Conditioning The Furnace - TA Instruments DISCOVERY XENON FLASH Getting Started Manual

Conditioning the Furnace

Vacuum performance dwindles during off time due to moisture absorption into the insulation and contami-
nation of the furnace. To prevent this, the furnace should be kept closed and under positive pressure of inert
gas atmosphere. Regardless, after a period of time, an unused furnace may require conditioning in order to
restore vacuum performance.
1 Vacuum the furnace down to below 300 mTorr.
2 Purge inert gas (stop the vacuum pump and open the valves for inert gas to pass through the furnace)
for more than 1 minute.
3 Restart the vacuum to 250 mTorr and purge again with inert gas. Repeat the process a couple of times,
gradually going down with vacuum values to 50 mTorr. If the vacuum valves do not reach 50 mTorr,
move to step 4 or leave the system under vacuum over night.
4 Set the furnace temperature to 200°C (see below for instructions) for two hours under vacuum.
Setting the Furnace Temperature to 200°C
1 From the Setup menu, select Select Diagnostic Mode.
Figure 46 Setup > Select Diagnostic Mode.
DXF Getting Started Guide Page 62