Design, Manufacturing and Pump-down Curve Simulation of High Vacuum Systems

This paper presents a vacuum system design for extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) and studies the prediction of pump-down curves for vacuum chambers. Related basic theories include gas laws, conductance for several kinds of flow regimes, equivalent length for pipes, outgassing, diffusion, and permeation etc. The simulation program consists of a MFC module and a MATLAB module. The MFC module is used to input necessary parameters, including start and target pressure for pumping, volume and inner surface area of vacuum chambers, configuration of pumping lines, performance of vacuum pumps, and gas loads. The MATLAB module deals with the pump-down curve calculation based on related theories. The governing equation of the conservation of mass in a pumped vacuum chamber is derived from extended Temkin isotherm. The pump-down curve of vacuum chamber is predicted by four steps, including calculation of equivalent length for pipes, conductance of pipes, and effective pumping speed of pumps, and pump-down time. An empty vacuum chamber is used to test the developed program. The pump-down curve reaches 6.5E-8 torr with 42 hours pump-down time in experiment measurement, and the simulated curve reaches 5.79E-8 torr at the same time point. The developed program can predict pump-down curve with a good accuracy in the range from low vacuum pressure to high vacuum pressure.