Patent Application
20250075691
The present disclosure relates to a method for regenerating a cryopump.
Cryogenic cooling is widely used in industrial fields such as semiconductor manufacturing and testing. Herein, cryogenic temperatures refer to temperatures below −200° C. A cooling process to achieve cryogenic temperatures is performed typically using a compressor, a condenser, an expander, and an evaporator in which a refrigerant evaporates to create a cryogenic environment.
In relation to technology for creating a cryogenic environment, Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2020-0079062 discloses an ultra-cold cooler.
To create a cryogenic environment, GM (Gifford-McMahon) coolers, which are coolers for high-vacuum cryopumps, are mainly used.
A cryopump is a capture pump, and since it is difficult to pump beyond a certain capacity, a regeneration process must be periodically executed after use in a cooling process. The regeneration process refers to a process that restores the pumping capability of the cryopump by desorbing and evaporating water and gases that have been adsorbed, condensed, or solidified on a cryopanel of the cryopump. In general, the regeneration process consists of a warm-up process, a purge process, a roughing process, and a cool-down process, and the periodic execution of the regeneration process leads to a reduction in productivity. Accordingly, there is a demand for an efficient method to perform the regeneration process.
The present disclosure is conceived to provide a method for regenerating a cryopump, including increasing temperatures of a first stage part and a second stage part by supplying a purge gas into a cryopump vessel during an operation of a cooler, evacuating a gas captured inside the cryopump vessel until the cryopump vessel has a predetermined pressure, and lowering the temperatures of the first stage part and the second stage part to their operating temperatures, respectively.
The problems to be solved by the present disclosure are not limited to the above-described problems. There may be other problems to be solved by the present disclosure.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a method for regenerating a cryopump that includes a cooler equipped with a first stage part and a second stage part which is cooled to a lower temperature than the first stage part; a cryopanel equipped with a first panel including a heat-shield body and a baffle which is cooled by the first stage part and a second panel which is cooled by the second stage part; a cryopump vessel configured to surround the cryopanel; a first heater provided in the first stage part; and a second heater provided in the second stage part, includes a temperature increasing process of increasing temperatures of the first stage part and the second stage part by supplying a purge gas into the cryopump vessel during an operation of the cooler, a roughing process of evacuating gases captured in the cryopump vessel until the cryopump vessel has a predetermined pressure and a cool-down process of lowering the temperatures of the first stage part and the second stage part to their operating temperatures, respectively.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the temperature increasing process includes increasing the temperature of the second stage part to be higher than that of the first stage part.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the temperature increasing process includes increasing the temperature of the first stage part to between 120K and 160K by using the first heater and increasing the temperature of the second stage part to between 130K and 170K by using the second heater.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the roughing process includes turning off the first heater when the temperature of the first stage part reaches a predetermined first temperature and evacuating the gases captured in the cryopump vessel when the first heater is turned off.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the roughing process includes evacuating water captured by the first stage part and evacuating at least one of hydrogen, helium, neon, argon, nitrogen, and oxygen captured by the second stage part.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the predetermined pressure is in the range of from 5 Torr to 15.2 Torr.
According to any one of the above-described means for solving the problems of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a method for regenerating a cryopump, including increasing temperatures of a first stage part and a second stage part differently from each other by supplying a purge gas into a cryopump vessel during an operation of a cooler, and activating a gas captured inside the cryopump vessel.
Also, it is possible to provide a method for regenerating a cryopump, including evacuating at least one of oxygen, helium, and neon captured by a first stage part and evacuating at least one of argon, nitrogen, and oxygen captured by a second stage part by evacuating a gas captured inside a cryopump vessel until the cryopump vessel has a predetermined pressure.
Further, it is possible to provide a method for regenerating a cryopump, including performing a cooling process after a regeneration process is completed by lowering temperatures of a first stage part and a second stage part to their operating temperatures, respectively.
Furthermore, it is possible to provide a method for regenerating a cryopump by applying either a full regeneration method or a quick regeneration method during a regeneration process.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that the present disclosure may be readily implemented by a person with ordinary skill in the art. However, it is to be noted that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments but can be embodied in various other ways. In drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted for the simplicity of explanation, and like reference numerals denote like parts through the whole document.
