than the volume of the upper chamber. The processing chamber is spatially connected to the feeding chamber by opening the second valve, and the processing chamber is not spatially connected to the feeding chamber by closing the second valve.

[0016] For the vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention, when the airtight valve unit closes the valve port and under normal conditions, the vacuum degree of the upper chamber is at least 4×10 -5 Torr, the vacuum degree of the lower chamber is at least 4×10 -3 Torr. When the second valve is closed, the vacuum degree of the processing chamber under normal conditions is at least 1×10 -5 Torr.

[0017] For the vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention, the pre-pumping cavity further has an upper opening fluidly connected to the second vacuum pump. The radius of the upper opening is R. The feeding cavity has two valve ports. The pre-pumping cavity includes two airtight valve units respectively used for closing the valve ports. The radius of each valve port is r, r < R, and the total cross-sectional area of the valve ports 2πr 2 is larger than the cross-sectional area πR of the upper opening 2 .

[0018] For the vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention, the feeding chamber further includes a conveying unit for moving the workpiece. The feeding cavity has a bottom wall. The bottom wall has a convex area, and two concave groove areas respectively located on two opposite sides of the convex area and lower than the convex area in the top-bottom direction. The conveying unit has two roller groups respectively rotatably disposed in the concave groove areas.

[0019] For the vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention, the first vacuum pump is a dry vacuum pump, and the second vacuum pump is a turbo molecular pump.

[0020] The second object of the present invention is to provide a method for quickly pumping high vacuum that can shorten the time for establishing a high vacuum degree.

[0021] The method for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention includes the following steps:

[0022] The first step is to evacuate a pre-evacuation chamber directly connected to the top side of the feeding chamber and having a chamber volume larger than that of the feeding chamber, so that the pre-evacuation chamber is maintained at a vacuum degree of at least 4×10 -5 Torr.

[0023] The second step is to introduce a workpiece from the atmospheric environment into the feeding chamber through the side of the feeding chamber, and the feeding chamber is evacuated to reach at least 4×10 -3 Torr.

[0024] The third step is to open a first valve to make the feeding chamber communicate with the pre-evacuation chamber in space.

[0025] The fourth step is to continue evacuating the feeding chamber and the pre-evacuation chamber to reach at least 4×10 -5 Torr.

[0026] In the method for quickly pumping high vacuum according to the present invention, in the first step, a processing chamber connected to another side of the feeding chamber and having a chamber volume larger than that of the pre-evacuation chamber is also evacuated, so that the processing chamber is maintained at a vacuum degree of at least 1×10 -5 Torr. The method for quickly pumping high vacuum further includes a fifth step after the fourth step, which is to open a second valve to make the feeding chamber communicate with the processing chamber in space, and the workpiece can be transferred between the feeding chamber and the processing chamber.

[0027] The third object of the present invention is to provide a user interface for operating the method for quickly pumping high vacuum as described above.

[0028] The user interface according to the present invention includes a first vacuum degree sub-interface for displaying the vacuum degree of the feeding chamber, a second vacuum degree sub-interface for displaying the vacuum degree of the pre-evacuation chamber, a first valve state sub-interface for displaying whether the first valve is opened or closed, and a process sub-interface for displaying the process flow of multiple steps of evacuating the vacuum.

[0029] A computer device according to the present invention includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory, and the processor executes the computer program to implement the steps of the method as described above.

[0030] A computer program product according to the present invention includes a computer program / instructions, and when the computer program / instructions are executed by a processor, the steps of the method as described above are implemented.

