XEI Scientific Announces the M&M 2013 Launch of Zephyr™ Cleaning Technology with the Evactron® 25Z Decontaminator

XEI Scientific Inc, maker of the popular Classic EVACTRON® De-Contaminator™ Plasma Cleaning System for electron microscopes and other vacuum chambers, announces the release of Zephyr - turbo-pumped remote plasma cleaning for faster SEM contamination removal utilizing the flowing Afterglow process. Zephyr cleaning will make its debut at the 2013 M&M meeting in Indianapolis, August 4-8.

As the recognized leader in downstream plasma cleaning, XEI recognizes the changing needs of the SEM user and now introduces a new Evactron 25Z cleaning mode for turbo-pumped chambers. With a high speed turbo pump on the system, plasma gas feed rates of 15-25 sccm can be tolerated and an Evactron plasma can be maintained at even lower pressures. At this pressure, Evactron cleaning becomes faster and more uniform throughout the chamber. Cleaning has been observed one meter from the source. In the cleaning area, a light pink plasma afterglow from a neutral nitrogen metastable transition is seen. Langmuir probe studies show no significant ion population in the afterglow. Most important are the high cleaning rates available in this mode which indicate that the oxygen radical population is higher because the recombination of oxygen is suppressed at these lower pressures.

Why upgrade to Zephyr cleaning?

- The Zephyr Evactron 25Z system can be operated at lower pressures on turbo-pumped systems and cleaning can be done during a normal pump down of the main chamber at very fast cleaning rates.

- Zephyr enables longer range and larger volume direct cleaning thanks to longer mean free paths at low vacuum.

- The ease of use that Evactron systems are known for is even greater.

- Existing Evactron 25 or 45 systems may be upgraded at the factory.