Further, through the whole document, the term “connected to” or “coupled to” that is used to designate a connection or coupling of one element to another element includes both a case that an element is “directly connected or coupled to” another element and a case that an element is “electronically connected or coupled to” another element via still another element. Furthermore, the term “comprises or includes” and/or “comprising or including” used in the document means that one or more other components, steps, operation and/or existence or addition of elements are not excluded in addition to the described components, steps, operation and/or elements unless context dictates otherwise.
Through the whole document, the term “unit” includes a unit implemented by hardware, a unit implemented by software, and a unit implemented by both of them. One unit may be implemented by two or more pieces of hardware, and two or more units may be implemented by one piece of hardware.
Through the whole document, a part of an operation or function described as being carried out by a terminal or device may be carried out by a server connected to the terminal or device. Likewise, a part of an operation or function described as being carried out by a server may be carried out by a terminal or device connected to the server.
Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be explained in detail with reference to the accompanying configuration views or process flowcharts.
The cooler 110 may be equipped with the first stage part 111 and the second stage part 112 which is cooled to a lower temperature than the first stage part 111. Herein, the first stage part 111 and the second stage part 112 may create a cryogenic environment by using a cooling principle that allows a displacer to reciprocate within a cylinder and expand a helium (He) gas inside the cylinder.
The cryopump vessel 120 may surround a cryopanel. Herein, the cryopanel may include a first panel including the heat-shield body 121 and the baffle 123, and the second panel 122. The heat-shield body 121 and the baffle 123 may be cooled by the first stage part 111, and the second panel 122 may be cooled by the second stage part 112.
The cryopanel may capture a gas inside the cryopump vessel 120. For example, the heat-shield body 121 and the baffle 123 may capture water through the first stage part 111, and the second panel 122 may capture argon, nitrogen, and oxygen through the second stage part 11 and may capture hydrogen, helium, and neon from activated carbon of the second stage part 112.
The first heater 130 may be provided in the first stage part 111 and may increase a temperature of the first stage part 111.
The second heater 131 may be provided in the second stage part 112 and may increase a temperature of the second stage part 112.
According to an embodiment, the cryopump 100 may perform quick regeneration. Herein, the term “quick regeneration” refers to a method in which regeneration is quickly performed by increasing a temperature of a second array corresponding to the second panel 122 inside the cryopump 100, in a cryogenic state, to between 150K and 200K.
Hereafter, a method for performing quick regeneration by the cryopump 100 will be described.
In a process S210, the cryopump 100 may increase temperatures of the first stage part 111 and the second stage part 112 by supplying a purge gas into the cryopump vessel 120 during an operation of the cooler 110. For example, during a temperature increasing process of increasing the temperatures of the first stage part 111 and the second stage part 112, the cryopump 100 may perform a purge process to inject an inert gas into a vessel or tank that contains a flammable vapor or gas and suppress maintenance of a flammable atmosphere.
Herein, the cryopump 100 may increase the temperature of the second stage part 112 to be higher than that of the first stage part 111. For example, the cryopump 100 may use the first heater 130 to increase the temperature of the first stage part 111 to between 120K and 160K, and use the second heater 131 to increase the temperature of the second stage part 112 to between 130K and 170K.
Accordingly, when the cryopump 100 performs quick regeneration, the temperatures of the first stage part 111 and the second stage part 112 may be increased to activate the gases captured in the first stage part 111 and the second stage part 112, respectively. In this regard, the gases captured in the first stage part 111 and the second stage part 112, respectively, will be briefly described with reference to
For example, the cryopump 100 may capture water 340 through the heat-shield body 121, which is cooled by the first stage part 111 at temperatures ranging from 40K to 100K.
In another example, the cryopump 100 may capture a first gas 320, such as hydrogen, helium, and neon, and a second gas 330, such as argon, nitrogen, and oxygen, through the second array corresponding to the second panel, which is cooled by the second stage part 112 at temperatures ranging from 10K and 20K.
In yet another example, the cryopump 100 may capture a liquid, such as water 340, through the baffle 123 at temperatures ranging from 100K to 200K.
When the cryopump 100 performs the regeneration process by means of quick regeneration, the temperature field may be determined based on a temperature coefficient for activation of a specific gas to activate the specific gas. To this end, the cryopump 100 may increase the temperatures of the first stage part 111 and the second stage part 112 and increase the temperature of the second stage part 112 to be higher than that of the first stage part 111. Herein, the temperature field may be determined based on a temperature coefficient in which a gas captured in each of the heat-shield body 121, the second panel 122, and the baffle 123 can be activated and then evacuated.
