PVA TePla IoN 3 User manual

Document No.: 1P0446-1 Rev. B, April 7, 2014
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TECHNICAL MANUAL
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE
IoN 3 MHz
251 Corporate Terrace
Corona, California 92879
951-371-2500

Document No.: 1P0446-1 Rev. B, April 7, 2014
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NOTICE
This is a PVA TePla America Inc. publication which is protected by copyright. Original copyright date
2010. No part of this document may be photocopied, reproduced, or translated to another language
without the prior written consent of PVA TePla America Inc. The information contained in this
publication is subject to change without notice.
Contact Us
PVA TePla America Inc.
251 Corporate Terrace
Corona, CA 92879 USA
Customer Service: [phone]
Direct: [phone] x221
Toll Free: [phone]
Website: www.pvateplaamerica.com
Email: [email protected]

Document No.: 1P0446-1 Rev. B, April 7, 2014
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Table of Contents
Section 1 - Introduction ...................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Overview .................................................................................................................. 4
1.2 Standard Equipment .................................................................................................. 5
1.3 Equipment Options .................................................................................................... 9
Section 2 - Safety .............................................................................................................. 10
2.1 Warnings ................................................................................................................ 10
2.2 Interlocks ............................................................................................................... 12
Section 3 - Unpacking ....................................................................................................... 13
3.1 Long Term Storage .................................................................................................. 13
Section 4 - Installation ...................................................................................................... 14
4.1 Facilities Requirements ............................................................................................ 14
4.2 Recommended Work Area Allowance ........................................................................ 15
4.3 System Assembly .................................................................................................... 16
4.4 Initial Startup .......................................................................................................... 17
Section 5 - Equipment Orientation .................................................................................... 19
5.1 General Description ................................................................................................. 19
5.2 Controls and Indicators ............................................................................................ 20
Section 6 - Theory of Operation ........................................................................................ 23
Section 7 - Operation Procedures ..................................................................................... 25
7.1 Standard Operating Procedure .................................................................................. 25
Section 8 - Service and Maintenance ................................................................................ 26
8.1 Requesting Service .................................................................................................. 26
8.2 User Maintenance .................................................................................................... 26
8.3 Troubleshooting ...................................................................................................... 27
8.4 Warranty ................................................................................................................ 30

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Section 1 - Introduction
The IoN 3 MHz Operation and Maintenance Technical Manual provides a complete reference to all
system controls. All user-level hardware, interfaces and directions are described, along with their
associated operating procedures.
The safety section points out any risks involved with equipment operation along with
recommendations for safely operating and maintaining the system. The safety features included with
the system are also outlined.
The unpacking and installation sections help with initial first time startup.
The theory section explains the principals behind plasma generation and the variables that are under
operator control during process development and optimization. The goal is to give the beginning
plasma process engineer a starting point for developing plasma treatments for various applications
using the IoN 3 MHz equipment. The user should contact PVA TePla America Inc. if more detailed
process development assistance is required for a specific application.
The equipment section gives a detailed description of the controls and indicators.
The operation section gives step by step instructions for operation of the equipment.
The service section contains the information on warranties, preventative maintenance, trouble
shooting, and parts replacement.
Text conventions used in the manual are as follows:
buttons the operator is instructed to actuate are listed in all CAPITAL LETTERS.
section headings are in color, bold print and/or UNDERLINED.
Nomenclature for data entry in this manual and on the system itself uses:
Torr in reference to pressure
Watts (w) for power
seconds (secs) or minutes (mins) for time
1.1 Overview
The IoN 3 MHz plasma system is a tabletop plasma chemistry reactor designed to provide the failure
analysis, medical, scientific and educational community with a plasma system at moderate cost. It is
designed to provide repeatable plasma processing for ashing, cleaning or etching.
The IoN 3 MHz a batch-mode plasma system for etch, strip, clean, and surface treatment. It
combines field-proven features, which minimize machine-generated particulate with the process
flexibility of computer control. This combination offers ultimate performance: high throughput, low
particulate generation, process versatility, precise parameter control, and fault isolation.

