Drag pump and a set of vacuum pumps including a drag pump
AssigneeEdwards Limited
InventorNigel Paul Schofield
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A drag pump for pumping gas and a set of vacuum pumps including the drag pump are disclosed. The drag pump comprises: a rotor configured to rotate within a stator component and to drive a gas to be pumped from a gas inlet to a gas outlet; magnetic bearings for rotatably mounting the rotor within the pump; wherein at least a portion of the rotor and stator component configured to contact the gas to be pumped are configured for operation at temperatures above 130° C.
Claims15
A drag pump for pumping gas, said drag pump comprising:
- a rotor configured to rotate within a stator component and to drive a gas to be pumped from a gas inlet to a gas outlet;
- magnetic bearings for rotatably mounting said rotor using magnetic levitation within said pump;
- and
- at least one thermal break between a drive shaft and said rotor mounted thereon;
- wherein at least the portion of said rotor and stator component configured to contact said gas to be pumped are configured for operation at temperatures above 130° C. and said rotor is fabricated at least partially from steel.
A set of pumps for providing a high vacuum within a semiconductor processing chamber, said set of pumps comprising:
- at least one high vacuum turbomolecular pump for evacuating a process chamber;
- and
- a drag pump comprising:
- a rotor configured to rotate within a stator component and to drive a gas to be pumped from a gas inlet to a gas outlet;
- magnetic bearings for rotatably mounting said rotor using magnetic levitation within said pump, said drag pump being connected to an exhaust of said at least one turbomolecular pump via at least one first pipe;
- wherein said set of pumps comprising valve means configured to selectively connect or isolate an inlet of said drag pump with said vacuum chamber via at least one further pipe and to isolate or connect said inlet of said drag pump with said exhaust of said turbomolecular pump.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.