A vacuum exhaust system which exhausts gas from chambers and which comprises a plurality of branch channels for the exhaustion of the gas from the chambers, a main pipeline in the form of a confluence of the plurality of branch channels, channel open-close valves fitted to correspond with each of the said plurality of branch channels, a channel-switching valve connecting the main channel and a plurality of selection channels and allowing flow between the main channel and any one of the plurality of selection channels, a first pump which functions as a gas exhaust means in the molecular flow region of the gas and is fitted to one of the plurality of branch channels, and second pumps which function as gas exhaust means in the viscous flow region of the gas and are fitted to the plurality of selection channels.

A sensor assembly for use in an apparatus comprising at least one moving part and at least one stationary part is provided. The assembly comprises a probe and means for mounting the sensor to a stationary part of the apparatus. The probe comprises a portion of an incomplete circuit which, when completed, produces a signal. In use, when the probe is engaged by a moving part of the apparatus, a signal is produced. A vacuum pump or a compressor pump comprising the sensor and a method for preventing failure of an apparatus are also provided.

The present disclosure provides a product removal apparatus, a treatment system, and a product removal method that can sufficiently remove the products deposited inside a vacuum pump and also suppress corrosion of the base material of the vacuum pump. The product removal apparatus of the present disclosure includes: a sensor for measuring the temperature of the inside of a vacuum pump, the thickness of a film of a product in a flow path in the vacuum pump, or the vibration frequency of the vacuum pump; a gas supplier for supplying a gas containing hydrogen halide, fluorine, chlorine, chlorine trifluoride, or fluorine radicals to the vacuum pump; and a control device. The control device controls the gas supplier so that the supply of the gas to the vacuum pump is stopped depending on a rate of temperature increase calculated from the temperature measured by the sensor, the film thickness, or the vibration frequency.

The present invention concerns a dry vacuum pump comprising: a drive device (1) comprising a drive shaft (3) at one end of which is fixed at least one drive wheel (4) provided to set in motion at least one belt (5); at least two parallel rotors (7, 8) each having a shaft (9, 10) provided with a rotor element (11, 12), this shaft (9, 10) being able to be driven in rotation by the belt (5) and being equipped at one of its axial ends with a toothed wheel (13, 14), this pump having the special features that: the drive wheel (4) and the belt (5) are smooth; each shaft (9, 10) of the rotor (7, 8) comprises at least one smooth section (16, 17) arranged to co-operate with the belt (5), and the toothed wheels (13, 14) of the shafts (9, 10) of the rotor (7, 8) are dimensioned and arranged to mesh with one another.

A vacuum pumping arrangement includes a first primary pump having an inlet and an outlet, and a first common pumping line fluidly connected to the inlet, the first common pumping line including a plurality of first common pumping line inlets each of which is fluidly connectable to at least one vacuum process chamber forming the semiconductor fabrication tool, the first primary pump and the first common pumping line handling deposition process flows. The pumping arrangement further including a second primary pump having an inlet and an outlet, and a second common pumping line fluidly connected to the inlet of the second primary pump, the second common pumping line including a plurality of second pumping line inlets each of which is fluidly connectable to at least one process chamber forming the semiconductor fabrication tool, the second primary pump and the second common pumping line handling cleaning process flows.

A vacuum pump includes a vacuum pump having a discharge port to which an abatement part for treating an exhaust gas discharged from the vacuum pump to make the exhaust gas harmless is attached. The vacuum pump includes a cylindrical member having an exhaust gas introduction port for introducing the exhaust gas to be treated and a gas outlet port for discharging gases which have been treated, a plurality of fuel nozzles provided at a circumferential wall of the cylindrical member for ejecting a fuel, and a plurality of air nozzles provided at the circumferential wall of the cylindrical member for ejecting air so as to form a swirling flow of air along an inner circumferential surface of the circumferential wall. The air nozzles are disposed at a plurality of stages spaced in an axial direction of the cylindrical member.

A deposit detection device for an exhaust pump is provided, which can be easily put into operation without the burdens of, for example, installing equipment for flowing a gas, or adding or changing operation modes in apparatuses. The device is configured to include: a means for detecting motor current values a motor that rotates a rotating body; a current value storage portion that stores only motor current values that are equal to or greater than a preset value from among detected motor current values; an average value calculation portion that calculates an average value per unit time of the stored motor current values; an average value storage portion that stores the calculated average value; an approximation calculation portion that determines a linear approximation of the stored chronologically ordered average values; and a difference value calculation portion that determines a difference value between a predicted motor current value calculated by using the linear approximation and an initial motor current value at a start of use of the exhaust pump. A time when the difference value exceeds a predetermined threshold is determined as a time for maintenance of the exhaust pump.

A vacuum pumping system includes a plurality of positive displacement vacuum pumps, and more particularly a plurality of positive displacement vacuum pumps working in parallel. The vacuum pumping system includes a management unit that carries out a synchronized control of all the positive displacement vacuum pumps of the vacuum pumping system and thus allows to check possible risk of contamination of the vacuum pumping system and carry out, if needed, the necessary corrective actions without requiring any modification to the construction of the vacuum pumping system.

Disclosed is a pump system for a semiconductor chamber includes a housing having a front chamber and a rear chamber, a roots-type rotor provided to the front chamber of the housing, a screw-type rotor provided to the rear chamber, a shaft member coupled through the roots-type rotor and the screw-type rotor, and a driving motor provided to the outside of the housing in such a way as to be axially connected to the shaft member to provide power for driving the rotors. A fluid pipe is provided to the outside of the housing to connect the front chamber and the rear chamber. The fluid pipe is provided with a heater and/or a cooler to heat or cool the fluid flowing through the fluid pipe.

A gas treatment device treats, at atmospheric pressure, the gases pumped by at least one rough pumping device. The gas treatment device includes a treatment chamber and at least one discharge pipe to connect a discharge of the at least one rough pumping device to an inlet of the treatment chamber. The gas treatment device further includes at least one auxiliary pumping device to lower the pressure in the at least one discharge pipe, situated less than 1 meter from the inlet of the treatment chamber, such as less than 50 cm.