JP2001227657A - Process gas supply unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a compact and lightweight gas supply unit. SOLUTION: This process gas supply unit 1 constituted by mounting a check valve 3, a purge valve 4, regulator 5 with a cut-off function, a mass flow controller 6 and a gas supply valve 7 on one base block 2 formed with a passage.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a process gas supply unit for supplying a process gas used in a semiconductor manufacturing process, and more particularly to a lightweight and compact process gas supply unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a wafer processing step of semiconductor manufacturing, a process gas is used for etching of photoresist processing (photoresist coating, exposure, development, etching) and the like. In order to supply a specific process gas from several types to a chamber. Is configured. The gas supply circuit
A gas supply line is configured according to the type of the process gas, and each process gas is sent to the chamber via a fluid control device such as a mass flow controller. Also,
Since the process gas is corrosive and toxic, the process gas is replaced by using a purge gas such as nitrogen gas, and the gas supply line is used in addition to the process gas supply line to perform the gas exhaust process. The purge gas supply line and the vent line are combined.

Therefore, the gas supply line requires a plurality of valves for controlling the flow or exhaust of the process gas or the purge gas, a mass flow controller for adjusting the flow rate, and the like. In recent years, these fluid devices have been unitized from the viewpoint of making the installation area compact and shortening the flow path length. Here, FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional side view showing an example of a conventional process gas supply unit. The process gas supply unit (hereinafter simply referred to as “gas supply unit”) 100 includes a regulator 101, a pressure transducer 102,
Filter 103, shutoff valve 104, purge valve 201, check valve 202, mass flow controller 105, exhaust valve 30
1, check valve 302, shut-off valve 303, and gas supply valve 1
06 are arranged and combined.

The modules such as the regulator 101 constituting the gas supply unit 100 are connected by a plurality of mount bases 400 a to 400 bj (hereinafter collectively referred to as “mount base 400”) and formed on the mount base 400. A series of gas supply lines are formed via the flow path. The plurality of mount bases 400 are fixed on a base plate 410 to form an integrated gas supply unit 100. In the entire unit, the regulator 101, the pressure transducer 102, the filter 103, the shutoff valve 104, the mass flow controller 105, and the gas supply valve 106 constitute a process gas line for supplying a process gas, and the input port 501 side supplies the process gas. The source and the output port 502 side are plumbed to the chamber.

Also, a purge valve 201 and a check valve 202
Constitutes a purge gas supply line, and the mount base 4
A 00e purge port is plumbed to the nitrogen gas supply. Further, the exhaust valve 301, the check valve 302, and the shutoff valve 3
Reference numeral 03 denotes a vent line for exhausting the process gas, and exhaust ports of the mount bases 400h and 400i are connected to the exhaust gas treatment device. In the gas supply unit 100, several units are arranged according to the type of the process gas, and each unit is piped to form one gas supply circuit.

Therefore, the flow of gas in one gas supply unit 100 constituting a gas supply circuit will be examined.
The process gas entered from the input port 501 is regulated by the regulator 101 under monitoring of the gas pressure by the pressure transducer 102 and sent to the secondary side. Then, impurities mixed in the process gas are removed by the filter 103, flow to the mass flow controller 105 through the shutoff valve 104, and are reduced to a predetermined flow rate.
The process gas adjusted to the set pressure and the set flow rate is further sent to the chamber from the output port 502 through the gas supply valve 106.

[0007] In the case of the purging process, a cycle vent is performed in which a vacuum vent for evacuating a gas in a flow path and an atmospheric vent for pressurizing and sealing a purge gas in a flow path opened to the atmosphere are repeated. . At the time of cycle purging, the shutoff valve 104 and the gas supply valve 106 are closed, and the process gas in the flow path therebetween is purged.
Therefore, at the time of vacuum venting, vacuum evacuation is performed from the exhaust port of the mount base 400h, and the gas in the flow path is evacuated. On the other hand, at the time of venting to atmosphere, a purge gas such as nitrogen gas is pressurized and sealed from the purge port of the mount base 400e, and is simultaneously exhausted from the exhaust port of the mount base 400i that is opened to the atmosphere. All the exhausted gases are sent to an exhaust treatment device, where they are treated.

