INFICON achieves optimum values for leak testing in semiconductor industry with UL6000 Fab

With the UL6000 Fab, INFICON,  one of the world’s leading manufacturers of leak testing devices and instruments, has launched its latest generation of mobile leak detectors for large-volume production lines in the semiconductor industry.

INFICON developed this portable device for use in the production of semiconductor chips and in production lines for solar cells, flat panel displays, glass and plastic foil coating, and vacuum systems in general.  Just like its predecessor, the UL5000, the new device also uses the vacuum method with helium as the tracer gas.

The UL6000 Fab’s unique booster turbomolecular pump moves helium with more than 36 liters per second. This exceptional high helium pumping speed means that the device is extremely quick to respond with very short signal rise and decline times.  A high-performance roots pump with an air pumping capacity of 36 m³ per hour acts as a roughing pump for bulk evacuation.

The UL6000 Fab’s sensitivity is also unrivaled: it will detect even the tiniest leaks down to 5∙10^-12 mbar∙l/s completely reliably.  All this makes the UL6000 Fab the fastest, most sensitive leak testing system on the market.  For semiconductor manufacturers, for example, the new leak detector soon pays for itself by shortening precious equipment downtime per usage.

Innovative pump technology

The innovative UL6000 Fab booster turbomolecular pump unites speed with precision. It pumps helium with 36 liters per second and ensures minimal response times and instant cleanup of the tracer gas helium. The device uses a roots pump as a roughing pump, thus ensuring minimum evacuation times with maximum air pumping speed of 36 m³/h. It maintains the highest air pumping speeds over a wide pressure range, in particular the rough vacuum, something that other roots pumps can only do at their optimal pressure.

This provides a speed advantage of several minutes per test, especially for larger production tools with volumes between 50 and 1,000 liters or more. Designed especially for INFICON, the roots pump is also exceptionally low-maintenance, has a very long service life, and can withstand a high steam load.

The UL6000 Fab is fitted with a connection for a DN63 connection bellow, thus allowing maximum effective helium pumping speed to be applied to the test item largely unrestricted. This also increases the leak rate signal strength, signal response and decline are also sped up. A DN40 adapter ensures smaller diameters can also be handled as usual, albeit with a slight reduction in helium pumping speed.

User-friendly thanks to intelligent functions

The newly developed UL6000 Fab incorporates the now established operating concept and design of its smaller brother, the UL3000 Fab (ULTRA), designed for testing smaller volumes. The new UL6000 Fab offers a whole range of intelligent functions which help operators in its use. For example, I·CAL is a time-saving software algorithm, which filters out noise components from the signal while also detecting the tiniest signal amplitudes.

I·ZERO 2.0 is a zero-point function which suppresses the helium background in the test item without affecting test precision and reliability. INFICON’s exclusive MASSIVE Mode technology allows gross leaks to be pinpointed very quickly, even if the pressure does not fall below atmospheric pressure or significantly below atmospheric pressure because of a gross leak when pumping out.

The HYDRO·S-Function eliminates the hydrogen component of the signal caused by water or moisture in the test item. The I·CHECK feature measures the background concentration of helium in the ambient air to ensure optimum measurement conditions. All these functions help to make the newly developed UL6000 Fab the fastest leak detector on the market.