[0031] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: Since the volume of the upper chamber is larger than that of the lower chamber, as long as the degree of vacuum in the upper chamber is higher than that in the lower chamber during pre-evacuation, when the airtight valve unit opens the valve port to connect the upper chamber and the lower chamber, the degrees of vacuum in the upper chamber and the lower chamber will be mixed with each other, causing the gas pressure in the lower chamber to rapidly decrease. Therefore, the time required for the feeding chamber to establish a high degree of vacuum can be shortened, and the production capacity can be increased. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] Other features and effects of the present invention will be clearly presented in the embodiments with reference to the drawings, wherein:

[0033] Figure 1 is a partial cross-sectional schematic view showing an embodiment of the high-vacuum pumping device of the present invention for quickly pumping high vacuum, which is applicable to transporting and processing a workpiece;

[0034] Figure 2 is another partial cross-sectional schematic view of the embodiment;

[0035] Figure 3 is a perspective view of a feeding cavity and a pre-evacuation cavity of the embodiment;

[0036] Figure 4 is Figure 3 the top view of;

[0037] Figure 5 is along Figure 4 the cross-sectional view taken along line V-V in;

[0038] Figure 6 is an incomplete cross-sectional schematic view showing a first valve of the embodiment disengaging from a valve port of the feeding cavity;

[0039] Figure 7 is a flowchart of the method for quickly pumping high vacuum of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 8 is a continuous action diagram of the method for quickly pumping high vacuum; and

[0041] Figure 9 is a front view showing a user interface for operating the method for quickly pumping high vacuum. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0042] Referring to Figures 1 to 3 , an embodiment of the high-vacuum pumping device of the present invention for quickly pumping high vacuum is applicable to transporting a workpiece 9 or performing process treatments such as, but not limited to, vacuum baking, plasma cleaning, etching, or coating on the workpiece 9. The high-vacuum pumping device for quickly pumping high vacuum includes a feeding chamber 1, a pre-evacuation chamber 2, and a processing chamber 3.

[0043] The feeding chamber 1 includes a feeding cavity body 11, a chamber door 12 capable of being opened and closed relative to the feeding cavity body 11, a first vacuum pump 13 disposed in the feeding cavity body 11, and a transfer unit 14 for moving the workpiece 9.

[0044] The feeding cavity body 11 defines a lower chamber 100 that is fluidly connected to the first vacuum pump 13 and is used to accommodate the workpiece 9. The feeding cavity body 11 has a bottom wall 111 composed of multiple plates, a top wall 112 higher than the bottom wall 111 in a top-bottom direction Z, and a side wall 113 connecting the bottom wall 111 and the top wall 112. The bottom wall 111 has a convex platform area 114 and two concave groove areas 115 that are respectively located on two opposite sides of the convex platform area 114 in a horizontal direction X and are lower than the convex platform area 114 in the top-bottom direction Z. The convex platform area 114 has a lower opening 116. The top wall 112 has at least one valve port 117 that spatially communicates with the lower chamber 100. In this embodiment, the top wall 112 has two valve ports 117. The side wall 113 is formed with a feeding port 118 that is connected to the atmospheric environment space and is suitable for the workpiece 9 to pass through.

[0045] The chamber door 12 is used to close the feeding port 118 so that the lower chamber 100 is not connected to the atmospheric environment. When the chamber door 12 is opened, the lower chamber 100 is connected to the atmospheric environment through the feeding port 118. The first vacuum pump 13 is disposed on the bottom side of the feeding cavity body 11 and is connected to the lower opening 116 of the bottom wall 111 and is used to evacuate the lower chamber 100. In this embodiment, the first vacuum pump 13 is a dry vacuum pump.

[0046] The transfer unit 14 has two roller groups 141 that are respectively rotatably disposed in the concave groove areas 115. When the roller groups 141 are driven to rotate, they can drive the workpiece 9 to move. In other variations, the transfer unit 14 may not be provided, and instead, a robotic arm may be used to support the workpiece 9 to move the workpiece 9 into or out of the feeding chamber 1.