[0008]

However, in the case of such a conventional gas supply unit 100, since the number of modules to be mounted, such as the regulator 101, is large, the weight of the gas supply unit 100 itself is heavy, and the length in which the modules are arranged is long. The dimension in the vertical direction was also large. By the way, if the piping to the chamber becomes long, the gas supply unit 100 will circulate the process gas whose characteristics are liable to change over a long distance. In particular, since a port is exposed on the back side of the furnace body of the chamber, it is considered to be the most suitable place as the installation point. However, in the conventional heavy and large gas supply unit 100, it is difficult to arrange the gas supply unit 100 in the vicinity of the chamber where the installation space is limited, as well as the back of the furnace body of the chamber. In addition, since the weight of the unit itself is heavy, when several units are combined, the weight of the entire gas supply circuit becomes considerable, and handling by an operator is very inconvenient.

In addition, the conventional gas supply unit 100 includes:
Since the number of modules is large, the number of sealing points for air-tightly connecting these modules is increased, and the reliability of the sealing is reduced. Further, in the purge process, the shutoff valve 1
Since the gas in the flow path in the gas supply valve 106 was exhausted from 04, the volume for exhausting was increased by the length of the flow path, and it took time to purge. Therefore, the conventional gas supply unit 100 is intended to eliminate an extra pipe, to reduce the installation area and to shorten the flow path length, but many problems to be solved as described above still remain. Was something.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a compact and lightweight gas supply unit in order to further pursue the original function of the gas supply unit and solve the above-mentioned problems.

[0011]

A process gas supply unit according to the present invention comprises a check valve, a purge valve, a regulator with a shut-off function, a mass flow controller, and a gas supply valve.
It is characterized in that it is mounted on one base block in which a flow path is formed. Therefore, according to the present invention, the number of modules such as the check valve is small, and by mounting them on one base block, the process gas supply unit can be made compact and lightweight.

Further, the process gas supply unit of the present invention comprises a module mounted on one base block,
A check valve, a purge valve, a regulator with a shut-off function, a mass flow controller, and a gas supply valve, which are arranged in a line in that order, wherein the base block communicates the input port with the regulator with the shut-off function. A flow path, an output flow path communicating the gas supply valve with the output port,
The check valve, the purge valve, the regulator with the shut-off function, the mass flow controller, and the V-shaped flow path that connects the adjacent ones of the gas supply valves are formed. Therefore, according to the present invention, the number of modules such as the check valve is small, and by mounting them on one base block, the process gas supply unit can be made compact and lightweight. Further, since the regulator with the shut-off function is disposed on the secondary side of the purge valve, the purge gas flows through the regulator with the shut-off function that shuts off the flow of the purge gas.

Further, the process gas supply unit of the present invention is characterized in that an in-line filter is inserted in the input port. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to mount the filter as a module on the base block, and the process gas supply unit can be made compact and lightweight accordingly.

In the process gas supply unit according to the present invention, the regulator with the shut-off function includes a pressure regulating chamber below the diaphragm where the input port and the output port communicate, and a pressurizing chamber above the diaphragm where the pilot pressure acts. A valve body at the lower end of the valve rod, which extends downward from the diaphragm and is inserted into the input port side flow path, is lifted upward by an urging member for urging the operating rod extending upward from the diaphragm. The valve body lifted by the urging force of the urging member abuts on a valve seat provided in the input port side flow path to shut off the flow of the process gas. Therefore, according to the present invention, when the valve element is brought into contact with the valve seat, the regulator has a shut-off function by using an urging member that exerts an urging force enough to function as a shut-off valve. Can be
The reduction in the number of modules has made the process gas supply unit compact and lightweight.

Further, in the process gas supply unit according to the present invention, the regulator with the shut-off function includes a purge port communicating with the pressure regulating chamber, and the purge port communicates with a secondary side of the purge valve. And Therefore,
According to the present invention, the regulator with the shut-off function can be arranged on the secondary side of the purge valve, and the purge gas can flow through the inside of the regulator with the shut-off function that shuts off the flow of the purge gas. It becomes possible to purge the process gas on the side with little stagnation.

