A blog on the repair, operation and calibration of surface analysis systems and components including electron spectrometers, sputter ion guns and vacuum related hardware. Click on the Index tab below to see a list of all posts. Visit our website at http://www.rbdinstruments.com
This blog post includes a video that demonstrates the area of illumination for a PHI 04-548 dual anode X-ray source. That is, where the X-rays hit the sample.
The 04-548 dual anode source typically has one anode side that is Mg and the other side is Al. The older XPS systems that have an 04-548 X-ray source use a lens on the input to the SCA (Spherical Capacitor Analyzer) which determines the analysis area. For example the PHI 5600 XPS system can analyze areas as large as 10mm X 4mm down to 75uM.
The actual illumination area of the 04-548 dual anode X-ray source is quite large as shown in this video – 04-548 X-ray source illuminationarea.
Today’s state of the art XPS systems focus a small electron beam onto an aluminum target in conjunction with a mono-chromator to excite a very small area on the sample. Rather than exciting a very large area, today’s XPS systems excite a very small area. Down to just a few microns which make it possible to image the sample and analyze surface defects.
The 74-500 DASH (data acquisition system hardware) is used on PHI 5600 to 5800 XPS systems and comprises two circuit boards to count the MCD preamp signals. Those boards plug into a motherboard which in turn is connected to power supplies and the PC.
The DASH motherboard has connectors on both sides of the board and so it can not be flow soldered on both sides of the board. To get around that issue the motherboard was designed using square pins on the 96 pin connectors which fit tightly into some round pads on the board. The corners of the square pins make electrical contact with the pads.
Over a long period of time (20 plus years) oxidation can buildup on the square pins which result in poor electrical contact between the pins and the pads.
The result can be unstable operation of the DASH that can show up at unstable data, wide peaks and overflow count rates (over 20 million CPS).
The fix for this contact issue is to solder the pins to the pads by hand. There are a total of 576 pins that need to be soldered, it takes some time to do.
The pictures below show the back of the DASH mother board and the pins before and after soldering.
Remove the two little break out board and then solder all the pins. Clean off the flux after soldering all the pins.
Replace the breakout boards after soldering and cleaning the board. If your MCD or DASH issue is related to the DASH mother board pin contacts, soldering all of the pins on the 96 pin connectors will solve the problem.
For more information about troubleshooting count issues with the PHI 5600 to 5800 XPS systems contact RBD Instruments.
The 16-020 heat exchangers are used with the older Physical Electronics (PHI) 5100 through 5400 X-ray photo-electron spectrometer (XPS) systems.The 16-020 has a built-in deionizer cartridge (and a particle filter) which keeps the water in the closed loop system clean and it also keeps the resistance of the water high.
The original deionizer cartridges were blue and had a recess in the bottom of the filter that matched up with a plastic guide on the bottom of the Millipore housing.Those blue deionizer cartridges are no longer available. The new replacement deionizer cartridges do not have a recess on the bottom.
When a new deionizer cartridge is used with the original Millipore housing the plastic guide on the bottom of the housing will push up on the bottom of the deionizer.This makes it difficult if not impossible to fully screw on the housing.It also puts pressure on the bottom of the deionizer cartridge which can rupture the bottom of the deionizer and cause the media particles to leak out, potentially causing an issue with the water flow and or damage the pump and lead to a catastrophic anode melt down. There are two ways to solve this fit issue. One is to cut and grind out the top part of the guide on the original Millipore housing. To do that you need to remove the plug on the bottom of the housing and then use a drill or cutting wheel that is mounted on a drill extension. The pictures below show a housing before and after modification.
The other option is to replace the original Millipore housing with new housing that correctly fits the new deionizer cartridge. But if you replace the housing you will also need to replace the manifold as the new manifold will not fit into the original Millipore manifold.
RBD Instruments provides both deionizer cartridges and housings. If you have the original Millipore housing on your 12” deionizer cartridge then I recommend that you inspect it to see whether the guide on the bottom has been cut down or not.If not, you should cut it down or replace the housing.
If the deionizer is ruptured then the entire cooling system (reservoir, pump, water lines and source) needs to be inspected and flushed out.This problem is an issue only with the 12″ deionizer cartridge on the 16-020 heat exchangers.
The 16-050 heat exchanger that is used on the 5600 and up XPS systems has a 10″ deionizer cartridge.
Not sure if you need to replace your deionizer cartridge?Just run up the high voltage on your X-ray source to 15kV but do not set an power to the X-ray source.Observe the emission current reading on the HV supply.If the deionizer is good the reading will be 1-2 mA.Once the leakage current gets up to 3-4 mA at 15kV you should plan on replacing the deionizer cartridge and particle filter soon.If the leakage current at 15kV is 5 mA or higher you should replace the deionizer and particle filter and also flush out the water with new distilled water from a grocery store.Lab distilled water does not always work but grocery store distilled water works every time.
Contact RBD Instruments to order the deionizer and particle filter.