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1.2 Standard Equipment
CHAMBER
A special grade of 6061-T6 Aerospace grade of aluminum is used for the chamber and chamber door.
The aluminum chamber has been anodized with a proprietary process that improves the durability of
the chamber and improves the reliability of plasma or RIE processing. This anodized process is
proprietary and the thickness is closely monitored and measured to ensure repeatable plasma
processing. This is the same anodization procedure used in million dollar plus production plasma
systems used in the manufacture of semiconductors.
Incoming process gas is feed into the chamber by the port on the top left of the chamber (when
viewed from the front of the system). The screened outlet in the bottom right leads to the vacuum
valve and thus to the vacuum pump.
SAMPLE HOLDER
A sample holder is provided—the top shelf is for "Direct Plasma" and the bottom (middle) shelf is for
"RIE".
Figure 1-1 Sample holder
The RF feed through rails design, on the inside-back of the chamber, provides RF and ground to the
sample holder by way of two small rail clamps. The sample holder is inserted into the chamber and
makes contact with the RF connection in the back center of the chamber. The ground is provided by a
ground rail connection on the back of the chamber. As you face the chamber, the rail on the left is
the ground, and the rail on the right is the RF connection.
The sample holder should always be used and the operator should ensure that the sample holder is
pushed all the way in—making contact with the RF FEEDTHROUGH and ground lead.

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Figure 1-2 RF Feed through rails
NOTE: The sample holder must be properly inserted into the chamber for the system to operate
correctly. The audible alarm will alarm if the sample holder is not inserted into the chamber, and the
system will not start.
RF GENERATOR
An internal 13.56 MHz RF power supply is installed as part of the system. The RF generator is a solid-
state crystal-controlled oscillator designed to provide up to 150 watts of continuous wave 13.56 MHz
power to the reaction chamber. One of the limited number of frequencies permitted by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) for plasma applications, 13.56 MHz is probably the overall best in
terms of plasma uniformity and speed.
Maximum power transfer from the power supply to the reaction chamber is accomplished by
matching the output impedance of the generator to the input impedance of the reaction chamber.
AUTOMATIC TUNING
An auto tuning system is installed for the impedance matching network. The auto tuning adds
circuitry which continually monitors the forward-to-reverse power ratio during processing and
positions air capacitors for optimum power transfer to the CHAMBER.
The air capacitors in the tuning network are designed to rotate in a circular fashion without stopping
to reverse direction—this allows for very quick tuning in the IoN 3.
An audible alarm will sound if a high reflected power is detected when a process is initiated. If this
condition does not resolve itself within 25 seconds the process will abort.
GAS CONTROL FLOWMETER
Two flowmeters are provided to regulate the flow of gas into the chamber. The vacuum pressure of
the chamber is regulated by the flow of gas into the chamber. The more flow, the higher the
pressure.

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Each flowmeter has a solenoid valve that shuts off the flow of gas, thus retaining the setting of the
respective flowmeter for a subsequent process. For added safety, the gas solenoid for each
flowmeter will not allow gas to flow into the chamber until all interlocks are activated.
Note: The inlet pressure from the gas bottle should be regulated to 10 psig before the gas is
introduced to the back of the IoN 3 MHz.
Table 1 Flowmeter Calibration Data
float material: GLASS BALL float density: 2.55 G/CC
metered Temp: 70ºF metered Pressure: 10 PSIG
tube #A-125-3 units: CC/MIN
scale
O2
Argon
Freon14
SF6
65.0
68.56
47.62
44.82
34.61
60.0
59.20
41.31
39.05
30.16
55.0
49.84
35.03
33.31
25.71
50.0
41.30
29.16
27.83
21.49
45.0
34.17
24.09
22.93
17.70
40.0
28.41
19.71
18.61
14.37
35.0
23.53
15.79
14.86
11.47
30.0
19.21
12.44
11.68
9.02
25.0
15.01
9.69
9.03
6.97
20.0
11.30
7.40
6.81
5.26
15.0
8.46
5.39
4.90
3.78
10.0
6.10
3.54
3.15
2.43
5.0
3.74
1.69
PRESSURE INDICATOR
The IoN 3 MHz will report the actual pressure reading (accurate within 20 mTorr) on the front
PRESSURE display. This pressure reading will give a reading of the chamber pressure. After the
PROCESS START button has been depressed, the pressure sensor signals the system logic to start the
process (RF and gas flow) when a crossover pressure of .35 Torr (350mT) has been achieved.
The PRESSURE indicator does not display a reading until reaching a pressure below 2 Torr. The
pressure sensor has a range of around .01 Torr (10 mTorr) to 2 Torr. Normal operating pressure will
range between .5 Torr (500mT) and 1.2 Torr.
DIAGNOSTIC LED DISPLAY INDICATORS
Five LED display indicators are located on the lower front panel of the IoN 3 MHz system. When
illuminated, the LEDs provide the user confirmation that all the system modules are functioning
correctly.

