Overview - EBARA 80?25 Installation Operation & Maintenance

EBARA Multi-Stage Dry Vacuum Pumps Pump Maintenance
Allow the pump package to cool before attempting any maintenance. Wear
protective gloves when performing maintenance on the coolers.
5.10.1

Overview

The following information is provided to help the end user become familiar with the
coolers and to assist in making the required maintenance as easy and trouble-free as
possible.
The Ebara multi-stage dry pump is equipped with "heat exchangers", or "inter-coolers"
designed to keep the pump clean and to improve its performance.
These coolers are a maintenance item and must be cleaned periodically in order to
provide a long life of clean, dry vacuum pumping.
The coolers have been designed to be removed, cleaned, and replaced with minimum
downtime. They are made of high quality stainless steel to provide long life and to
resist the harshest of processes. To minimize down time, maintaining a second set of
coolers is advisable.
The coolers are designated by the stage of the pump that is entering the cooler.
Coolers are designated as 3rd, 4th, and 5th stage.
On Single Pass coolers, the gas flow passes through tubes surrounded by a water
jacket.
Inspection
Solid matter gradually builds up on the inside of the gas coolers when the pump is run
with process gases. The rate of build-up is dependent on the process and wafer
throughput. Therefore, part of the maintenance of the pump includes periodically
inspecting and cleaning the gas coolers.
Ebara recommends that all coolers used on process equipment be inspected after two
to three months of use to determine the amount of process build-up. (See 'Cooler
Inspection Procedure'). Since most processes are not identical, the time intervals and
the amount of build-up between cooler cleanings will vary. Process build-up depends
mostly upon process chemical content and the amount of usage. Once a rate of
buildup is determined, subsequent cooler cleaning can be scheduled a convenient time
so as not to interfere with production.
All coolers should be cleaned when process build-up in the coolers reaches 50%-60%
full. If the cooler maintenance is ignored, the process build-up will clog the coolers,
causing the pump to overheat, or causing process build-up inside the pump chambers.
These factors will require premature pump overhaul or possibly replacement of the
pump.
The following list summarizes the typical intervals between cooler cleanings for several
common semiconductor processes. If not listed below, please contact the local Ebara
930601-P 29