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Matt Sterling

Mechanical support Co-op


7/15/16

SEM Assembly Process Improvement

Purpose:
The purpose of this paper is to bring to light the issues that were ran into while assembling the
Secondary Emission Monitor (F10043485) in hopes to prevent/mitigate such issues in future
similar models, along with some general assembly reminders.

Issues/Reminders:

We had to fix the threading of multiple holes on the titanium flanges (F10042213)
o This Included -20 holes for the handle plate fitting as well as some of the #6-32
holes on the vacuum side for the foil assembly.
o To fix this we threaded the holes while in NWAs clean room, using alcohol as a
lubricant, making sure to clear the holes afterward with pressurized nitrogen.
The handle plate assembly (F10040753) can very easily be mounted to the side flanges
sideways.
o Take note of the orientation of set screw holes on the vacuum side before
bolting the handle assembly to the flange.
The handle plate assembly does not sit flush to the flange face due to the bolts holding
the handle in place.
o The handle assembly does not necessarily need to sit flush to the flange face but
it is ideal for it to sit even.
Machine a counter bore for the head of the screw so that the handle
plate can sit flush with the flange face.
o We fixed this by placing two -20 washers under each bolt between the handle
plate assembly and the flange face, allowing for a gap that gives the handle bolts
some clearance from the face.
The vacuum window in the titanium flanges (F10042213) needs to be carefully
protected in order to reduce the likelihood of failure (which would be costly and
dangerous).
o Generally it can be protected with the handle plate assembly on one side and a
plastic blank-off on the other side.
o When assembling the Foil Plane Assembly on the vacuum side of the flange, the
blank off needs to be removed and leaves the window open and vulnerable to
abrasions
I mitigated this by cutting two rectangular strips out of the plastic blankoffs just the width of the distance between the screws, then laid them
over the vacuum window in an X shape. (Yellow cross in Figure 1)

Figure 1: Vacuum Window Protection

Figure 2: Damaged Foil

Keep in mind that the titanium foils (F10048432 & F10048433) are incredibly fragile and
need to be handled delicately. (Damage shown in Figure 2)
o They were bagged and placed in plastic blank offs after being cleaned. Even the
wrinkles in the plastic bag containing the foils pose a threat of abrasion to these
foils. I would suggest placing the foils in some sort of box/case (such as the
design of a CD case), as this would allow for the foil to sit on a flat surface thats
less likely to scrape or stress the foil.
Silver plated nuts were used at the top of the threaded rods to cap off the foil assembly.
The reason for the silver plating was to be a dry lubricant. Ironically, the plating caused
quite a bit of resistance when being screwed onto the threaded rods due to the fact that
there was more material in between the threads. In our case, a wrench was needed to
fasten the nuts on.
o Machine flats at the end of the studs to allow for a surface to hold when
tightening the nuts. Tightening the nuts caused the rod to become loosened
from the ceramic posts near the Ti flange assembly.
o Be very cautious when placing the nuts on the rods as you could easily drop
them onto the titanium foils and cause dents/tears.

Figure 3: Finished Foil Assembly

There were some issues concerning the connection between the copper wires and the
bias/signal foils.
o The original idea was to solder the wires to brass lugs (soldered connection in
Figure 4) that would secured onto the threaded rods of the foil assembly with a
nut. But there were a few issues that needed to be addressed when it came to
the solder.
Outgassing of the materials needs to be considered as the connection is
under vacuum. Because of this I ruled out solder with lead, as it
outgasses heavily.
The soldered connection needs to stay strong through the baking of the
assembly at, in our case, 200C.
We chose EurecRod 157, a Tin-Silver solder. This allowed us minimized
outgassing and had a max working temp of 220C
Since the working temp was close to our desired baking temp, I did a few
tests to see how the solder reacted to a 200C bake. I concluded that the
solder held up fine, not becoming gooey at all. The problem was that the
wire was so thin that the lug/wire connection was too easily broken.
o Since the soldered connection wasnt strong enough, we ended up sandwiching
each wire between two stainless steel washers that would provide a clamping
force.
o Make sure the wires are cut with plenty of extra length, as the thick Kapton
insulation is difficult to strip and will most likely result in lost wire length.

Figure 4: Original Soldered Connection

It is a good idea to use a mulitmeter at this point to make sure your foils are electrically
isolated and you wires are connected correctly.

o All bias foils should be in a closed circuit with each other, signal foils should also
be in a closed circuit with each other, and the biased and signal foils should show
an open circuit.
o After checking the foils, strip the very end of the wires and test them with the
foils.
To fit the 4 way cross on, we set the foil plane assembly upright, had one person lower
the cross over the assembly while another person helped feed the wires through the
cross.

Figure 5: 4-way Cross Added

Be careful when feeding the wires through the smaller cross before bolting it to the 4
way cross.
Two things should be done before bolting the top flange with the vacuum window to
the 4 way cross (while you still have access to the foil plane assembly).
o Make sure to note which flange the foil assembly is attached to, record it for
maintenance purposes. In our case, the foil assembly is attached the leftmost
flange if you are facing the electrical feedthroughs.
o Make sure that you distinguish between the bias wire and the signal wire (we
used a small piece of blue tape to signify bias.
o Use the multimeter again to make sure that there is a closed circuit between the
end of your bias wire and the top bias foil. This is mostly to ensure that the
connection wasnt disrupted while feeding the wire through the cross.

Stripping the wire to add the crimped connectors can be difficult due to the thick
Kapton insulation. Be prepared to lose some wire while attempting the strip.
Be careful to correctly connect the wires to the feedthrough, clean the wire that had
tape after removal.
As per Gamma Vacuums instructions, the magnets on the ion pump should be removed
before baking.

Figure 6: Small Cross Added

Figure 7: Ion Pump Added

Figure 8: SEM Nearly Ready for Baking

Figure 9: SEM Being Pumped, Post-Baking


Final Remarks:
The assembly took roughly 25 hours total, but this could easily be cut down by planning for the
issues that Ive addressed. After being baked at about 200C, the ion pump was able to reach
6.4 x 10-10 Torr which was better than the hand calculations predicted. Overall, the assembly
was a success.

Here is the raw data from the baking process:

Contact Matt Alvarez (ID: 15441N) with further questions.

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