Further, the process gas supply unit according to the present invention is characterized in that the process gas supply unit has a dedicated controller for controlling the driving of the regulator with the shut-off function and the mass flow controller to adjust the pressure and the flow rate according to the set values. I do. Therefore, according to the present invention, delicate control can be performed for each process gas supply unit. For example, according to a predetermined pressure and flow rate set value received from the main controller, the process gas is set to an optimum pressure and flow rate state. It became possible to supply.

Further, in the process gas supply unit of the present invention, the controller is connected to an electropneumatic regulator for adjusting a pilot pressure of air sent to the regulator with a shut-off function, and a pressure sensor for measuring the pilot pressure. The electropneumatic regulator is controlled based on a measured pressure signal from the sensor. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to mount the pressure gauge as a module on the base block, and the process gas supply unit can be made compact and lightweight accordingly.

[0018]

Next, an embodiment of a process gas supply unit according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view of a partial cross section showing one embodiment of a process gas supply unit. A process gas supply unit (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “gas supply unit”) 1 of the present embodiment described below is reduced in size and weight in response to the above-described problem of the related art, and the unit is one product. In this case, the control function is improved to increase the value in the case where it is regarded as.

First, the gas supply unit 1 dramatically reduces the number of modules, such as regulators, as compared with the conventional gas supply unit (see FIG. 3), and uses a flow path connecting component such as a mount base 400 for each block. It is configured as a so-called mono-stick type in which one base block 2 is used for the connection flow path without being used. On the base block 2, a check valve 3, a purge valve 4, a regulator with a shutoff function (hereinafter simply referred to as a “regulator”) 5, a mass flow controller 6, and a gas supply valve 7 are arranged in this order from the left of the drawing. Modules that make up the unit are mounted.

In order to make the gas supply unit 1 aimed at miniaturization and weight reduction as a basic concept of a monostick, it was first considered to limit the modules constituting the unit to the minimum necessary. . Here, when the gas supply unit (100, 1) of the conventional example (see FIG. 3) and the present embodiment is compared in module units, the gas supply unit 1 of the present embodiment has the gas supply unit 100 of the conventional example. Pressure transducer 10
2. The filter 103, the shutoff valve 104, the exhaust valve 301, the check valve 302, and the shutoff valve 303 are removed. We removed these for the following reasons:

First, since the pressure transducer 102 employs a regulator 5 having a shut-off function (details will be described later), it can be replaced with a pressure sensor 32 (see FIG. 2) for detecting a pilot pressure for operating the regulator 5. Therefore, it was excluded from the modules constituting the unit.
The filter 103 was replaced with an in-line filter 8 inserted in the input port 11 of the base block 2 as shown in FIG. The shut-off valve 104 does not require the shut-off valve itself because the regulator 5 has a shut-off function. Further, the exhaust valve 301, the check valve 302, and the shutoff valve 30
Reference numeral 3 designates a vent line, but since the chamber is originally cleaned in the wafer processing step, the batch processing with the gas in the chamber can be performed without exhausting the gas to the processing apparatus separately. The vent line itself was eliminated because it was possible.

As described above, the realization of a monolithic gas supply unit aimed at miniaturization and weight reduction has been achieved by selecting and developing necessary modules. Therefore, a specific configuration of the gas supply unit 1 will be described below. The base block 2 is formed by turning a prism-shaped block body sideways, and has a screw hole (not shown) formed in a mounting surface 2 a for fixing a module such as the regulator 5. It was formed.

The base block 2 has an input port 11 projecting from the process gas supply source on one end face in the longitudinal direction, and an output port 12 projecting from the chamber side on the other end face. In the base block 2, an input flow path 13 communicating with the input port 11 is formed linearly right below the regulator 5, where it is bent at a right angle and extends to the mounting surface 2a. The base block 2 has a check valve 3, a purge valve 4, a regulator 5, a mass flow controller 6, and a gas supply valve 7 disposed thereon.
, V-shaped flow paths 14, 15, which allow adjacent ones to communicate with each other
16 and 17 are formed, and an L-shaped output flow path 18 that connects the gas supply valve 7 to the output port 12 is formed.

