JPH07167053A - High vacuum exhaust device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten a starting time by a method wherein when high vacuum exhaust pumps are respectively disposed to a plurality of vacuum treating chambers, a vacuum piping for interconnecting the exhaust pumps is provided, and the exhaust pump designed to start by utilizing exhaust operation of the exhaust pump under a starting is roughed. CONSTITUTION:When a vacuum treating chamber 1 and a high vacuum exhaust pump 9 are already started and a vacuum treating chamber 2 and a high vacuum exhaust pump 10 are started, a roughing pump 18 is started, a roughing valve 14 is opened, and the roughing valve 14 is closed when the pressure of the exhaust pump 10 attains, for example, 50 mmTorr. Shield valves 20 and 21 are then opened and by utilizing exhaust gas of the exhaust pump 9, the exhaust pump 10 is caused to effect vacuum exhaust. When the pressure of the exhaust pump 10 is decreased to a value below, for example, 0.2 mmTorr, the exhaust pump 10 is started and the shield valves 20 and 21 are closed again. A roughing valve 15 is opened to effect roughing of the vacuum treating chamber 2. When the pressure of the vacuum treating chamber 2 attains 50 mmTorr, the roughing valve 15 is closed, a main valve 7 is opened, and the vacuum treating chamber 2 is brought into a high vacuum by the exhaust pump 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a high vacuum evacuation device for evacuating a plurality of vacuum processing chambers partitioned by isolation valves.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an example of a conventional high vacuum exhaust device. Conventionally, this type of high-vacuum exhaust device is provided with an isolation valve 4, as shown in FIG.
A plurality of high-vacuum exhaust pumps 9, 10, 11 which are attached via a main valve 6, 7, 8 to each of a plurality of vacuum processing chambers 1, 2, 3 partitioned by 5, and a vacuum processing chamber 1,
Rough evacuation of a few and high vacuum pump 9,
A roughing pump 18 for reducing the back pressure of 10, 11; and roughing valves 13, 15, 17 for opening and closing a first pipe connecting the vacuum processing chambers 1, 2, 3 and the roughing pump 18,
Roughing valve 1 for opening and closing a second pipe connecting the high vacuum exhaust pumps 9, 10, 11 and the roughing pump 18.
2, 14, 16 are provided.

Next, the vacuum processing chamber 1 and the high vacuum exhaust pump 9
The operation will be described with an example of activating. All valves are closed now. First, the roughing vacuum pump 18 is started, then the roughing vacuum valve 12 is opened, and the high vacuum exhaust pump 9 is set to about 5%.
Roughly pull down to 0 mmTorr. Usually, when a cryopump is used as the high vacuum exhaust pump, it takes about 1 to 6 hours to start it, and in the case of a turbo pump, it takes about 30 minutes.

After the start-up is completed, the roughing valve 13 is opened to roughen the vacuum processing chamber 1 to about 50 mmTorr, the roughing valve 13 is closed, the main valve 6 is opened, and the vacuum processing chamber 1 is opened by the high vacuum exhaust pump 9. Evacuate to high vacuum.

In this case, when the high-vacuum exhaust pump requires an auxiliary pump (for example, a turbo pump), the roughing pump 18 is started and the roughing valve 12 is used in an open state, so that the auxiliary pump is not required. In the case of a vacuum exhaust pump (for example, a cryopump), the roughing pump 18 is stopped and the roughing valve 12 is used in a closed state.

In the above-mentioned example, the case where the vacuum evacuation is sequentially carried out is raised, but there are cases where the vacuum processing chamber and the high vacuum exhaust are simultaneously evacuated.

Further, other vacuum processing chambers and high vacuum exhaust pumps are similarly started, but they may be started simultaneously or sequentially. Furthermore, in this operation example, when all the high vacuum exhaust pumps are in the stopped state, the state of this operation example is rare, and one of the high vacuum exhaust pumps may be activated. Mostly.

[0008]

In this conventional high-vacuum exhaust device, since the roughing of the vacuum processing chamber and the high-vacuum pump is performed only by the roughing pump, the roughing pressure is 50.
It was as high as mmTorr, and it took a long time to start the vacuum processing chamber and the high vacuum exhaust pump. In particular, when a Claion pump is used as the high-vacuum exhaust pump, the vacuum adiabatic effect is small, so that there is a problem that it takes 1 to 6 hours to start.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a high vacuum evacuation device which can shorten the evacuation time of the vacuum processing chamber and the activation time of the high vacuum evacuation pump.

