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New HCES Tips
Intlvac Announces a Break Through
After listening to the complaints from many customers about problems they have with Hollow Cathode Tips eroding and cracking on the sides, Intlvac developed a new HCES tip that practically eliminates this problem. Tight dimensional control and improvements to the internal design mean that our tips last almost twice as long as the competitor’s. (note: our tips and no one else’s can over come gas contamination)
Operating Tips
The HCES tip is made out of 100% pure Tantalum Metal. Inside the tip is a very thin foil of Tantalum which can easily degrade with contamination. Tantalum, when heated, acts as a getter material and steps should be taken to ensure the inside of the tip does not get exposed to oxygen or water vapor. Steps to achieving this:
- Good gas handling practice. The tip requires 99.999 purity Argon. A clean bottle of gas can be contaminated by improper placement of the regulator.
- Maintain a flow of Argon gas when the chamber is vented. 5sccm is a very small amount of gas, but is enough to keep the tip dry when the chamber is vented to atmosphere
- Consider purchasing an inline gas purifier. If you can not be certain your gas vendor is supplying good clean gas, or if you want to eliminate operator error when changing bottle, a purifier will remove oxygen from the gas stream.
- Only purchase the best quality Hollow Cathode Tips, which are only available from Intlvac
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