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At the Vacuum Symposium, part of the 17th European Vacuum Conference in Harrogate Hiden Analytical gave the half day course on Residual Gas Analysis.  Vacuum is critical to allow particles to move freely in many scientific instruments, from small mass spectrometers that will fit on a benchtop to huge devices like the Large Hadron Collider which cross country borders.  However, there are always some atoms or molecules remaining and knowledge of this “residual gas” is important when operating the experiment.  For surface science experiments and semiconductor fabrication, residual gas atoms like oxygen can seriously degrade results, and in high energy particle accelerators collisions with the remaining gas atoms reduce the beam current and efficiency.

During the course, Dr Graham Cooke, Principal Scientist at Hiden Analytical Ltd, introduced the concept of residual gas and the surprisingly high number of particles that exist in even the best vacuums.  He then explained how these can be ionised and subsequently mass filtered and detected using a mass spectrometer.

Graham Cooke EVC Vacuum Meeting

Attendees were able to get to grips with parts of the residual gas analyser normally hidden from view, as ion sources, quadrupole assemblies and a variety of detectors were passed around. The operation of the quadrupole mass spectrometer was covered in detail, along with suggestions for use and the operating conditions to give optimum results.  With RGA being required over around 10 orders of magnitude of pressure, the influence of ion source and detector choice was also discussed.

The presentation ended with a question-and-answer session that later continued at the company’s exhibition stand in the main display area were applications could be covered in more detail with the other experts present and literature available.

Find Out More: https://www.hidenanalytical.com/applications/residual-gas-analysis-and-vacuum-processing/

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