Rev 2015-03-02 7
GV10x OPERATION AND SAFETY MANUAL
1. Introduction
1.1 About the GV10x
The GV10x Downstream Asher is intended to be used on any analytical high vacuum tool where
hydrocarbon or carbon contamination prevents satisfactory quantitative and qualitative analysis.
When used with an oxygen containing gas such as room air, the GV10x Downstream Asher
oxidizes hydrocarbon [HC] contamination in these analytical chambers. The Downstream (DS)
Process can also be used with hydrogen gas if oxygen sensitive materials are present. It removes
gas phase HC contamination quickly and ashes surface HC contamination more slowly.
Analytical systems that examine samples of various material types with electron and ion beams
at high magnification, such as CDSEM, SEMs, FIBs, and TEMs, must be HC free to prevent the
HC contamination from obscuring sample details and preventing other spurious effects. Other
applications include XPS, Synchrotron mirror deposit cleaning, etc.
Energetic ions and electrons produced within the GV10x Source by an inductively coupled RF
field recombine and neutralize approximately 4 to 6 inches from the Source exhaust. Beyond
this point, in the downstream, there are no ionic species. The long-lived oxygen radicals react
with hydrocarbons to form CO, CO
2
and H
2
O, and these residual molecules are pumped out of
the vacuum chamber. Unlike cold trapping, hydrocarbons are permanently removed from the
chamber, not merely captured on a cold surface.
The GV10x Downstream Ashing process is not “plasma cleaning” as commonly understood.
These standard plasma cleaners typically create kinetic bombardment or sputtering to clean
samples; this process can heat and damage specimens, detectors, mirrors or other delicate
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