Flange Accessories

InVac Systems

Semiconductor

Specialty Products

Flange Accessories

Horizontal Furnace - VLD Controllers

Add automatic control and monitoring to your Vacuum Lock Door!

InVac Systems & innovative Silicon Systems introduces two new lines of Vacuum Lock Door (VLD) controllers, the Series 300 and Series 500. These VLD Controllers integrate a 3-way remotely actuated valve with a vacuum switch to provide easy and dependable VLD performance.

Vacuum-Lock Doors are employed on horizontal furnace process tubes where a positive door seal is critical, such as with H2 Anneal and Polysilicon deposition processes. The tube flange is typically configured with an annular channel between two o-rings. When the door is closed against the tube flange, vacuum is applied to the annulus, establishing a positive door to flange seal that can be verified by monitoring the vacuum level in the annulus. At the end of the process, the annular space is vented back to atmosphere, allowing the door to be opened. This application of vacuum and vent to the VLD is performed by the 3-way valve in the VLD Controllers via a signal from the Host system which can be either a contact closure or a 24VDC High logic signal.

Positive indication of a vacuum level in the VLD is performed by a vacuum switch in the Series 300 Controllers, providing a contact closure to the Host when the vacuum level is below a user-adjustable setpoint.

The Series 500 Controllers VLD Controllers offers even more features including a second setpoint for vent indication, a 3½ digit display of vacuum level and an analog output of vacuum level for performance monitoring.

We offer long injectors to get to make sure your gas in injected far enough back in the process chamber to be in the heat zone.

We offer combination short injectors with quartz extension tubes that allow the gas to be injected anywhere along the length of the process chamber.

Download or print a 300 Series VLD Brochure (PDF Format)

Download or print a 500 Series VLD Brochure (PDF Format)

FTC - Flange Temperature Controllers

Many semiconductor processing systems employ water-cooled flanges to protect the o-rings from burning. The cooling water is typically plumbed directly to the flange with just an in-line metering valve to provide a fixed flow rate. However, the heat load to the flange can vary significantly with process conditions, between door open and door closed, and while pulling a completed run. This results in widely fluctuating flange temperatures which can cause burned o-rings and thermal stress to the flange. Moreover, setting the cooling water flow rate to handle the maximum heat load can result in a flange that is too cold during processing, causing unwanted deposits on the flange and resultant particle problems.

The solution is a Flange Temperature Controller from InVac Systems & innovative Silicon Systems! The FTC monitors the temperature of the flange and adjusts the cooling water flow accordingly to maintain a constant flange temperature. What could be simpler?

The FTC-D flange temperature controller offers a simple, low-cost solution to flange temperature control. Flange temperature is monitored by a thermocouple interfaced to an auto-tune PID controller. The controller regulates the flange temperature to a user-adjustable setpoint by switching a two-state solenoid valve on the cooling water line between normal and trickle flow positions. The FTC-D outputs provide the Host system with either an analog signal corresponding to flange temperature or Lower and Upper Limit alarms.

The FTC-A provides even greater precision control of flange temperature by utilizing a proportional flow control valve on the cooling water line. Flange temperature is monitored by a thermocouple interfaced to an auto-tune PID controller. The controller regulates the position of the proportional flow control valve to provide a cooling water flow rate commeasurate with the heat load on the flange. The FTC-A also offers greater flexibility, featuring two flange temperature setpoints which can be set remotely, upper and lower temperature alarms and an analog output of the flange temperature. The FTC-A is available as a single (FTC-1A) or dual (FTC-2A) flange controller.

Download or print a FTC Brochure (PDF Format)

TIPS: Not looking for temperature control but still want to monitor flow?

Try our Multi-Channel H20 Flow Monitor

See our Horizontal Furnace - Products & Upgrades for more info.

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