Vacuum Charge Dissipation via Controlled Pressure Breakdown
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electrical charging issues in vacuum environments, such as those found in systems like scanning electron microscopes, can lead to functionality disruptions and safety hazards due to the accumulation of static electricity, which existing technologies fail to effectively dissipate.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize a vacuum chamber with a gaseous pressure control system, including a pumping system, gaseous pressure sensor, and controller, to increase the pressure within the chamber to a range that facilitates the breakdown and dissipation of electrical charges, using Pashcen curves to determine optimal pressure ranges for different gases, thereby safely discharging static electricity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a vacuum environment is maintained to prevent electrical charge accumulation, then static electricity dissipation is improved, but the vacuum quality deteriorates due to pressure fluctuations required for charge breakdown
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of electrical charge accumulation on the substrate before it reaches hazardous levels. When charge is detected, the controller proactively adjusts the pumping system to create controlled pressure fluctuations that facilitate charge breakdown, then restores vacuum conditions, preventing both safety hazards and vacuum quality deterioration.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the vacuum chamber pressure by controlling the pumping system based on real-time electrical charge detection. The pressure is increased to facilitate charge breakdown when needed, then reduced to maintain vacuum quality, creating a dynamic balance between charge dissipation and vacuum maintenance.
2Reliability
If pressure is increased to facilitate electrical charge breakdown, then charge dissipation is improved, but vacuum quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs periodic pressure fluctuations rather than sustained high pressure. The pumping system is controlled to create temporary pressure increases that facilitate charge breakdown, then restore vacuum conditions. This periodic action allows charge dissipation while minimizing impact on overall vacuum quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the pressure parameter temporarily to facilitate charge breakdown. By controlling the pumping system to adjust pressure within specific ranges and then restoring it, the system achieves charge dissipation through parameter variation while maintaining the vacuum environment's overall stability.
3Device complexity
If existing technologies are used to dissipate electrical charge in vacuum, then system complexity is reduced, but charge dissipation effectiveness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates electrical charge detection that provides feedback to the controller. Based on this feedback, the controller automatically controls the pumping system to create appropriate pressure conditions for charge breakdown. This closed-loop feedback mechanism achieves effective charge dissipation without requiring complex additional discharge equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The vacuum chamber's pumping system serves dual purposes: maintaining vacuum quality and facilitating electrical charge breakdown. By utilizing the existing pumping infrastructure for both vacuum maintenance and charge dissipation, the system avoids adding complex dedicated discharge equipment while achieving effective charge management.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Effectively dissipates electrical charges stored on substrates and objects within vacuum chambers, preventing safety hazards and maintaining system functionality by controlling gaseous pressure to achieve breakdown voltages that allow for charge dissipation, thus ensuring safe operation at high vacuum levels.
Implementation Method 1
increase the pressure within the chamber to a range that facilitates the breakdown and dissipation of electrical charges
Implementation Method 2
dissipation of electrical charges stored on substrates and objects within vacuum chambers
Data Source
AI summary
A computer program product and a method for dissipation of an electrical charge stored in a region of an object. The method may include (a) sensing, by at least one sensor, an electrical charging status of the region of the object, while the object is located within a vacuum chamber and while a gaseous pressure within the vacuum chamber is below a certain vacuum pressure threshold; and (b) performing, based on the charging status of the given region, an electrical charge dissipation process that comprises increasing the gaseous pressure within the vacuum chamber to be within a given gaseous pressure range that facilitates a dissipation, by breakdown, of the electrical charge stored in the region of the object to the vacuum chamber.