Other

Fujikin Inc.

Tokyo Electron Limited

Tomio Uno

Nobukazu Ikeda

Kouji Nishino

Ryousuke Dohi

Tadahiro Ohmi

Michio Yamaji

Kazuhiko Sugiyama

Atsushi Matsumoto

Osamu Nakamura

Eiji Ideta

Satoshi Kagatsume

Jun Hirose

Hiroyuki Fukuda

Takashi Hirose

Hiroshi Koizumi

Hideki Nagaoka

Masaaki Nagase

Akihiro Morimoto

Yukio Minami

Toyomi Uenoyama

Tetu Kagazume

Kazuo Fukazawa

Katsunori Yonehana

Kazuhiro Yoshikawa

Migaku Takahashi

Tsuyoshi Tanikawa

Naofumi Yasumoto

Ryosuke Dohi

Susumu Ozawa

Seiichi Iida

Yasuyuki Yanai

Yoshihiro Satou

Osamu Fukada

Eiji Takahashi

Mutsunori Koyomogi

Kazuo Fukasawa

Hiroshi Kannan

Kenetu Mizusawa

Akniobu Teramoto

Shujiro Inui

Taiji Sakai

Masanori Ueyama

Disclosed is a method of controlling the flow rate of clustering fluid using a pressure type flow rate control device in which the flow rate Q of gas passing through an orifice is computed as K=KP1 (where K is a constant) with the gas being in a state where the ratio P2/P1 between the gas pressure P1 on the upstream side of the orifice and the gas pressure P2 on the downstream side of the orifice is held at a value not higher than the critical pressure ratio of the gas wherein the association of molecules is dissociated either by heating the pressure type flow rate control device to the temperature higher than 40&#xb0; C., or by applying the diluting gas to the clustering fluid to make it lower than a partial pressure so the clustering fluid is permitted to pass through the orifice in a monomolecular state.

Method for flow rate control of clustering fluid and device for flow rate control of clustering fluid employed in the method

A gas supply facility includes a plurality of pressure type flow controllers connected in parallel, and a first controller to control operation of the plurality of pressure type flow controllers so as to supply a desired gas exhausted by a vacuum pump to a chamber while controlling its flow rate, one of the pressure type flow controllers operates as a second controller to control the gas flow rate range up to 10% of the maximum flow rate supplied to the chamber, while the remaining pressure type flow controllers are made to be ones that control the rest of the gas flow rate range. Furthermore, pressure inside the chamber is controlled by installing a pressure detector in the chamber, inputting the value detected by the detector to the controller, and by adjusting a control signal to the pressure type flow controllers.

Internal pressure controller of chamber and internal pressure subject-to-control type chamber

The present invention prevents substantial reduction of flow rate control accuracy in a small flow quantity range, achieves accurate flow rate control over the entire range of flow rate control, and also allows control of a wide pressure range of a chamber with accurate flow rate control. Specifically, a gas supply facility having a plurality of pressure type flow controllers connected in parallel, and a third controller to control operation of the pressure type flow controllers to supply a desired gas exhausted by a vacuum pump to a chamber while controlling its flow rate, is provided wherein one pressure type flow controller is a controller used to control a gas flow rate range up to 10% of the maximum flow rate supplied to the chamber, while the remaining pressure type flow controllers are made to be ones controlling the rest of the gas flow rate range.

Gas supply facility of a chamber and a method for an internal pressure control of the chamber for which the facility is employed

A differential pressure type flowmeter comprises an orifice, a detector to detect a fluid pressure Pon the upstream side of an orifice, a detector to detect a fluid pressure Pon the downstream side of an orifice, a detector to detect a fluid temperature T on the upstream side of an orifice, and a control computation circuit to compute a fluid's flow rate Q passing through an orifice by using the pressure P, where Pand temperature T detected with the aforementioned detectors, and the aforementioned fluid's flow rate Q is computed with the equation(()&#x2212;())(where Cis a proportional constant, and m and n are constants).

Differential pressure type flowmeter and differential pressure type flow controller

A small hole diameter measuring apparatus including: a flow rate measurement section comprised of an automatic pressure control device which supplies a fluid to the inlet side of small holes in a plate while maintaining the outlet- and inlet-side pressures of the small holes in the critical state of the fluid and controlling the inlet-side pressure to a predetermined inlet-side pressure; a plate holding section comprised of a plate supporting device which rotatably holds the plate, and a test probe supporting device which supports a test probe so that the test probe is moved vertically and horizontally; and a control section comprised of a calculation and judgment part, which calculates the hole diameter during the supply of the fluid based upon the measured value of the flow rate from the flow rate measurement section, and an external output part, which outputs the calculated value to the outside.

Small hole diameter automatic measuring apparatus, small hole diameter measurement method, and shower plate manufacturing method

A pressure sensor, a pressure control apparatus, and a flow rate control apparatus are provided to automatically correct temperature drift of the pressure sensor and accurately detect pressure despite changes in temperature. An embodiment includes an upstream side pressure sensor between an orifice and a control valve, to control flow rate through the orifice by a regulating control valve, while calculating the flow from the upstream side pressure. With a temperature sensor, a memory means, and a temperature drift correcting means which calculates drift of the upstream side pressure sensor from data in the memory means when the temperature of the fluid changes and offsets the output drift of the upstream side pressure sensor with the calculated amount of the output drift, temperature drift of the pressure sensor is automatically corrected, enabling accurate control of flow rate.