On the other hand, the modules constituting the gas supply unit 1 are the check valve 3, the purge valve 4, the regulator 5 having a shutoff function, the mass flow controller 6, and the gas supply valve 7, as described above. The regulator 5 connected to the input port 11 has a shutoff function shown in FIG. 2, and is configured to perform gas pressure adjustment by pilot pressure and shut off by a spring (details will be described later). . The regulator 5 communicates with a mass flow controller 6 for adjusting a flow rate through a V-shaped flow path 16.
Is connected to the gas supply valve 7 via a V-shaped flow path 17. The gas supply valve 7 is an on-off valve using a cylinder as an actuator.

The regulator 5 is connected to the check valve 3 and the purge valve 4 for sending the purge gas, and in particular, communicates with the secondary side of the purge valve 4 via the V-shaped flow path 15. The check valve 3 and the purge valve 4 communicate with each other via a V-shaped flow path 14. The purge valve 4 is an on-off valve using a cylinder as an actuator. The gas supply unit 1 according to the present embodiment includes a dedicated controller 20 for each unit, and performs appropriate pressure adjustment control and flow rate adjustment control based on a set value input from a main controller that controls the entire semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. Is performed. The controller 20 is connected to the regulator control 21 (which indicates the electropneumatic regulator 31 and the pressure sensor 32 shown in FIG. 2) for operating the regulator 5 and the mass flow controller 6.

Here, the regulator 5 will be described with reference to FIG. In the regulator 5, an input port 43, an output port 44, and a purge port 45 communicate with a lower pressure regulation chamber 42 partitioned by a diaphragm 41. A valve seat body 46 is fitted into the flow passage in which the input port 44 is formed, and a shutoff valve that opens and closes the flow passage with the valve seat body 46 and the valve body 47 at the lower end of the valve rod integrated with the diaphragm 41 is provided. It is configured. Further, an operation rod 48 with a flange projecting upward is integrally formed with the diaphragm 41, and the operation rod 48 is raised upward by a spring 49 having sufficient strength so that the valve body 47 exerts a shutoff function. Being energized. Then, so as to wrap the operation rod 48,
A cover 50 having a pilot port 50 a is covered, and a pressure chamber 51 is formed on the diaphragm 41.

The regulator 5 is connected to a pilot electropneumatic regulator 31 for feeding air into the pressurizing chamber 51 to the pilot port 50a, and a pressure sensor 32 is provided on the air pipe 33. I have. The controller 20 dedicated to the gas supply unit 1 shown in FIG. 1 is connected to the electropneumatic regulator 31 and the pressure sensor 32.

Therefore, the gas supply unit 1 of the present embodiment
Then, the supply of the process gas is performed as follows.
The process gas sent to the gas supply unit 1 has impurities removed by the in-line filter 8 of the input port 11 and flows to the regulator 5 through the input flow path 13. When the pilot pressure is not applied to the diaphragm 41, the valve body 47 of the regulator 5 is pulled upward by the urging force of the spring 49, and is in contact with the valve seat body 46 to shut off the flow path. On the other hand, when the diaphragm 41 is pressurized from above by the air supplied into the pressurizing chamber 51 and bends downward against the urging force of the spring 49,
As a result, the valve body 47 is separated from the valve seat body 46 and the blocked flow path communicates.

Therefore, the input port 43 of the regulator 5
The process gas that has flowed through the pressure regulating chamber 42 flows from the output port 44 to the mass flow controller 6. At this time, the process gas is adjusted to a predetermined pressure by the regulator 5. On the other hand, the process gas flowing in the direction of the purge port 45 is stopped by the purge valve 4 and the check valve 3 which are closed, and does not flow any more in the same direction. Next, the flow rate of the process gas flowing to the mass flow controller 6 is adjusted, and flows from the output port 12 to the chamber through the opened gas supply valve 7.

The pressure of the process gas flowing through the gas supply unit 1 is adjusted by the regulator 5 and the flow rate of the process gas is adjusted by the mass flow controller 6, and the process gas is supplied to the chamber in a stable state. The pressure and flow rate adjustment control is performed by the controller 20 dedicated to the gas supply unit 1. The controller 20 receives pressure and flow rate set values from the main controller, and controls the regulator 5 and the mass flow controller 6 of the gas supply unit 1 based on the set values.