[0047] The pre-evacuation chamber 2 is connected to the top side of the feeding chamber 1. The pre-evacuation chamber 2 includes a pre-evacuation cavity body 21 directly connected to the top side of the feeding cavity body 11 along the top-bottom direction Z, a second vacuum pump 22 connected to the pre-evacuation cavity body 21, and at least one airtight valve unit 23. The pre-evacuation cavity body 21 defines an upper chamber 200 that is spatially connected to the valve port 117. The volume V1 of the upper chamber 200 is greater than the volume V2 of the lower chamber 100. In this embodiment, the volume of the workpiece 9 is V3, and V1 ≧ 5×(V2 - V3).

[0048] The pre-pumping cavity 21 has a hollow frame member 211 fixed to the top wall 112 of the feeding cavity 11, and an upper wall 212 covering the top end of the hollow frame member 211. The upper wall 212 has an upper opening 213 that is spatially connected to the upper chamber 200, and two spaced-apart mounting holes 214. The second vacuum pump 22 is fluidly connected to the upper opening 213 and the upper chamber 200 and is used to evacuate the upper chamber 200. In this embodiment, the second vacuum pump 22 is a turbomolecular pump.

[0049] In other variations, the first vacuum pump 13 and the second vacuum pump 22 can also share a single vacuum pump, which can be either a dry vacuum pump or a turbomolecular pump. In this case, the vacuum pump is connected to the upper chamber 200 and is connected to the lower chamber 100 through a pipeline. A valve (not shown in the figure) is used to control the vacuum pump to be connected to the upper chamber 200 or the lower chamber 100 respectively, and corresponding evacuation effects are generated.

[0050] Refer to Figures 3 to 5 , the aperture of the upper opening 213 is larger than the aperture of the lower opening 116. The mounting holes 214 are respectively aligned with the valve ports 117, and the aperture of each mounting hole 214 is smaller than the aperture of the corresponding valve port 117.

[0051] Refer to Figure 2 , Figure 4 and Figure 6 , in this embodiment, there are two of the airtight valve units 23, and the number of the airtight valve units 23 matches the valve ports 117 and is respectively used to close the valve ports 117. In some variations, the number of the valve ports 117 can be one. Each airtight valve unit 23 has a first valve 231 used to close the corresponding valve port 117, and a driving device 232 used to drive the first valve 231 to move downward along the top-bottom direction Z to close the valve port 117. The first valve 231 is a disc-shaped piston. The driving device 232 has a driving body 233 fixed to the upper wall 212, and a connecting rod 234 connecting the first valve 231 and capable of moving up and down relative to the driving body 233. When the driving device 232 drives the first valve 231 to move upward, the valve port 117 is opened, enabling the upper chamber 200 and the lower chamber 100 to communicate through the valve port 117. When the driving device 232 drives the first valve 231 to move downward, the valve port 117 is closed, preventing the upper chamber 200 and the lower chamber 100 from communicating.

[0052] It should be noted that since the feeding cavity 11 of this embodiment is directly connected to the pre-pumping cavity 21 and separated by the first valve 231, the gas flow between the lower chamber 100 and the upper chamber 200 does not require an additional pipeline, thus avoiding problems such as pipeline breakage and unnecessary viscous flow caused by pipeline pressure difference.

[0053] When the airtight valve unit 23 closes the valve port 117, and under the normal state where the first vacuum pump 13 continuously evacuates the lower chamber 100 and the second vacuum pump 22 continuously evacuates the upper chamber 200, the vacuum degree of the upper chamber 200 is higher than that of the lower chamber 100. In this embodiment, the vacuum degree of the upper chamber 200 is at least 4×10 -5 Torr, and the vacuum degree of the lower chamber 100 is at least 4×10 -3 Torr.

[0054] Since this embodiment is mainly applicable to the plate-shaped workpiece 9 and the height of the lower chamber 100 is small, a distance h1 is provided between the bottom side of each valve port 117 and the upper surface of the workpiece 9, and h1 is between 5 mm and 15 mm.

