Vacuum chambers atmosphere manipulation

In producing anti reflective layers, reflective, dialectric, absorbent and other thin films in vapor deposition under atmosphere, a robustly sealed environment is needed to hold low atmospheres as achieved by turbomolecular, diffusion, cryogenic and other pumping systems.

I have experience in the three mentioned above with the amplitude being in the latter two and less in the former.

In the large vacuum chambers I have worked with I typically achieved base pressures as low as 3x10-8 torr.

In ophthalmics for example it was standard to achieve 3x10-7 base pressure before the 1st layer commenced.
The ophthalmic industry machines used a high degree of automation whilst I have worked with chambers that require more involvement.

In some environments a chiller is used in conjunction with poly-boxes or poly-colds while on the other end of the spectrum I have filled my own liquid nitrogen tanks from large supply tanks for use in manually pumping ln2 through a meissner. Some meissners I helped construct and install in experimentation for best or ever changing result requirements.

In high vaccum environments coatings are produced using electron beam guns and ion sources as well as other simpler sources such as jori's.
Beams are shaped and manipulated using basic elements and more complex parts that can vary in laboriousness and complexity.

Ion sources create & manipulate atomic & molecular ions, collisions with atoms, sub atomic particles, atoms, molecules and ions in a high vacuum environment with varying low pressures.
Typically a minimum pressure is needed in order to prevent arcing and for best results.

I was first introduced to vacuum chambers in the ophthalmic industry where I accepted an offer for a Sr. Technician position and later grew into a management position in a fairly long tenure with an innovative organization. This later translated into Aerospace and other industries where I spent a few years in a Sr. Technician role.