Leak Detection

Any single leak present on a semiconductor tool and its related facilities can impact manufacturing throughput and yield. Consequences vary from loss of production due to unreached process specs to critical safety hazard. Therefore, leak detection is a critical and mandatory step of any new tool commissioning in the clean room or after any maintenance intervention. At the basement level, forelines & dry pumps are also regularly exchanged for cleaning or repair. We provide comprehensive tracer gas leak detection solutions which guarantee vacuum integrity of your installation from process chambers down to gas abatement. Our goal: Maximize your production yield.

Application requirements

High sensitivity to maximize manufacturing yield
High performance and fast time to operation for reduced equipment downtime
Robust and user friendly for easy and continuous use

Leak detector ASM 390 and ASM 392 from Pfeiffer Vacuum

Leak detector ASM 390 and ASM 392 in 3D

How does it work?

When it comes to leak tightness, common equipment of a semiconductor fab can be divided in two groups:

Equipment working under vacuum: These are most of the manufacturing tools.
To ensure quality of the final product, vacuum installation must remain free from any contamination. Vacuum integrity, therefore, needs to be guaranteed after any tool installation or chamber maintenance by using a vacuum leak detection method. With the tracer gas leak detector being directly connected to the equipment under vacuum, any leak will be detected by spraying tracer gas around possible leak sources of the installation. To make it even easier, short reaction times and detector mobility are keys.

Equipment working under pressure such as gas lines and cabinets.
Due to the potentially harmful nature of process gases, such lines need to be leak tested before being put in operation. In such cases, the sniffing leak detection method is used: the line to be tested is filled with tracer gas under pressure. The sniffer probe of the detector is used to detect any tracer gas that would be escaping from it. Compactness and versatility of the detector are a must for this application.

Product portfolio

When a leak occurs on complex or large volume systems, such as process chambers or forelines, high performance leak detectors are needed in order to speed up the leak detection process, thus reducing equipment downtime. Thanks to their outstanding performances, ASM 390 & ASM 392 are the perfect choice for your leak tightness challenges, insuring process quality and optimized MTBF. In addition, these detectors are Semi S2 certified, responding to all semiconductor market requirements.

For an overpressurized system, or when access to the test area is difficult, a compact & portable leak detector is the most appropriate solution. The ASM 310, offering maximum flexibility without compromise on performance and sensitivity, is the best answer to those maintenance requirements.