Il Sig.Zaverio Lazzero ha partecipato attivamente agli eventi organizzati dalla AIM - Associazione Italiana della Metallurgia in qualità di Docente in materia di " Tenuta in pressione dei getti ".
Lazzero e i Progetti dell'Unione Europea:
EMRP 2010 Joint Research Project Protocol,
JRP14i Vacuum metrology for production environments
LAZZERO Tecnologie S.r.l. partecipa al Progetto di Ricerca indetto dalla Unione Europea dal titolo "EMRP 2010 Joint Research Project Protocol, JRP14i Vacuum metrology for production environments".
Publishable JRP Summary Report for JRP IND12 Vacuum
Vacuum metrology for production environments
Summary:
Vacuum as an important and indispensable tool for many industrial processes is poorly characterized and traceable in practical applications. In the past the focus was to establish standards for total pressures for pure gases under stable conditions and for secondary leaks. For present-day requirements, in industrial applications, this is no longer sufficient. Standards for partial pressures and dynamic pressures will be established in this JRP, since these quantities need to be measured to control industrial processes. Leak traceability has to also be considered in the industrial environment. Where traceability to standards is not possible, standardization will help industry by making comparable measurements available. Research will be carried out both to establish standards and to enable standardization. This research will lead to a facility for dynamic pressures and establish traceability for partial pressures, outgassing rates and leak rate measurement in industry.
The project
Vacuum is an important and indispensable tool for many industrial applications from the semiconductor industry, photovoltaic, lightning industry to food packaging to name just a few examples.
Primary and secondary standards for total vacuum pressures are relatively well established worldwide. These measurement standards provide the possibility to disseminate the absolute pressure scale below atmospheric pressure for pure gases (mainly nitrogen) and under equilibrium or stationary conditions.
Industrial processes, however, very rarely work with pure gases (e.g. physical and chemical vapour deposition) and often operate in non-equilibrium environments (e.g. CD/DVD metallization), where the pressure is dynamically changing. In addition, there is a lack of a traceable or comparable method for outgassing rate measurement to fully characterise the material that is made into a component or built into a vacuum chamber (e.g. EUV-Lithography).
Another aspect of industrial vacuum metrology is leak and material testing. Leak and small outflow measurements are very important in many branches of industry (cold storage facilities, air conditioning systems whose leak rates have to meet the requirements of e.g. DIN 8964 and EN 14091, containment systems for toxic, radioactive and environment polluting substances). Nevertheless, the leaks usually occur under conditions different from those used for calibration: different pressures, temperatures and temperature gradients, gas species and mixtures or even liquid flows through the leak instead of gas. Research is needed to provide industry with traceability under practical conditions.
Measurement standards for partial pressures and dynamic pressures will be established in this JRP. Where traceability to measurement standards will not be possible, standardisation will help industry to have comparable measurements available. Research will be carried out both to establish measurement standards and to enable standardisation. This research will lead to a facility for dynamic pressures and establish traceability for partial pressures, outgassing rates and leak rate measurement in industry.
Scientific and technical objectives:
Novel dynamic vacuum calibration facility
- Provision of a vacuum system with very fast pressure changes in rough vacuum (from 100 kPa to 100 Pa in 1 second)
- Provision of an "ab initio"-method to predict pressure < 100 kPa with time (theoretical, simulation work) with an accuracy of at least 50%
- Enabling the detection of very fast pressure changes (2.7 ms and 100 Pa resolution and 15 ms and 3 Pa) by suitable vacuum gauges with simultaneous measurement of very fast temperature changes
- First conclusions on the suitability of optical methods on the detection of fast pressure changes based on an experimental feasibility study
- Data on the relaxation time of vacuum gauges for fast pressure changes. Qualification of suitable gauges for dynamic vacuum pressure changes
Improvement of leak measurement and testing in industrial environment
- Provision of methods better suited to leak measurements under realistic conditions, e.g. with regard to the actual gas and pressure conditions
- Provision of condition-variation methods in order to gain additional information on leaks enabling better conversion to industrial conditions
- Specification of alternative methods than mass spectrometer leak detectors to detect leaks within a second or less (dynamic measurements)
- Supply of a practical guide on the metrological performance of commercial leak detectors
Providing traceability for partial pressure measurement in industry
- Identification of key parameters (influencing sensitivity for different gases) needed for the calibration of QMS
- Information on the time stability of metrological characteristics of industrial QMS and factors that influence this stability
- Establishment of a standard to calibrate QMS from 10-8 Pa to 10-2 Pa.
- Provision of "in-situ" calibration methods for gas flow measurement in industrial systems using QMS
- Provision of a draft for standardization of the calibration of QMS (ISO TC 112)
- Provision of methods to compare results obtained with QMS from different manufacturers
- Provision of a feasibility study including experimental tests of alternative optical methods for partial pressure measurement like tuneable diode laser spectroscopy (TDLAS), cavity ring down spectroscopy (CRDS), or Fourier Transform IR spectroscopy to measure and control process gases in fine and high vacuum
Providing traceability of industrial outgassing rate measurement and material characterization
- Provision and test of an industrially applicable method of outgassing rate measurement from 10-8 Pa L/s to 10-1 Pa L/s. Evaluation of the uncertainty budget for this outgassing rate measurement.
Uncertainties between 10% and 20% (depending on range)
- Establishment of key parameters suitable for traceability of this outgassing rate measurement method
- Provision of reference materials for validation of outgassing rate measurements in industrial environments
- Conclusions on the comparability of different outgassing methods in terms of reliability, accuracy, and practicability for industry
- Provision of a draft for standardization of traceable outgassing rate method (ISO TC 112)
JRP start date and duration : September 2011, 36 months
JRP-Coordinator : Dr Karl Jousten, PTB
JRP-Partners :
JRP-Partner 1 PTB, Germany
JRP-Partner 2 INRIM, Italy
JRP-Partner 3 IMT, Slovenia
JRP-Partner 4 LNE, France
JRP-Partner 5 CMI, Czech Republic
JRP-Partner 6 CEM, Spain
JRP-Partner 7 UME, Turkey
JRP-Partner 8 INFICON Ltd, Liechtenstein
JRP-Partner 9 VACOM GmbH, Germany
JRP-Partner 10 Danfoss A/S, Denmark
JRP-Partner 11 Lazzero Tecnologie S.r.I, Italy
JRP-Partner 12 INFICON GmbH, Germany
REG-Researcher Vincenzo Ierardi, Italy (Associated Home Organisation): University of Genova, Italy