[0055] The radius of the upper opening 213 of the pre-pumping cavity 21 is R, and the radius of each valve port 117 is r, and r < R. The total cross-sectional area 2πr of the valve ports 117 2 is larger than the cross-sectional area πR of the upper opening 213 2 , which can increase the probability that the residual molecular flow is pumped away by the second vacuum pump 22 in a high-vacuum environment.

[0056] When the first valve 231 of each airtight valve unit 23 disengages from the corresponding valve port 117, the valve port 117 can be opened, and a distance h2 is provided between the bottom surface of each first valve 231 and the corresponding valve port 117. At this time, an annular region is formed between the circular periphery of each first valve 231 and the corresponding valve port 117, and the area of the annular region is 2πr×h2. The cross-sectional area of the valve port 117 is πr 2 , so when h2 > r / 2, it can be avoided that the residual molecular flow cannot smoothly flow from the lower chamber 100 into the upper chamber 200 due to the insufficient area of the annular region.

[0057] Refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2, it should be noted that since the vacuum degree of the upper chamber 200 is higher than that of the lower chamber 100, the second vacuum pump 22 is located above the upper chamber 200, and the workpiece 9 is plate-shaped and adjacent to the first valve 231 of the airtight valve unit 23. Therefore, when the airtight valve unit 23 opens the valve port 117, the pressure difference between the upper chamber 200 and the lower chamber 100 will cause the residual molecular flow in the lower chamber 100 to be quickly carried away from the lower chamber 100 and continuously collide and move in the direction of the second vacuum pump 22, which is conducive to being captured by the second vacuum pump 22. In addition, the kinetic energy generated by the pressure difference can also assist the residual molecular flow to overcome the physical adsorption of the inner walls of the feeding chamber 11 and the pre-pumping chamber 21 on it, and quickly desorb and release from the inner walls of the feeding chamber 11 and the pre-pumping chamber 21, thereby assisting the lower chamber 100 and the upper chamber 200 to quickly return to the high-vacuum state.

[0058] The processing chamber 3 is arranged at an interval from the feeding chamber 1 and is used to receive the workpiece 9 transmitted from the feeding chamber 1. A second valve 31 is arranged between the processing chamber 3 and the side of the feeding chamber 1 different from the feeding port 118, and the second valve 31 is a vacuum valve. The processing chamber 3 is used to perform vacuum baking on the workpiece 9. In some variations, the processing chamber 3 can also be used to perform processes such as transporting, statically placing, turning, flipping, baking, plasma cleaning, etching or coating on the workpiece 9. The volume V4 of the processing chamber 3 is larger than the volume V1 of the upper chamber 200 and also larger than the volume V2 of the lower chamber 100. And in this embodiment, V4≧50×V2. The processing chamber 3 is connected to the lower chamber 100 space of the feeding chamber 1 through opening the second valve 31. At this time, the workpiece 9 can be transmitted between the feeding chamber 1 and the processing chamber 3. The processing chamber 3 is not connected to the feeding chamber 1 through closing the second valve 31. The processing chamber 3 achieves high vacuum through pumping by a third vacuum pump 32. When the second valve 31 is closed and in the normal state where the third vacuum pump 32 continuously pumps the processing chamber 3 to vacuum, the internal vacuum degree of the processing chamber 3 is at least 1×10 -5 Torr.

[0059] Refer to Figure 1 , Figure 7 and Figure 8 , the following describes the method for quickly pumping high vacuum of the present invention:

[0060] Step 901, pump the pre-pumping chamber 2 and the processing chamber 3 to vacuum, so that the vacuum degree of the pre-pumping chamber 2 is 4×10 -5 Torr, and the vacuum degree of the processing chamber 3 is 1×10 -5 Torr.

[0061] Step 902: Open the chamber door 12. After feeding the workpiece 9 from the atmospheric environment into the feeding chamber 1 through a robotic arm (not shown in the figure) via the feeding port 118, close the chamber door 12, and then the feeding chamber 1 starts to evacuate.

