Seksan Dheandhanoo

Quantitative absorption spectroscopy of residual water vapor in high-purity gases: pressure broadening of the 1.39253-μm H 2 O transition by N 2 , HCl, HBr, Cl 2 , and O 2

We determined the respective pressure-broadening coefficients of HCl, HBr, Cl2, and O2 (expressed relative to that of the reference gas N2) for the (v1,v2,v3)J(Ka,Kc) = (0,0,0)3(0,3) --> (1,0,1)2(0,2) rovibrational transition of H2 16O that occurs at 1.39253 microm. The experiment used a continuous-wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy analyzer to measure the peak absorption losses as a function of added moisture concentration. The measured pressure-broadening coefficients for HCl, HBr, Cl2, and O2 are, respectively, 2.76, 2.48, 1.39, and 0.49 times that of the N2 pressure-broadening coefficient, and detection limits for water vapor range from 0.22 nmol mol(-1) for O2 matrix gas to 2.3 nmol mol(-1) for HBr matrix gas. The degradation of the detection limit (relative to the N2 matrix gas) is ascribed to a pressure-broadening-induced reduction in peak absorption cross section and to elevated background loss from the matrix gas.

Atmospheric pressure sample inlet for mass spectrometers

An inlet for a mass spectrometer has been developed for direct sampling of gases over a wide range of pressure (1–760 Torr). The sample inlet is composed of two small orifices that form a pressure reduction region. These orifices are used to limit the flow of sample gas into the mass spectrometer. The pressure inside the pressure reduction region is regulated by a needle valve and a vacuum pump. The flow of gas through the orifices is viscous. The inlet is made of stainless steel and operated at high temperature to prevent surface adsorption and corrosion. Its adaptability to a wide range of pressures is very useful for monitoring process gases during manufacturing processes of microelectronic devices. This inlet can be used for effluent gas analysis at 760 Torr as well as for in situ monitoring of the semiconductor equipment at pressures less than 5 Torr. The inlet provides a fast response to changes in the constituents of gas samples without memory effects. The sample inlet has been tested extensively i...