Apparatus for the correction of temperature drift for pressure sensor, pressure control apparatus and pressure-type flow rate control apparatus

A pressure-type flow rate control apparatus controls the flow rate of fluid passing through an orifice to a target flow rate. The flow rate of a compressible fluid under non-critical conditions (sub-sonic) passing through the orifice is calculated by:() Also provided is an improved pressure-type flow rate control apparatus in which a pressure ratio P/P=r, obtained from an upstream pressure Pand a downstream pressure Pis constantly compared with a critical value r, and under critical conditions (r&#x2266;r), the flow rate is calculated by:Qc=KP.Under non-critical conditions (r&#x3e;r), the flow rate is calculated by Qc=KP(P&#x2212;P).

Pressure-type flow rate control apparatus

A fluid supply apparatus with a plurality of flow lines branching out from one pressure regulator with the flow lines arranged in parallel and constructed so that opening or closing one flow passage will have no transient effect on the steady flow of the other flow passages. Each flow passage is provided with a time delay-type mass flow controller MFC so that when one closed fluid passage is opened, the mass flow controller on that flow passage reaches a set flow rate Qs in a specific delay time &#x394;t from the starting point. The invention includes a method and an apparatus in which a plurality of gas types can be controlled in flow rate with high precision by one pressure-type flow control system.

Parallel divided flow-type fluid supply apparatus, and fluid-switchable pressure-type flow control method and fluid-switchable pressure-type flow control system for the same fluid supply apparatus

A fluid supply apparatus with a plurality of flow lines branching out from one pressure regulator with the flow lines arranged in parallel and constructed so that opening or closing one flow passage will have no transient effect on the steady flow of the other flow passages. Each flow passage is provided with a time delay-type mass flow controller MFC so that when one closed fluid passage is opened, the mass flow controller on that flow passage reaches a set flow rate Qs in a specific delay time At from the starting point. The invention includes a method and an apparatus in which a plurality of gas types can be controlled in flow rate with high precision by one pressure-type flow control system.

A method of detecting abnormalities in flow rate in pressure-type flow controller. The method checks the flow rate for abnormalities while controlling the flow rate of fluid in a pressure-type flow controller FCS using an orifice&mdash;the pressure-type flow controller wherein with the upstream pressure P maintained about two or more times higher than the downstream pressure P , the downstream flow rate Q is calculated by the equation Q &equals;KP (K: constant) and wherein the control valve CV is controlled on the basis of the difference signal Q between the calculated flow rate Q and the set flow rate Q .

Method of detecting abnormalities in flow rate in pressure-type flow controller

A fluid control valve, which can control a fluid having a pressure in the order of 10 kg/cm , has a response time in the order of several milliseconds can be made small in size, and a fluid supply/exhaust system that provides less gas counter flow in the event of a plurality of valves being used. A fluid control valve of the invention controls a fluid moving in a valve body by closing and opening a portion between a valve seat and a valve holder by use of a drive unit. The drive unit has a rod-shaped shaft for application of pressure through the valve seat and the valve holder, and a member &ldquo;a&rdquo; fixed around the rod-shaped shaft. The member &ldquo;a&rdquo; is made from a magnetic material, and has a space between it and the shaft. A coil provided in parallel to the shaft, moves the shaft via the member &ldquo;a&rdquo; up and down by electromagnetic induction, and makes use of a spring force to close and open a portion between the valve seat and the valve holder.

Fluid control valve and fluid supply/exhaust system

Method and apparatus for detection of orifice clogging in pressure-type flow rate controllers

An improved and reduced-size and low-cost gas supply system equipped with a pressure-type flow rate control unit, to be used, for instance, in semiconductor manufacturing facilities is disclosed. Transient flow rate characteristics are improved to prevent the gas from overshooting when the gas supply is started, and to raise the flow rate control accuracy and reliability of facilities. That eliminates non-uniformity of products or semiconductors and raises the production efficiency. The gas supply system equipped with a pressure-type flow rate control unit is so configured that with the pressure on the upstream side of the orifice held about twice or more higher than the downstream side pressure, the gas flow rate is controlled to supply the gas to a gas-using process through an orifice-accompanying valve, the gas supply system comprising a control valve to receive gas from the gas supply source, an orifice-accompanying valve provided on the downstream side of the control valve, a pressure detector provided between the control valve and the orifice-accompanying valve, an orifice provided on the downstream side of the valve mechanism of the orifice-accompanying valve and a calculation control unit where on the basis of the pressure P,detected by the pressure detector, the flow rate Qc is calculated with an equation Qc&equals;KP,(K: constant) and the difference between the flow-rate specifying signal Qs and the calculated flow rate Qc is then input as control signal Qy in the drive for the control valve, thereby regulating the opening of the control valve for adjusting the pressure P,so that the flow rate of the gas to supply can be controlled.

Gas supply system equipped with pressure-type flow rate control unit

A fluid control valve, which can control a fluid having a pressure in the order of 10 kg/cm,, has a response time in the order of several milliseconds can be made small in size, and a fluid supply/exhaust system that provides less gas counter flow in the event of a plurality of valves being used. A fluid control valve of the invention controls a fluid moving in a valve body by closing and opening a portion between a valve seat and a valve holder by use of a drive unit. The drive unit has a rod-shaped shaft for application of pressure through the valve seat and the valve holder, and a member &ldquo;a&rdquo; fixed around the rod-shaped shaft. The member &ldquo;a&rdquo; is made from a magnetic material, and has a space between it and the shaft. A coil provided in parallel to the shaft, moves the shaft via the member &ldquo;a&rdquo; up and down by electromagnetic induction, and makes use of a spring force to close and open a portion between the valve seat and the valve holder.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Tomio Uno