[0062] Step 903: Wait until the vacuum degree of the feeding chamber 1 reaches 4×10 -3 Torr. Then open the first valve 231 to connect the feeding chamber 1 and the pre-pumping chamber 2 in space. The vacuum degrees of the two will mix with each other and reach equilibrium. Since the volume V1 of the upper chamber 200 of the pre-pumping chamber 2 is larger than the volume V2 of the lower chamber 100 of the feeding chamber 1, after the vacuum degrees of the pre-pumping chamber 2 and the feeding chamber 1 are mixed, they will quickly fall between 1×10 -3 and 1×10 -4 Torr.

[0063] Step 904: The feeding chamber 1 and the pre-pumping chamber 2 continue to evacuate to a predetermined vacuum degree of 4×10 -5 Torr.

[0064] Step 905: After the vacuum degrees of the feeding chamber 1 and the pre-pumping chamber 2 reach 4×10 -5 Torr, open the second valve 31 to connect the feeding chamber 1 and the processing chamber 3 in space, and transfer the workpiece 9 from the feeding chamber 1 to the processing chamber 3. The first valve 231 is in the open state in this step. Connecting the feeding chamber 1, the pre-pumping chamber 2 and the processing chamber 3 in space is beneficial to maintaining a higher vacuum degree in the pre-pumping chamber 2 and the feeding chamber 1, and can shorten the evacuation time for the next operation. However, the first valve 231 can also be closed according to the operation requirements.

[0065] Step 906: Close the first valve 231 and the second valve 31, and the third vacuum pump 32 continues to evacuate until the processing chamber 3 reaches the working vacuum degree.

[0066] Step 907: The processing chamber 3 performs a vacuum baking process on the workpiece 9. In other usage modes, it can also perform processes such as plasma cleaning, etching or coating on the workpiece 9 that require a high vacuum degree, or perform auxiliary actions such as transporting, static placement, turning, and flipping on the workpiece 9 in cooperation with the foregoing processes.

[0067] Step 908: After the processing is completed, open the second valve 31 to return the workpiece 9 to the feeding chamber 1, and then close the second valve 31.

[0068] Step 909, open the feeding chamber 1 and send out the workpiece 9. Before opening the chamber door 12 of the feeding chamber 1, the first valve 231 is closed, so the upper chamber 200 will never be connected to the atmospheric environment. It can be understood that the first valve 231 can also be closed after the process treatment is completed. As long as it is determined that the first valve 231 and the second valve 31 are closed when the chamber door 12 is opened, it can be ensured that the pre-pumping chamber 2 and the processing chamber 3 will never be in contact with the atmospheric environment.

[0069] The above method is described for a single workpiece 9. In actual production, multiple workpieces 9 are processed simultaneously. To improve production efficiency, when sending out the processed workpiece 9, new workpieces to be processed can be sent in at the same time, so the waiting time can be reduced and the production capacity can be increased.

[0070] In the vacuum device and method for quickly pumping high vacuum of the present invention, since the volume V1 of the upper chamber 200 is larger than the volume V2 of the lower chamber 100, as long as the upper chamber 200 is pre-pumped to a higher vacuum degree than the lower chamber 100, when the first valve 231 is opened to connect the feeding chamber 1 to the pre-pumping chamber 2, the vacuum degrees of the pre-pumping chamber 2 and the feeding chamber 1 will be mixed with each other. More preferably, their position configurations conform to the direction and path of the residual molecular flow being extracted by the vacuum pump, so that the gas pressure in the feeding chamber 1 drops rapidly, and thus the time for the feeding chamber 1 to establish a high vacuum degree can be shortened. Therefore, the object of the present invention can be truly achieved.

[0071] Refer to Figure 9 , and cooperate with Figure 1 , the vacuum device for quickly pumping high vacuum further includes a display screen. The above method for quickly pumping high vacuum can be operated and the process status can be inspected by displaying a user interface 8 on the display screen. The vacuum device can also display the user interface through the screen of an external electronic device.