Referring back to
The cryopump 100 may turn off the first heater 130 when the temperature of the first stage part 111 reaches a predetermined first temperature T1, and may evacuate the gases captured in the cryopump vessel 120 when the first heater 130 is turned off.
Herein, the reason for turning off the first heater 130 is as follows: the temperature of the first stage part 111 is increased to reach the predetermined first temperature T1 through a temperature increasing process during an operation of the cooler 110, and the first heater 130 and the second heater 131 are used simultaneously until the temperature of the second stage part 112 reaches a predetermined second temperature T2, and in this case, there is a difference between the time it takes for the first stage part 111 to reach the predetermined first temperature T1 and the time it takes for the second stage part 112 to reach the predetermined second temperature T2, which is closer to room temperature than the predetermined first temperature T1, and, thus, the predetermined second temperature T2 is maintained, but when the temperature of the first stage part 111 reaches the predetermined first temperature T1, the first heater 130 is turned off and a roughing process is performed.
Then, the cryopump 100 may turn off the second heater 131 when the cryopump vessel 120 has the predetermined pressure. Herein, the predetermined pressure may be in the range of from 5 Torr to 15.2 Torr. A process of evacuating the gases captured in the cryopump vessel 120 will be described in detail with reference to
Referring to
Also, the cryopump 100 may evacuate the water 430 captured by the baffle 123.
Referring back to
According to another embodiment, the cryopump 100 may perform full regeneration. Herein, the term “full regeneration” refers to a method in which regeneration is performed by increasing temperatures of the first panel 121 and 123 and the second panel 122 inside the cryopump 100, in a cryogenic state, to room temperature or more and then performing a purge process for a certain period of time.
Hereafter, a method for performing full regeneration by the cryopump 100 will be described.
In the process S210, the cryopump 100 may increase temperatures of the first stage part 111 and the second stage part 112 by supplying a purge gas into the cryopump vessel 120 during an operation of the cooler 110.
For example, the cryopump 100 may increase the temperatures of the first stage part 111 and the second stage part 112 to 300K. In this case, the cryopump 100 may extend the purge process. In the process S210, during the temperature increasing process of increasing the temperatures of the first stage part 111 and the second stage part 112, the cryopump 100 may perform the purge process to inject an inert gas into a vessel or tank that contains a flammable vapor or gas and suppress maintenance of a flammable atmosphere.
In the process S220, the cryopump 100 may evacuate the gases captured in the cryopump vessel 120 until the cryopump vessel 120 has the predetermined pressure. At this point, the cryopump 100 may determine whether an additional purge process is needed and perform the purge process again based on a result of the determination.
In the process S230, the cryopump 100 may lower the temperatures of the first stage part 111 and the second stage part 112 to their operating temperatures, respectively. For example, the cryopump 100 may lower the temperature of the first stage part 111 to 100K or less and the temperature of the second stage part 112 to 20K or less.
Through these process, the cryopump 100 may complete the regeneration process and then perform a cooling process.
In the descriptions above, the processes S210 to S230 may be divided into additional processes or combined into fewer processes depending on an embodiment. In addition, some of the processes may be omitted and the sequence of the processes may be changed if necessary.
The method for regenerating the cryopump performed in the cryopump as described above with reference to
A computer-readable medium can be any usable medium which can be accessed by the computer and includes all volatile/non-volatile and removable/non-removable media. Further, the computer-readable medium may include computer storage media. The computer storage media include all volatile/non-volatile and removable/non-removable media embodied by a certain method or technology for storing information such as computer-readable instruction code, a data structure, a program module or other data.
The above description of the present disclosure is provided for the purpose of illustration, and it would be understood by a person with ordinary skill in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without changing technical conception and essential features of the present disclosure. Thus, it is clear that the above-described examples are illustrative in all aspects and do not limit the present disclosure. For example, each component described to be of a single type can be implemented in a distributed manner. Likewise, components described to be distributed can be implemented in a combined manner.
The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the following claims rather than by the detailed description of the embodiment. It shall be understood that all modifications and embodiments conceived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents are included in the scope of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2022-0114245 | Sep 2022 | KR | national |
The present patent application is a “bypass” continuation application of International Application No. PCT/KR2023/013429, filed Sep. 7, 2023 and the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, which claims priority to Korean Application No. 10-2022-0114245, filed Sep. 8, 2022 and the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/KR2023/013429 | Sep 2023 | WO |
| Child | 18951888 | US |
