Observation and Elimination of Recoil Particles From Turbo Molecular Pumps

The existence of recoil particles from the turbo molecular pump has been verified. The recoil particles may be the root cause of yield degradation for the vacuum processes such as the plasma etching processes. To eliminate the recoil particles, they must be trapped inside the turbo molecular pump or inside the manifold chamber. After experimenting with various materials and designs, we have built a novel recoil particle trap and verified its effectiveness in a semiconductor production line.