[0010]

A feature of the present invention is that a plurality of high vacuum exhaust pumps are attached to each of a plurality of vacuum processing chambers partitioned by an isolation valve via a main valve, and the vacuum processing chamber is roughened. A first roughing pump for pulling and reducing the back pressure of the high vacuum exhaust pump; and a first connecting the vacuum processing chamber and the roughing pump.
A high-vacuum exhaust device comprising: a first open-close valve for opening and closing the pipe; and a second open-close valve for opening and closing a second pipe connecting the high-vacuum exhaust pump and the roughing pump. A high vacuum exhaust device unit including a third pipe connecting the high vacuum exhaust pumps to each other and a third opening / closing valve that independently opens and closes the third pipe.

[0011]

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the construction of an embodiment of a high vacuum exhaust device of the present invention. This high vacuum exhaust device
As shown in FIG. 1, a third pipe that connects the high vacuum exhaust pumps 9, 10, and 11 to each other and cutoff valves 20, 21, and 22 that independently open and close these third pipes are provided. Otherwise, it is the same as the conventional example.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the high vacuum exhaust device of FIG. Next, regarding the operation of this high-vacuum exhaust device, the vacuum processing chamber 1 and the high-vacuum exhaust pump 9 have already been started, and the vacuum processing chamber 2 and the high-vacuum exhaust pump 1
An example of activating 0 will be described.

First, the roughing pump 18 is started in step A, the roughing valve 14 is opened in step B, and when the high vacuum pump 10 reaches 50 mmTorr in step C,
In step D, the roughing valve 14 is closed. Next, in steps E and F, the shutoff valves 20 and 21 are opened, and the high vacuum exhaust pump 9 is evacuated using the exhaust of the high vacuum exhaust pump 9. When the pressure of the high vacuum exhaust pump 10 becomes 0.2 mmTorr or less in step G, the high vacuum exhaust pump 10 is started in step H. Then, the shutoff valves 20 and 21 are closed again by steps I and J,
At step K, the roughing valve 15 is opened to roughly vacuum the vacuum processing chamber 2. Then, in step L, the vacuum processing chamber 2 is 50 mm
When the pressure reaches Torr, the roughing valve 15 is closed in step M, the main valve 7 is opened in step N, and the vacuum processing chamber 2 is set to a high vacuum by the high vacuum exhaust pump 10.

By using the high-vacuum exhaust pump that has already reached the start-up state for the vacuum exhaust of the high-vacuum exhaust pump that is started up to the next stage, the trajectory of the high-vacuum exhaust pump can be accelerated. In the configuration of the embodiment described here, the pressure measurement system is omitted. Also, the judgment pressure shown in the chart changes depending on the type of high vacuum exhaust pump, the capacity of the vacuum processing chamber, and the like.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, the vacuum pipes connecting the respective high vacuum exhaust pumps and the valves for connecting or disconnecting the vacuum pipes are provided, and the exhaust of the high vacuum exhaust pumps which have already been activated. By roughing the high-vacuum exhaust pump that is about to start using the action to a pressure lower than the conventional pressure, it is possible to shorten the start-up time of the vacuum processing chamber and the high-vacuum exhaust pump. For example, when a high-vacuum exhaust pump is a Claion pump, the start-up time can be shortened by 50 to 70% as compared with the prior art.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a high vacuum exhaust device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the high vacuum exhaust device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an example of a conventional high vacuum exhaust device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2, 3 Vacuum processing chamber 4, 5 Isolation valve 6, 7, 8 Main valve 9, 10, 11 High vacuum exhaust pump 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 Roughing valve 18 Roughing pump 20, 21,22 Shut-off valve

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of high-vacuum exhaust pumps mounted via a main valve to each of a plurality of vacuum processing chambers partitioned by isolation valves, and a plurality of high-vacuum exhaust pumps for roughing the vacuum processing chambers. A roughing pump that reduces back pressure, a first opening / closing valve that opens and closes a first pipe that connects the vacuum processing chamber and the roughing pump, the high vacuum exhaust pump, and the roughing pump are connected. A high vacuum exhaust device comprising a second opening / closing valve for opening / closing the second pipe, and a third pipe for connecting the high vacuum exhaust pumps to each other, and a third pipe for independently opening / closing the third pipe. A high-vacuum exhaust device, comprising: