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12.6
New Trends of Gauges and Sensors
One primary requirement of any instrument is to not disturb the environment that the instrument is
intended to measure. At very low pressures, in the high-and ultrahigh-vacuum region, this basic
requirement is very difficult to achieve. For example, it has been said that both hot-wire and cold-cathode
gauges are chemical factories because of various reactions and effects of filaments at high temperature
and high voltages present in those gauges. At very high- and ultrahigh-vacuum conditions, a gauge can
be a significant (and sometime even a predominant) source of gas not only in its own envelope but in the
entire vacuum chamber. It can also provide significant pumping action due to occurrences similar to
those associated with the performance of ion-getter pumps.
Unfortunately, despite the great advances in vacuum technology during the last 40 years, the transducers
used for pressure measurements have not changed very much. In the same period, the development of
microelectronic devices have permitted enormous improvement in electric and electronic controllers; in
low-level signal detection; stable, reliable breadth of function signal displays; and computer interfaces. It
is generally desirable to reduce the physical size of the transducer and thereby limit the degree of
interaction with the medium being measured. The smaller size usually decreases the sensitivity, however,
and it may also contaminate more rapidly. Although much can be done in this regard, miniature
transducers are presently being used only at higher pressures. Some examples of recently-introduced
instruments are discussed in the next section.
12.6.1
Universal Controllers
Vacuum gauge controllers of relatively small size have been introduced that can operate many
transducers simultaneously such as capacitance manometers, thermocouple gauges, pirani gauges, and
cold- and hot-cathode ionization gauges. Ten independent sensors can be operated simultaneously by a
controller of the same size that, a few years ago, could operate only one.
12.6.2
Extended Range Thermal Gauges
Both pirani- and thermocouple-type gauges have been extended to handle atmospheric pressure. An
example of these gauges is shown in Figure 12.21. It can be seen that the scale of the instrument is not
uniform (i.e., the length of the band scale used for each decade of pressure has large variations, with the
section between 10 and 100 torr being the shortest). The reason for this can be appreciated by reviewing
the heat transfer relationship shown in Figure 2.1 and realizing that the curve in the region between
conductance and convention tends to be nearly horizontal. Therefore, even with the most accurate
electronic circuitry and carefully selected compensating resistors in the sensors, it is dif-
 

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Figure 12.21

An example of a vacuum gauge based on gas conduction/convection effects.

ficult to maintain absolute accuracy of better than ±20% across the entire range of the instrument. The
references to accuracy and precision in technical literature tend to be comments about the quality of the
electronics rather than the intrinsic properties of the sensor itself.
12.6.3
Combined Sensors and Controls.
In many cases, utilizing modern electronic devices, it is possible to attach the signal conditioning and
read-out circuitry directly to the sensor. An example of such an instrument is shown in Figure 12.22.
(Note: the connector on the left is for remote operation.) For more complex instruments, only the initial
signal conditioning and preamplifier circuitry may be attached to the sensor, which greatly reduces the
problems with connecting cables.
12.6.4
Combined Sensors
It is often convenience to place two different sensing devices in one envelope in order to widen the
sensing range of the instrument. For example, one gauge of the same size as shown in Figure 12.22
includes a diaphragm sensor and a pirani gauge, thus giving a pressure range from 1 mtorr to 1,500 torr.
This
 

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Figure 12.22

An example of a vacuum gauge with the controller attached to the sensor.

combination eliminates the uncertainty of gas composition, associated with convection gauges at the
higher pressures. The diaphragm gauge measures a force at higher pressures that is independent of the
type of gas (see Figure 12.23).

12.7
Mass Spectrometers or Partial Pressure Gauges
The basic objective in partial pressure measurements is to provide a signal that can be accurately related
to the number density of a particular species of molecule in that region of a vacuum system where an
experiment is being performed. Operation of mass spectrometers can be divided into four functional
steps:
1. Ions are created from the gas, usually by electron impact.
2. The ions are accelerated to certain kinetic energies in a chosen direction and focused onto the entrance
aperture of an analyzer.
3. The ions entering the analyzer are subject to an arrangement of electric and/or magnetic fields which
separate them on the basis of their charge-to-mass ratio.
 

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Figure 12.23

Comparison of performance at the higher pressure scales.

Solid line, diaphragm gauge; dashed lines, convection

gauge calibrated for air but used with helium

(upper curve) and argon (lower curve).

4. The separated ions are detected upon arrival at a collector. Ions of a selected charge-to-mass ratio are
brought to the collector by adjustment of the ion-accelerating potential and/or the analyzer fields.
General characteristics of mass spectrometer operation are:
1. Sensitivity. The sensitivity in amperes of ion current per unit of pressure should be high, as high or
higher than in ionization gauges.
2. Resolving power. The resolving power must be adequate to separate clearly the gases that are likely to
occur in the system either as residual gases or those deliberately introduced.
3. Outgassing rate. The outgassing rate of the mass spectrometer when operating must be very low.
4. Peak shape. The peak shape, that is, the profile of the collected ion current versus the independent
variable used to scan the spectrum, should be as nearly flat-topped as possible, if quantitative monitoring
of individual mass peaks is required.
5. Magnetic requirements. The presence of a magnet or its size, weight, and stray magnetic field can in
some cases be a decisive factor in the choice of an instrument for a specific experiment.
6. Background currents. Because collected ion currents in mass spectrometers
 

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are small, it is important that spurious currents appearing at the collector be minimal.
7. Scanning speed. If the experiment requires the rapid comparison of different signals, the scanning
speed may be important. The scanning speed affects items 1, 2, and 4 above.
12.7.1.
90-Degree Magnetic Sector Spectrometer
This instrument can be used either with a permanent magnet and voltage scanning or with a constant ion
energy and a scanning electromagnet. Both the ion source and the electron multiplier collector are
mechanically separate from the analyzer region (Figure 12.24).
The magnetic mass spectrometer utilizes the fact that charged particles follow a curved path in an
electromagnetic field. This dispersion is spatial and the radius of curvature is given by

where B is the magnetic field intensity, m is mass, e is the charge, and v is the ion velocity. The ion
velocity is given by

where V is the ion accelerating potential. Substitution of this expression for velocity gives

The radius of curvature is thus dependent on the initial ion energy.

Magnetic spectrometers vary from low cost, low resolution to high cost, high resolution units. Significant
characteristics of the low-resolution magnetic mass spectrometer include easily understandable operation,
slow scan speed, and a basically nonlinear mass display. For high resolutions, above several hundred amu
(atomic mass units), magnetic instruments are often used.
12.7.2
Quadrupole Spectrometer
The absence of an analyzer magnet is one of the most important characteristics of spectrometers of this
type, Figures 12.25 and 12.26). Ion source and collector are easily separated from the analyzer, and thus
addition of an electron multiplier is not difficult. Transmission probability of the ions can be varied
 

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Figure 12.24

Magnetic bend mass spectrometer.

 

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Figure 12.25

Quadrupole mass spectrometer.

and increased at the expense of resolving power. The ion source and collector are connected in a straight-
line path. The transmission of x-rays and light from source to collector can thus cause spurious (pressure-
independent) currents. Ions entering the analyzer portion from the ionizer are subject to time-dependent

Figure 12.26

An RGA instrument with attached preamplifier section (Stanford Research Systems).

 

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fields which drive these ions into oscillatory motion perpendicular to the quadrupole axis. If the
oscillatory motion becomes too large, the ions strike the metal rods and are neutralized.
Equal but opposite radio-frequency (RF) + dc voltages are applied to the rod pairs. The (+) pair has a
positive dc voltage with a superimposed RF voltage applied. The (-) pair has a negative dc voltage equal
in magnitude with the (+) pair and a superimposed RF voltage 180° out of phase with the RF of the (+)
pair.
The positive pair of rods tends to neutralize all ions above a certain mass and the negative rods tend to
neutralize all ions below a certain mass. The positive pair acts as a low-mass pass filter, and the negative
pair acts as a highmass pass filter. By allowing a slight overlap in the passbands, the analyzer can be
made to pass ions only in a narrow mass range. The conditions for critical tuning are