Therefore, when controlling the regulator 5, a pressure setting signal based on a predetermined pressure setting value is input from the controller 20 to the electropneumatic regulator 31, while being supplied to the regulator 5 by the electropneumatic regulator 31. The pilot pressure of the air is measured by the pressure sensor 32, and the measured pressure signal is sent back to the controller 20. In the regulator 5, the diaphragm 41 bends downward due to the pilot pressure on the pressurizing chamber 51 side, the valve body 47 descends, and the cutoff of the flow path is released. As a result, the process gas flowing from the input port 43 flows through the pressure regulating chamber 42 to the output port 44 to the secondary side. At this time, the process gas flowing from the input port 43 to the pressure regulating chamber 42 operates on the diaphragm at a pressure corresponding to the pilot pressure in the pressurizing chamber 50, and the cross section of the flow path by the valve body 46 is moved to the secondary side. The pressure and the pilot pressure are adjusted so as to be balanced.

Accordingly, since the gas pressure of the process gas flowing to the secondary side can be converted from the pilot pressure measured by the pressure sensor 32, the controller 20 operates the electropneumatic regulator 3 in accordance with the measured pressure signal from the pressure sensor 32.
By controlling 1, the regulator 5 is controlled so that the pressure of the process gas becomes a set value. Also,
When controlling the mass flow controller 6, the controller 20 receives a measured flow rate signal of the process gas from the mass flow controller 6, and drives a control valve built in the mass flow controller 6 in accordance with the flow rate value to adjust the flow rate.

Next, at the stage of purging after the supply of the process gas, the pilot pressure of the diaphragm 41 of the regulator 5 is released, and the valve body 46 pulled up by the spring 48 comes into contact with the valve seat body 45 to adjust the pressure. The connection between the pressure chamber 42 and the input port 43 is shut off. Then, the purge gas supplied from the check valve 3 side flows to the regulator 5 through the opened purge valve 4. The purge gas is supplied to the purge port 4 of the regulator 5 (see FIG. 2).
5 flows through the pressure regulation chamber 42 to the output port 44, and then passes through the mass flow controller 6 and the gas supply valve 7 and is discharged into the chamber.

Therefore, the process gas filled in the secondary side flow path of the regulator 5 is discharged into the chamber by purging with such a purge gas or vacuum evacuation as the chamber is cleaned, and is purged. In the present embodiment, the method of purging the process gas, which has been conventionally sent to the exhaust processing apparatus on a separate line, together with the cleaning process in the chamber, is adopted.

Therefore, according to the gas integrated unit 1 of the present embodiment, since it is a monostick type in which the minimum required modules (such as the regulator 5) are mounted on one base block 2, it is extremely lightweight and compact. It became something. Therefore, it is possible to dispose it near the chamber whose installation area is limited, and in particular, it is possible to attach the chamber to the back of the furnace body. This has a great effect of improving workability, which is not only compact but also lightweight so that an operator can easily remove it. Further, since the process gas can be disposed in the vicinity of the chamber, the process gas can be routed within the pipe shortly, and the process gas can be stably supplied to the chamber. The fact that the chamber can be attached to the backside of the furnace body makes it possible to minimize the piping, especially since the port is provided on the backside, and the effect is great.

In addition, the number of modules (such as the regulator 5) has been significantly reduced, and the number of seal locations has been significantly reduced, thereby increasing the reliability against gas leakage. Further, according to the gas supply unit 1 of the present embodiment, the flow path in front of the mass flow controller 6 is shortened, the volume is extremely reduced, and the purge time can be shortened. This is because the gas to be evacuated is throttled by the mass flow controller 6, and the effect of the decrease in the primary volume of the mass flow controller 6 is significant. In addition, in the case of this gas supply unit 1, since the process gas to be processed is also exhausted to the chamber,
The fact that the gas supply unit 1 can be arranged near the chamber also contributes to shortening of the purge time.

Further, in the gas supply unit 1, the pressure gauge and the shut-off valve can be omitted from the two modules by the regulator 5 with the shut-off function, which greatly contributes to downsizing. In addition, since the purge port 45 is formed in the regulator 5, the regulator 5 can be disposed on the secondary side of the purge valve 4. Therefore, the purge gas passes through the regulator 5 and the purge gas is hardly retained. You can now let.

