Degassing a vacuum system with in-situ UV radiation

Abstract

Photon-stimulated desorption (PSD) from a high-powered ultraviolet source was investigated as a technique to degas a vacuum system. A stainless steel vacuum system was pumped down from atmosphere with different time doses of 185 nm light, and the resulting outgassing rates were compared to that of a control pumpdown without UV assistance. PSD was found to provide a factor of 2 advantage in pumpdown pressure after only 30 min of UV exposure, with no additional advantage observed for longer irradiation times. Specifically, an outgassing rate of 3 × 10−10 Torr L s−1 cm−2 was reached 3 h sooner in pumpdowns with UV assistance compared to those without UV, while a rate of 1.2 × 10−10 Torr L s−1 cm−2 was reached 16 h sooner in UV runs. The authors calculated that about 22 monolayers of water were desorbed after 30 min of UV exposure. The results indicate that PSD by a 40 W 185 nm UV source can serve as a nonthermal technique to significantly speed the pumpdown of a vacuum system from atmosphere after only 30 min.