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gases, constitutes a source of gas that increases the pressure reading. Reemission probabilities are of such
a magnitude that a system cannot be pumped more than about four orders of magnitude in pressure
without becoming limited by reemission unless the pumping surfaces are regenerated in some way. A
corollary to this is that a gauge operated for 15 min at 10-5 torr cannot subsequently be used below 10-10
torr without additional outgassing.
Some chemically active gases such as H2, H2O, CO2, and hydrocarbons can dissociate at the surface of a
hot cathode of an ionization gauge. The dissociation products are usually highly reactive and may
interact with other gases or surface to produce new gaseous products. Thus hot cathodes may produce
considerable changes in the gas composition of an ultrahigh-vacuum system, causing errors in pressure
measurement.
It has been observed that an ionization gauge inserted directly into a large chamber have a pressure
reading higher by a factor of 10 than an identical gauge enclosed in an envelope and attached to the
chamber through a tube. The first gauge is called nude and the second tubulated. The readings of the
gauge arose from the vapor from the vapor jet pumps, and the discrepancies in the two gauge readings
arose primarily because of vapor adsorption in the tubulation. Subsequent experiments have shown that
this effect extended to ultrahigh-vacuum range and also in systems free of oil vapors and water vapors.
For example, a tubulated hot filament ionization gauge separated from a nude gauge of similar design by
a length of glass tubing may read lower by a factor of 10 for CO. Smaller factors were found for H2 and
N2, and both gauges indicate the same pressure for He. In general, the divergence depended on the
pressure and on the temperature of the tubulation. This phenomenon may be attributed to adsorption and
desorption of gas on the walls of the tubulation.
The choice of the most suitable type of gauge to be used for a particular experiment or system depends
mainly on the following gauge characteristics:
1. Lowest measurable pressure. Can the gauge measure to a sufficiently low pressure for the particular
experiment?
2. Gauge pumping speed. Is the gauge pumping speed sufficiently low to prevent serious errors in
pressure measurement? This is particularly important in experiments where the system pumping speed is
very low.
3. Effect of chemically active gases. When measuring pressure in systems with chemically active gases
present it is important to reduce chemical effects at hot filaments and to minimize the effects of electronic
desorption.
4. Sensitivity.
5. Mechanical ruggedness.
6. Interference by stray magnetic fields. In some experiments the stray fields from magnetic gauges
cannot be tolerated.
7. Reemission of previously pumped gas.
 

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Two factors that make total pressure gauges useful even when they approach a mass spectrometer in cost
and complexity are:
1. The total pressure gauges are nearly always easier to outgas than a mass spectrometer.
2. The higher sensitivity of most total pressure gauges.
12.5.3
Gauge Calibration and Operation
Thirty years ago, vacuum gauges were generally calibrated against the McLeod gauge, which measures
pressure in an absolute way, with the pressure in a vacuum system defined as the force exerted by the gas
per unit area. Up to a pressure range of 10-4 torr, this was a reliable method, provided that necessary
precautions were taken to read the pressure on the McLeod gauge.
Ionization gauges used in high- and ultrahigh-vacuum ranges can be calibrated indirectly using the
following techniques:
1. The sensitivity variations of the gauge with pressure is measured over the range from UHV to about
10-3 torr. The gauge is then compared with a McLeod gauge at about 10-4 torr to obtain the absolute
sensitivity.
2. Gas is allowed to flow from a reservoir at a measured high pressure through two or more constrictions
of accurately measured conductance to high- or ultrahigh-vacuum pumps of known speed, creating
calculable pressures in the intermediate volumes.
3. Gas at a known higher pressure and smaller volume is expanded into a larger measured volume. The
new pressure is determined by the ratio of the volumes.
All three techniques rely on simple predictions of gas kinetic theory; namely, that in a static expansion,
the pressure and the volume are inversely related and that the equilibrium rate of flow of gas through a
conductance C is given in the molecular flow range by Q = C DP, where DP is the pressure difference and
C is a constant.
Calibration of high-vacuum gauges is usually made with air or nitrogen. Fortunately, the gauge
sensitivity with water vapor is not very different from that with air so that for general evacuation of
vacuum chamber, the nitrogen equivalent pressure readings produce sufficient accuracy. For other gases,
corrections according to the sensitivity ratio can be used (Table 12.2 and reference 10).
When measurements are made using a different gas with an ionization gauge calibrated for nitrogen, the
following procedure should be followed. First, the residual reading (the ultimate pressure) before the
experiments began should be subtracted, then the value obtained should be corrected according to the
 