Further, in the gas supply unit 1 of the present embodiment, since the dedicated controller 20 is provided, it is possible to supply the process gas in an optimum state according to the predetermined pressure and flow rate set values. Conventionally, such pressure and flow control has been
This was performed by the main controller of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus main body. That is, the main controller is in a state of collectively managing many gas supply units constituting the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. However, when a plurality of identical gas supply units 1 are manufactured, each unit has individuality due to tolerance. That is, even if the respective gas supply units 1 are controlled in the same manner, a slight change in pressure or change in flow rate may occur due to a tolerance of the valve unit or the like. In the present embodiment, the dedicated controller 20 controls each of the gas supply units 1.
By performing delicate control according to the individuality of each unit, a stable supply of process gas according to the set pressure and the set flow rate can be guaranteed for each unit. In addition, if the control data at the time of supply of the process gas is stored in the controller 20, if a problem occurs, the problem can be verified based on the data.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0040]

According to the present invention, a check valve, a purge valve, a regulator with a shut-off function, a mass flow controller, and a gas supply valve are mounted on a single base block having a flow path. It has become possible to provide a compact and lightweight gas supply unit.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional side view showing an embodiment of a process gas supply unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a regulator 5 with a shut-off valve.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional side view showing an example of a conventional process gas supply unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Process gas supply unit 2 Base block 3 Check valve 4 Purge valve 5 Regulator with shut-off function 6 Mass flow controller 7 Gas supply valve 8 In-line filter 20 Controller 31 Electropneumatic regulator 32 Pressure sensor

Continuing from the front page (72) Shinichi Nitta, Inventor, 3-6-3, Uchikanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo CKK2 Inc. CKD2 Building (72) Inventor Yuji Matsuoka 850, Horinouchi-cho, Kasugai-shi, Aichi Prefecture Kasugai Works Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Minoru Ito 3-6-3 Uchikanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo KK F-term in CK2 Second Building (reference) 3H051 BB02 CC01 FF01 3H067 AA33 BB08 CC32 CC33 EC23 FF29 GG05 GG28

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A check valve, a purge valve, a regulator with a shut-off function, a mass flow controller, and a gas supply valve,
A process gas supply unit mounted on one base block having a flow path. 2. Modules mounted on one base block are a check valve, a purge valve, a regulator with a shut-off function, a mass flow controller, and a gas supply valve, and are arranged in a line in that order. A block, an input flow path communicating the input port with the regulator with the shut-off function, an output flow path communicating the gas supply valve with the output port, the check valve, the purge valve, the regulator with the shut-off function, a mass flow controller, And a V-shaped flow path which connects adjacent ones of the gas supply valves with each other. 3. The process gas supply unit according to claim 1, wherein an in-line filter is inserted in the input port. 4. The process gas supply unit according to claim 1, wherein the regulator with a shut-off function includes a pressure regulating chamber below a diaphragm communicating with an input port and an output port; A pressurizing chamber above the working diaphragm,
The valve body at the lower end of the valve rod, which extends downward from the diaphragm and is inserted into the input port side flow path, is lifted upward by an urging member for urging the operation rod extending upward from the diaphragm, and A process gas supply unit, wherein a valve body lifted by an urging force of an urging member abuts a valve seat provided in an input port side flow path to shut off a flow of a process gas. 5. The process gas supply unit according to claim 4, wherein the regulator with a shut-off function includes a purge port communicating with the pressure regulating chamber, and the purge port communicates with a secondary side of the purge valve. A process gas supply unit, characterized in that: 6. The process gas supply unit according to claim 1, wherein the regulator with a shut-off function and the mass flow controller are drive-controlled to perform pressure adjustment and flow rate adjustment according to set values. A process gas supply unit having a dedicated controller for performing the process. 7. The process gas supply unit according to claim 6, wherein the controller is connected to an electropneumatic regulator that adjusts a pilot pressure of air sent to the regulator with the shutoff function, and a pressure sensor that measures the pilot pressure. And
A process gas supply unit for controlling an electropneumatic regulator based on a measured pressure signal from a pressure sensor.