[0072] The user interface 8 includes a first vacuum degree sub-interface 81, a second vacuum degree sub-interface 82, a third vacuum degree sub-interface 83, a first valve status sub-interface 84, a second valve status sub-interface 85, and a process sub-interface 86.

[0073] The first vacuum degree sub-interface 81 is used to display the vacuum degree of the feeding chamber 1. The second vacuum degree sub-interface 82 is used to display the vacuum degree of the pre-pumping chamber 2. The third vacuum degree sub-interface 83 is used to display the vacuum degree of the processing chamber 3. The first valve state sub-interface 84 and the second valve state sub-interface 85 are displayed on a vacuum system diagram. The first valve state sub-interface 84 and the second valve state sub-interface 85 are respectively used to display whether the first valve 231 and the second valve 31 are open or closed, usually represented by different colors for open or closed. The process sub-interface 86 is used to display multiple step processes of vacuum pumping. The operator can edit the step processes of quickly pumping high vacuum and performing process treatment according to the product type, vacuum degree requirements and other process parameters through application programming, so as to achieve the purpose of automated production.

[0074] The above are only embodiments of the present invention, and the scope of implementation of the present invention cannot be limited thereby. That is, all simple equivalent changes and modifications made according to the claims and the content of the specification of the present invention still fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A vacuum device for rapidly evacuating a high vacuum, suitable for conveying workpieces, characterized by: The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuum pumping comprises: A feeding chamber, comprising a feeding chamber body and a chamber door, wherein the feeding chamber body defines a lower chamber for accommodating the workpiece, the feeding chamber body has at least one valve port located on the top side and connected to the lower chamber, and a feeding port connected to the atmospheric environment and suitable for the workpiece to pass through, and the chamber door is used to close the feeding port; and A pre-pumping chamber is connected to the feeding chamber, the pre-pumping chamber includes a pre-pumping chamber body arranged on the top side of the feeding chamber body along the top-to-bottom direction, and at least one airtight valve unit, the pre-pumping chamber body defines an upper chamber around a space connected to the valve port, the volume of the upper chamber is greater than the volume of the lower chamber, the number of the airtight valve units matches the valve port and is used to close the valve port, when the airtight valve unit closes the valve port, the upper chamber is not connected to the lower chamber, when the airtight valve unit opens the valve port, the upper chamber is connected to the lower chamber through the valve port.

2. The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuum extraction according to claim 1, characterized in that: The feeding cavity is directly connected to the pre-pumping cavity.

3. The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuum extraction according to claim 1, characterized in that: The volume of the upper chamber is V1, the volume of the lower chamber is V2, the volume of the workpiece is V3, and V1≧5×(V2-V3).

4. The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuuming according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the airtight valve unit closes the valve port and under normal conditions, the vacuum degree of the upper chamber is higher than the vacuum degree of the lower chamber.

5. The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuum extraction according to claim 1, characterized in that: The feeding chamber further comprises a first vacuum pump disposed in the feeding chamber body and used for evacuating the lower chamber, and the pre-evacuation chamber further comprises a second vacuum pump disposed in the pre-evacuation chamber and used for evacuating the upper chamber.

6. The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuuming according to claim 5, characterized in that: When the airtight valve unit closes the valve port, the second vacuum pump evacuates the upper chamber to at least 4×10 -5 Torr, the first vacuum pump evacuates the lower chamber to a vacuum degree of at least 4×10 -3 Torr vacuum degree.

7. The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuuming according to claim 1, characterized in that: The bottom side of the valve port is spaced apart from the upper surface of the workpiece by a distance h1, and h1 is between 5 mm and 15 mm.

8. The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuuming according to claim 1, characterized in that: The airtight valve unit has a first valve for closing the valve port, and a driving device for driving the first valve to move downward along the top-bottom direction to close the valve port. When the driving device drives the first valve to move upward, the valve port will be opened.