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Table 12.2 Sensitivity of Ionization Gauges for Various Gases
Relative to Argon
Triode and B-A Cold cathode
Argon 1 1
Helium 0.130.17 0.14
Neon 0.220.26
Krypton 1.331.53
Xenon 2.02.22
Air 0.81
Nitrogen 0.530.75 0.59
Hydrogen 0.280.30 0.31
CO 0.480.82
Oxygen 0.610.94 0.58
CO2 0.91.16 0.76

sensitivity ratio. For example, for helium, if the system pressure before helium was introduced was 1 ×
10-7 torr and then increased to 1.1 × 10-6 torr due to introduction of helium, the actual helium pressure
will be
6(1.1 × 10-6 - 1 × 10-7) = 6 × 10-6 torr
Sensitivity for helium is approximately six times lower than for nitrogen. The justification for subtracting
the residual pressure, which exists prior to the experiment, can be assertained by noting the meaning of
the ultimate pressure in Eq. (4.17), Section 4.4.
The calibration of high- and ultrahigh-vacuum gauges is not done by a simple and straightforward
procedure because the amount of matter available for measurement is extremely small. Normally,
commercially available gauges are not calibrated.
Typically, the high-vacuum ionization gauges with external collectors (triodes) will have a variation of
about 5% in sensitivity even if purchased from the same manufacturer. The ultrahigh-vacuum gauges
with internal collectors may have a total variation of 10 to 20%. It is only in the last 15 years that well-
established calibration procedures have been developed in standards laboratories in several countries that
have a substantial vacuum industry (including the U.S. National Institute of Science and Technology).
The calibration service for a gauge tube (transducer) and the associated controller will more than double
the price of the instrument.
In industrial practice, one encounters two types of vacuum technologists. Some insist on recording
pressure readings with three-place decimal accuracy. The digital meters are particularly seductive in this
respect. Others insist that
 

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high-vacuum gauges are only an order of magnitude accurate. For industrial measurements the absolute
accuracy is often less important than precision (i.e., the degree of repeatability from gauge to gauge and
day to day).
It is advisable to maintain a few secondary standard gauges for inter-comparisons that can be traced to a
calibrated instrument. With careful work and maintenance, overall precision uncertainty of about 10% is
achievable in the high-vacuum region. In the ultrahigh-vacuum region both accuracy and precision
become more and more difficult. One of the reasons is that the measurements approach the ultimate
intrinsic residual readings of the instrument.
It is, of course, most important that the gauge be used in the same manner in which it was calibrated. It is
in this area where most engineering problems occur. The calibration is made in order to establish the
basic sensitivity of the transducer (gauge tube). During calibration measurements, the residual base
pressure is either subtracted or the measurements are made far removed from the base pressure, so as to
make it negligible. However, often the instrument is used in practice to record the base pressure of the
system, which is typically a measurement of the worst possible accuracy. To illustrate, consider Figure
12.15, in which several identical ionization gauges are compared to a better outgassed sixth gauge. The
point is that the calibration is made where a definite sensitivity slope has been established.
If all these gauges were to be calibrated, their corrected readings would form a single line at the right side
of the figure. However, many technicians and

Figure 12.15

Comparison of six ionization gauges.

 

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engineers use the gauge readings obtained at the residual condition (left side of the figure), where large
deviations are common. There are many reasons for the existence of these large deviations. They depend
on the degree of outgassing and contamination of the tube.
Consider several additional items that may help to develop an attitude of moderation in using high-
vacuum gauges. Most high-vacuum gauges do not measure pressure. Rather, they measure particle
density. The conversion is not certain when high-density gradients exist in the apparatus.
The gauge can affect the measurement system. In a typical ionization gauge at 10-6 torr there is 10-10g
of gas; the force exerted on the walls is about 10-6 g/cm2; the number of molecules in the volume of the
tube is about 1012, but as many as 1017 may reside in a monolayer on the surface of the bulb, about 1013
on the surface of the filament, and 1015 on the grid. Obviously, adsorption and desorption possibilities
exist. The gauge temperature can produce uncertainty of 5% due to absolute temperature effect on
density alone, even disregarding outgassing effects.
Some ionization gauges have serious glass charging effects near 10-4 to 10-3 torr. The signal can shift by
a factor of 2 or 3 unless a conductive layer is used to stabilize the surface potential. Even nude gauges are
not free of environmental effects, and a second grid is sometimes used to provide a stable electric field.
Figure 12.16 illustrates this effect, including the hysteresis effect, which may be a source of an additional
puzzlement.
Figure 12.17 shows a bell-jar vacuum system with a typical arrangement of pumps, valve, and gauges.
The expected deviation between gauges 1 and 2 should be near a factor of 2 because of some
conductance limitations along the flow path between the chamber and the underside of the valve.
However, un-

Figure 12.16

Shift in pressure indication

due to charge effects on glass

envelope.
 

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Figure 12.17

System with alternative

gauge locations.
der transient conditions, during evacuation, the upper gauge may read 10 or 100 times higher pressure
after the valve is opened. This is because the gauge has been exposed to atmosphere and has excessive
quantities of gas on its surfaces, subsurface pores, and oxide layers. A period of time (few minutes to a
few hours, depending on the pressure level) and degassing of the gauge are required before the expected
factor of 2 or 3 ratio between the two gauges is established.
Another important consideration is the general location of the gauge in a system. The distribution of
pressure (or density) of the gas in a system at high vacuum is rarely uniform. In the system shown in
Figure 12.18, gauge 1 should read a higher pressure than gauge 2, because gauge 2 is downstream toward
the pump, gauge 1 is affected by the additional outgassing (and possibly permeation) from the large O-
ring in the door and because there is a large object

Figure 12.18

System with two gauges.

 

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