Extending dry pump reliability on high-k ALD furnaces

The industry, today, makes use of high-k dielectric films deposited using ALD. Early introduction of these processes into high volume manufacture identified dry pump reliability to be a key concern. Careful investigation of the exchanged pumps and analysis of the issues allowed for better understanding of the likely failure mechanisms. Changing the pump mechanism from that used in the original pumps resulted in extending the service interval four to six times that originally experienced. More than temperature changes or purge adjustments, a fundamental change to the pump structure yielded the most positive results.