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TIMER
The IoN 3 timer will only start or keep count of elapsed time when the system is tuned and in a
working mode. This proprietary design means that the set time is the actual amount of time that the
samples are exposed to a working plasma. Many competitive plasma systems merely start the timer
when the system starts tuning—not when the system is actually processing samples with an active
plasma.
The RF timer will abort the process if the reflected power exceeds its threshold. So should the
system loose the plasma, the process timer stops since the RF reflected power will be over limit. An
audible alarm will beep until the system tunes and the reflected power drops within acceptable limits.
In cases where the process pressure is too high to tune, the system will fault out in 25 seconds. The
user has the ability to abort the process if they choose to do so by depressing the PROCESS ABORT
toggle switch. This gives the system the ability to run a full length process under potentially marginal
conditions, where competitive plasma systems would turn out unfinished parts. It also removes the
variability of the operator--whether or not they waited until the system had reached base pressure
before starting.
The timer displays a selectable range of 6 second to 999.9 minutes.
Figure 1-3 Timer

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1.3 Equipment Options
This is a list of non-standard system accessories. Your IoN 3 MHz can be upgraded to include any of
these options. For additional information, contact PVA TePla America Inc.
VACUUM PUMP
PVA TePla America recommends a 7 cfm, 2 stage, rotary vane pump, prepared for Fomblin oil. It is
recommended that Fomblin oil be used for oxygen gas applications as well as other gas mixtures.
Note: The sound pressure level with the above pump is 50 dB.
PUMP OIL MIST ELIMINATOR
Collects and condenses the oil mist generated during pump operation. This leads to lower pump oil
consumption and a cleaner operation.
If the system is to be run with a fluorine based process gas, a mist eliminator is suggested.
SPARE PARTS KIT
Includes spare parts that will be required for normal preventative maintenance. Includes chamber
door o-ring seal, viewport window, chamber o-ring, and rear chamber o-ring.

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Section 2 - Safety
This section covers the safety issues associated with the IoN 3 MHz. It describes the system safety
features. Any inherent equipment hazards are outlined. Details on necessary precautions for safe
operation are provided.
When used properly, your IoN 3 MHz plasma system is very safe and has been tested to comply with
CE standards. The purpose of this advisory is simply to point out possible hazards resulting from
misuse of the equipment and to suggest ways of operating the equipment as safely as possible.
2.1 Warnings
Alerts containing the words NOTE, CAUTION, WARNING and DANGER are used in various
advisories in this manual.
NOTE are advisories that point out important information that is not obvious to the reader, but will
not lead to any hazardous situations or immediate equipment damage if not followed.
CAUTION implies that the action could possibly cause damage to equipment or injury to
personnel if the proper procedures are not followed.
WARNING or DANGER implies that the action places the operator in a situation that has a
possibility of injury or death if the proper procedures are not followed.
ELECTRICAL
As with all electrical equipment powered from line voltage, caution is warranted whenever external
panels are removed and/or electrical wiring is exposed. All electronics are designed with safety in
mind and conform to common voltage directives. Internal DC voltages generated are +12 /- 12 volts,
or 24 volts maximum.
Electrical Hazard Warning—Warns personnel that special caution
must be exercised. A caution alert stresses the importance of following
proper operating or maintenance procedures. Otherwise, equipment
reliability could be affected. This label is located on the back panel, left
and right covers of the IoN 3 MHz.
Do Not Open—Warns users to disconnect the IoN 3 MHz before
removing cover. Only authorized personnel should open the cover due
to hazardous voltage. This warning label should be on the left cover
and on the vacuum pump access cover.
The circuit breaker on the back of the system is designed to cut off the flow of electricity if the
demand is over 10 amps. To reset the system, toggle this circuit breaker to the ON (or up) position.
Note: For your safety, only qualified electrical technicians should perform maintenance, repair or
installation on the equipment.