Abstract
It is difficult to generate and maintain the vacuum level in vacuum MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) devices. Currently, there is still no single method or device capable of generating and maintaining the desired vacuum level in a vacuum device for a long time. This paper proposed a new wide-pressure-range miniature ion source, which can be applied to a vacuum micropump. The miniature ion source consists only of silicon electrodes and a glass substrate. Its operating pressure range covers seven orders of magnitude, starting from atmospheric pressure, a promising solution to the difficulty. Based on the principle of gas discharge, the ion source features a simple two-electrode structure with a two-stage electrode spacing, operating under DC voltage excitation. The first-stage electrode spacing of the ion source is small enough to ensure that it starts working at atmospheric pressure down to a certain reduced pressure when it automatically switches to discharge at the larger second-stage electrode spacing and operates from that pressure down to a high vacuum. Two configurations of the ion source have been tested: without-magnet, operating from atmospheric pressure down to 1 mbar; and with-magnet, operating from atmospheric pressure to 10−4 mbar, which covers seven orders of magnitude of pressure. The ion source can be applied not only to a MEMS ion pump to meet demands of a variety of vacuum MEMS devices, but can also be applied to other devices, such as vacuum microgauges and mass spectrometers.
Highlights
Since their reliability and performance are greatly influenced by the ambient pressure and components, MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) vacuum devices need to work under a certain vacuum level
This paper proposes a two-electrode structural MEMS ion source based on gas discharge, which can operate over a wide pressure range from atmospheric pressure to high vacuum
The miniature ion source structures were placed in a reference vacuum chamber with a precisely controlled pressure for testing
Summary
Since their reliability and performance are greatly influenced by the ambient pressure and components, MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) vacuum devices need to work under a certain vacuum level. T. Grzebyk et al presented a high-vacuum MEMS ion-sorption pump [32] which needs to start at a pressure lower than 2 mbar. The only way to pump gas from atmospheric pressure to a high vacuum is to connect two different ion micropumps in series [35] This method needs a very complicated fabrication process and is cumbersome in operation and requires manual switching between the two pumps during pressure reduction. It is worth noting that the main reason why ion micropumps are difficult to operate from atmospheric pressure to a high vacuum is that it is difficult to ionize gas particles over such a wide pressure range when using an ion source of the same structure. This paper proposes a two-electrode structural MEMS ion source based on gas discharge, which can operate over a wide pressure range from atmospheric pressure to high vacuum. The step is to take the ion source as the crucial component of the ion micropump, which allows the micropump to operate from atmospheric pressure to a high vacuum, to satisfy the demands of various MEMS vacuum devices
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