Glass bell jar pumped by a diffusion pump backed by a mechanical pump. Commissioned about 1965? O-ring sealed. Base pressure about 1 x 10^-6 torr. Ion gauge and convectron gauges. Large electrical feedthroughs. Quartz crystal monitors.

Chiller water turned black due to the break down of glycol in the cooling water (causing the cooling water to become corrosive). Chiller is being flushed, sanitized, and refilled by Chem-Aqua. Waterlines for cooling the evaporation terminals is complete.

Leak detected between bell jar and base plate. Awaiting parts for the diffusion pump cooling lines flow switch. Researching replacements for malfunctioning crystal monitor controllers.

Two of the three crystal monitors are currently operational. Shutter is not operational.

Make sure to fill out the user log! Put your name, date/time of use, material(s) you are evaporating, base pressure, and anything out of the ordinary that you notice.

Always wear gloves when working inside the evaporator. Lots of materials that you probably don't want on your body get evaporated in there. We also do not want oils inside the bell jar.

The shutter is controlled by magnet that is turned on and off using the switch. It is important to keep the switch in the off position when not opening or closing the shutter to prevent the magnetic coils from burning out. Having the magnets on when evaporating metals also isn't a good idea.

The shutter itself is finicky. The power supply was recently updated, improving its performance, but the design often causes the shutter to get caught on the metal frame inside the bell jar. It is important to make sure that the shutter is working after the bell jar is closed (you can hear it). Checking that the shutter is operating correctly after the bell jar has been evacuated is more difficult, but can be accomplished with the use of a flashlight.

Always use the metal shield during depositions to keep materials off of the side of the bell jar. If the bell jar gets too dirty, the green 3M Scotch-Brite scrubbing pads work great to clean it. Lots of crud will fall from the jar - catching it in a garbage bag will make cleanup much easier. Wear gloves and a mask.

06/19/2014 - Diffusion pump cleaned, and oil changed. - JH

06/19/2013 - Roughing pump oil changed. Old oil in good condition. - RW

07/13/2012 - Diffusion pump oil changed. Refilled with 200 cc Dow 704. Old oil had yellowish color. No visible debris. Some tarring on the DP walls. Fixed minor leaks in deposition rate detector water lines. Chamber now holds at 0.1 Torr for 3+ days. - RW

07/03/2012 - Roughing pump oil changed. Good color. Some debris. - RW

8/09/2011 - Roughing pump oil changed. Old oil was brown and had significant amounts of debris floating in it. Added a permanent maintenance log to the blue binder holding all of the user manuals for the system. - RW

6/17/2011 - Inside of bell jar and all surfaces cleaned. Shutter operation fixed. Ion gauge degaussed; now reads more realistic pressure. - RW

Stainless steel box evaporator commissioned 1991. Conflat-sealed except for o-ring-sealed front door. Base pressure few x 10^-8 torr. Turbo pumped. Roughing pump is rotary vane 27 cfm pump (?). 3 thermal sources monitored by quartz crystals. Reactive environment possible.

Upgraded over 2012/13 academic year by Casey Hines. Casey's thesis has a description. Practical Implementation of a Physical Vapor Deposition System in a Research Environment

Inactive. Cryopump needs fixing. Compressor is fine.