and

wherer0 is the inscribed radius of the rod structure, w the RF frequency, Vac the peak RF voltage, and
Vdc the dc voltage.
The advantages of the quadrupole are that it has a high scan speed, a linear scan, and a mass range on the
order of 1000. On the other hand, the broad variations in turning capability, from uniform peak width to
uniform resolution, lead many users to classify it as a nonquantitative instrument. This tunability,
however, is frequently beneficial to the researcher, whose needs can be more fully satisfied with variable
tunings. The quadrupole can also be used to advantage in specific process applications to optimize
sensitivity. The quadrupole ionizer is the simplest type of ionizer. The only energy requirement for the
ions is that the energy must be low enough so that the ions spend several cycles in the RF field.
Potentially, quadrupole mass spectrometers have advantages for the high mass region of the spectrum. To
a first approximation, the peak width in mass units, rather than the resolving power, is independent of
mass number.
As an example of a scan, Figure 12.27 shows a mass spectrum obtained in a liquid-nitrogen trapped
vapor jet pump system. Peak 19 was unusually high in this spectrometer due to emission from ceramic
material used in the tube. Peak 16 was also unusually high. Normally, peak 18 (water vapor) is higher.
Peaks 50, 51, 52, 77 and 78 indicate the phenyl group associated with DC-704
 

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Figure 12.27

Mass spectrum in a vapor jet pump system (with an LN trap).

and DC-705 pumping fluids. Figure 12.28 shows a mass spectrum of a baked ultrahigh-vacuum system
with a sputter-ion pump. The most prominent peak is hydrogen.
The interpretation of m/e peak distribution obtained with an RGA instrument is not always simple. It is
necessary to become familiar with typical peak patterns produced by certain gases and gas mixtures.
RGA instruments are more complex than total pressure gauges in mechanical construction and in the
information they display. Molecules can be doubly ionized (for example, peak 20 together with peak 40
for argon). They can sometime's combine with only one electron missing (for example, peak 36 together
with the typical group of peaks at 18 for water). Molecules can fractionate in the process of ionization,
producing well-known but not always easily recognizable patterns when mixed with others. It is useful to
monitor the background pattern of a given vacuum system and then look for the differences in peak
height produced after a certain time of operation (after gases are introduced into the vacuum chamber in
the course of the operation). Despite these complications, partial pressure measurements provide a wealth
of information about the state and performance of the vacuum system. They are becoming indispensable
for monitoring background gases and controlling gas mixtures deliberately introduced into the vacuum
system as required in some operation processes.
 

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Figure 12.28

Mass spectrum in an ion pump system.

Compared to total pressure ionization gauges, the size and mechanical complexity of mass spectrometers
make it rather difficult to fulfil item 3 of the desirable characteristics listed in the beginning of this
section. A recent addition to the art of quadrupole mass spectrometer design has been introduced
(reference 19), which shows promise due to a substantial reduction of size and the amount of material
exposed to the vacuum system. The design consists of 16 small parallel rods forming 9 parallel
quadrupole beam tunnels, thus providing adequate sensitivity. The small size (no larger than a typical
ionization gauge) permits operation at higher pressures (up to 10 mtorr), which is useful when measuring
parts per million content in a mixture.

References
1. P. A. Redhead, J. P. Hobson, and E. V. Kornelsen, The Physical Basis of Ultra-high Vacuum, Chapman
& Hall, Ltd., London, 1968. Also AIP/AVS reprint, 1993.
2. A. Berman, Total Pressure Measurement in Vacuum Technology, Academic Press, INc., Orlando, Fla.,
1985.
3. R. K. Fitch, Vacuum, 37(8/9), 637641 (1987).
4. P. Nash, Vacuum, 37(8/9), 643649 (1987).
5. W. Steckelmacher, Vacuum, 37(8/9), 651657 (1987).
6. J. H. Batey, Vacuum, 37(8/9), 659668 (1987).
7. F. M. Mao and J. H. Leck, Vacuum, 37(8/9), 669675 (1987).
 

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