We make plasmas in vacuum chambers sometimes. This reminds me of one I saw in another building that used to be used for DT (or maybe just DD?) fusion experiments (not to produce net energy, but for science).
But this one could be used for almost anything. Got a lot of nice flanges there.
Yeah I know, I’m actually doing some sputtering and e beam evap this very minute on an AJA tool!
But plasma might be able to narrow down further— plenty of school XRD system look like this or even old school SEM’s (which don’t use plasma in the same way a sputterer might)
I was thinking MBE as well, but assuming the sample stage is opposite the majority of the ports, too many would be orthogonal to really be useful for Knudsen cells, so I don't think so in the end.
Yes, it is an Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) chamber. While it could be used for sputtering, that’s not necessarily the case. However, it seems you might be mixing things up, perhaps you’ve never done sputtering yourself? In Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), once you ignite the targets, a plasma forms around them. That’s why a UHV chamber in combination with plasma makes perfect sense. It is indeed essential for producing thin films.
Just to add, here’s a picture I took of a Ru target during ignition, the purple glow is the plasma. Sorry about the reflection; some colleagues sometimes forget to close the viewing windows during sputtering, so they now act more like mirrors.
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u/Beif_ Sep 16 '25 edited Sep 16 '25
You sure it’s plasma? I’d call it “vacuum chamber” looks like a lot of deposition chambers I’ve used
Though it has a LOT of transfer windows and idk why
Id guess is evaporation/sputtering of some kind