New electrostatic dust collector for use in vacuum systems

A new active dust collector was developed for use in vacuum systems. The dust is collected using an electrostatic force only or using an electron beam. The dust collecting electrode is made from copper-clad fiberglass epoxy. The potential of the electrode can be varied from −3 to +3 kV. The current of the electron beam was 14 μA, and the vacuum pressure in the test chamber ranged from 10−6 to 10−7 Torr. The dust collecting device was tested with several conducting and nonconducting dust materials ∼60 μm in size on substrate materials of stainless steel, Al, Cu, Si wafers, and quartz. Dust removal was monitored using an optical microscope with a video camera. The results show that the new active dust collector removes 90% or more of the dust materials from most substrates.