Vacuum Pump System Diagnosis with the Pumping Speed Indicator

Abstract

Abstract-The diagnosis of a vacuum pump system for the semiconductor manufacturing is directly related to the failure rate of wafer. Pumping speed is the volume flow rate per unit time by the vacuum pump and represents the performance of vacuum pump directly. Unfortunately, it is impossible to measure the pumping speed in situation. We proposed an alternative method to infer pumping speed indirectly in situ. The Pumping speed indicator (PSI) is based on similarity of the pump-down method and the semiconductor manufacturing processes, estimates the exhaust capacity of vacuum pump.