[labnetwork] Cambridge/Ultratech/Veeco Savannah ALD - stop valve issues?

[Eric Deguns]

Good morning Tim,

I'm the Product Manager for our R&D systems at Veeco, including the
Savannah.

A few points to make:
- the frequency at which you are having stopvalve maintenance issues is far
more frequent than most of our end-users.  Typical reasons for this include
either the heater jacket not working well (installation/efficiency/etc.) or
end users running processes which have a large overdose of precursor.
- in our maintenance manual for the Savannah, there is a cleaning procedure
that allows one to recover the stopvalve to a like-new condition either via
an etch back or a physical clean.  I'm happy to send that to you.
- as Mac has pointed out, spare o-rings are available for these valves -
either from us or from Nor-cal
- the "rearrangements" suggested by Mac can have other consequences too

I'm happy to go over the issues you are seeing and see if we can't
recommend any other courses of action for you.  I agree - replacing a
stopvalve every 6 months is not an option.

I'll send you another email with our maintenance manual from my work email
address.  (cc:ed here).   Of course, you are always welcome to reach out to
my colleagues or I at ALDsupport at veeco.com.

Kind regards,

Eric







On Tue, Mar 30, 2021 at 7:42 PM Tim Gilheart <gilheart at rice.edu> wrote:

> Greetings,
>
> I’m hoping that several teams on this list have relevant experience to
> share, since I know a number of you manage Savannah ALD tools.
>
> Our tool has presented with leakage issues through the stop valve twice in
> the past 6 months. We replaced the last valve at the end of Aug 2020, and
> have recently again experienced issues with failing to vent (due to the
> valve not closing completely and the vac pump still pulling on the chamber).
>
> We have a temporary workaround in place (an external manual valve on the
> pump line), but this leakage through the stop valve effects process
> outcomes and has proven costly to address, since valve replacement seems to
> be the recommended solution.
>
> Our tool typically runs Al2O3, HfO2, TiO2, and ZnO processes, sometimes
> ZrO2. Stop valve heating jacket is maintained at the recommended 150 C, and
> the heaters all seem to be working properly.
>
> Does anyone have suggestions about maintaining these stop valves for
> longer? Or, failing that, a referral for refurbishing them? I am willing to
> consider a solution that involves swapping out valves 1-2/year and sending
> them out for rebuild if that’s an option for a reasonable cost.
>
> Thanks in advance for any advice you can share,
>
> --
> Tim Gilheart, Ph.D.
> Research Scientist - Nanofabrication Cleanroom Manager,
> Shared Equipment Authority (SEA), Rice University
> Cell: 832-341-5488 | Office: 713-348-3159 | gilheart at rice.edu
>
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