Performance Characteristics of In-Situ Particle Monitors at Sub-Atmospheric Pressure

감압상태에서의 In-Situ Particle Monitor의 성능특성

In-situ particle monitors(ISPMs) are widely used for monitoring contaminant particles in vacuum-based semiconductor manufacturing equipment. In the present research, the performance of a Particle Measuring Systems(PMS) Vaculaz-2 ISPM at subatmospheric pressures has been studied. We created uniform upstream conditions of particle concentration and measured the detection efficiency, the lower detection limit, and the size response of the ISPM using uniform sized methylene blue aerosol particles. The effect of particle size, particle velocity, particle concentration, and system pressure on the detection efficiency was examined. Results show that the detection efficiency of the ISPM decreases with decreasing chamber pressure, and with increasing mass flow rate. The lower detection limit of the ISPM, determined at 50 % of the measured maximum detection efficiency, was found to be about $0.15{\sim}0.2{\mu}m$, which is similar to the minimum detectable size of $0.17{\mu}$ given by the manufacturer.