Buying a Glove Box System - MBRAUN Glovebox Systems

Web publication from: Department of Electrical Engineering (www.ee.technion.ac.il)
Original Link: http://www.ee.technion.ac.il/people/nir/Buying_a_Glove_Box_System.htm

Buying a Glove Box System
(Assuming you are going for a custom made = head ache + money)

Define your needs.

Some tips:

We went for a split box (two boxes) with separate atmosphere. One box is organic and the other can be used by just anyone (inc. III-V people).
In the "organic" box we have solvent adsorber on top of the O₂ and H₂O adsorber. Note - not all solvents are compatible with the adsorbers (ask for a list).
If it is important to you that you'll never have water/oxygen levels above10-20ppm then you should ask for a second adsorber system to operate while you regenerate the first one. During normal operation there shouldn't be a problem to keep below 1ppm (in ours it is below 0.1ppm - detector limit).
In the organic box we have a vacuum oven for annealing. It is best to have an oil-free pump for it (otherwise you might have a bit of oil on the surface and very interesting contact phenomena). Ask for a programmable oven and make sure you can specify also the cooling rate (don't take it for granted).
In the organic box we have a programmable spinner. It is recessed into the box floor (has its own small box) and there is special suction that opens to the spinner box when it is operated. This way the solvents that evaporate during the spinning do not contaminate the entire box. Ask also for a foot switch.
Make sure to have electrical feedthrough to the box in the form of BNC and possibly TRIAX too. Also add some standard vacuum type connections of the KF or NW type.
Anti-static gun to reduce static electrical charge.
If your box and load-lock chambers (ante-chambers) are connected to the same pump ask for one way valve so that you won't fill chamber A when you start pumping chamber B (or reduce pressure in the glove box).
A refrigerator or a cold well (5c) might be a god idea.
If you intend to keep clean environment - Heppa filters. In any case keeping the box clean is hard.
If you intend to collaborate with clean room people you should know that they are very sensitive to Copper tubing (traps in Si). You can ask for stainless in the box tubing and should have inert gas pipes made of stainless (note the different grades + price).
In our general box we have a metal evaporator. If you intend to deposit also dielectrics and organics you should remember to perform special cleaning procedures to avoid cross contamination. You may be tempted to think that water are not going to be an issue - wrong (ppm is a lot at 10^-7mbar). We have a 306 (edwards) with cryo pump and a dry rotary pump (goes down to 3x10^-7 in 30 minutes). The advantage of a cryo is that it runs all the time so that your vacuum chamber is all the time clean (pumps fast). Drawback - noise and vibrations (ask for a solution).
DO NOT FORGET - make sure to get a precise definition of the system requirements in terms of: Inert gas flow (l/min), cooling water (l/min + in-out pressure difference), electrical power. Don't forget that for your custom made system you are not supposed to get the "standard" brochure.

Start with a survey of relevant companies and try to find a combination of a good company with a reliable local representation. If your local agent has no technical knowledge than you should expect the number of "misunderstandings" and "mistakes" to shoot up to the sky (If you are lucky you'll catch them all in time).

We bought ours from M Braun and we got more then we asked for.