9. The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuuming according to claim 8, characterized in that: When the airtight valve unit opens the valve port, the bottom surface of the first valve is spaced apart from the valve port by a distance h2, the radius of the valve port is r, and h2>r / 2.

10. The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuuming according to claim 1, characterized in that: The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuum extraction also includes a second valve arranged on a side of the feeding chamber different from the feeding port, and a processing chamber connected to the second valve and used to receive and process the workpiece, the volume of the processing chamber is larger than the volume of the upper chamber, the processing chamber is connected to the feeding chamber space by opening the second valve, and the processing chamber is disconnected from the feeding chamber space by closing the second valve.

11. The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuuming according to claim 10, characterized in that: When the airtight valve unit closes the valve port and is in normal state, the upper chamber is at least 4×10 -5 Torr, the vacuum degree of the lower chamber is at least 4×10 -3 Torr, when the second valve is closed, the vacuum degree of the processing chamber under normal conditions is at least 1×10 -5 Torr vacuum degree.

12. The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuuming according to claim 5, characterized in that: The pre-pumping cavity also has an upper opening that is fluidly connected to the second vacuum pump. The radius of the upper opening is R. The feeding cavity has two such valve openings. The pre-pumping cavity includes two airtight valve units respectively used to close the valve openings. The radius of each valve opening is r, where r < R, and the total cross-sectional area of the valve openings 2πr 2 is greater than the cross-sectional area πR of the upper opening 2 .

13. The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuuming according to claim 1, characterized in that: The feeding chamber also includes a conveying unit for moving the workpiece, the feeding chamber has a bottom wall, the bottom wall has a boss area, and two groove areas respectively located on two opposite sides of the boss area and lower than the boss area in the top and bottom directions, the conveying unit has two roller groups respectively rotatably arranged in the groove areas.

14. The vacuum equipment for rapid high vacuuming according to claim 5, characterized in that: The first vacuum pump is a dry vacuum pump, and the second vacuum pump is a turbomolecular pump.

15. A method for rapidly evacuating a high vacuum, characterized in that: The method for rapidly evacuating a high vacuum comprises: In the first step, a pre-evacuation chamber directly connected to the top side of the feeding chamber and having a chamber volume larger than the chamber volume of the feeding chamber is evacuated to maintain the pre-evacuation chamber at a pressure of at least 4×10 -5 Torr vacuum degree; In the second step, the workpiece is introduced from the atmospheric environment into the feeding chamber through the side of the feeding chamber, and the feeding chamber is evacuated to a vacuum of at least 4×10 -3 Torr; The third step is to open the first valve to connect the feeding chamber with the pre-pumping chamber space; and In the fourth step, the feeding chamber and the pre-evacuation chamber continue to be evacuated to at least 4×10 -5 Torr.

16. The method for rapid high vacuuming according to claim 15, characterized in that: In the first step, a processing chamber connected to the other side of the feeding chamber and having a chamber volume larger than the chamber volume of the pre-evacuation chamber is also evacuated to maintain the processing chamber at a volume of at least 1×10 -5 Torr vacuum degree, the method for quickly evacuating high vacuum also includes a fifth step after the fourth step, opening the second valve to connect the feeding chamber with the processing chamber space, and the workpiece can be transferred between the feeding chamber and the processing chamber.

17. A user interface for operating the method for rapid high vacuuming according to claim 15, characterized in that: Include: A first vacuum degree sub-interface, used to display the vacuum degree of the feeding chamber; A second vacuum degree sub-interface, used to display the vacuum degree of the pre-evacuation chamber; A first valve status sub-interface, used to display whether the first valve is open or closed; and The process sub-interface is used to display the multiple steps of vacuuming process.

18. A computer device comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored in the memory, characterized in that: The processor executes the computer program to implement the steps of the method of claim 15 or 16.

19. A computer program product comprising a computer program / instructions, characterized in that: When the computer program / instructions are executed by a processor, the steps of the method according to claim 15 or 16 are implemented.

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