www.entropyltd.

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Technical Brief:

OVER NIGHT VACUUM LOW RESIDUAL Gases and Low

Device Temperature.PROCESS:

VISCOUS FLOW PROCESSING DELIVERS Substantial

REDUCTION IN GAS RESIDUALS as compared with
standard vacuum processing methods.

ENTROPY LTD CAN DESIGN AN INDUSTRIAL SIZED SYSTEM

for vacuum processing of temperature sensitive devices.

This process in fact can deliver ppm total residuals in

less than 24 hours while device bake out temperature
never exceeds 100 C! Compare this with 4-6 percent
residuals for standard vacuum processing. (contact
Entropy LTD for requirements)
ENTROPY LTD LLC

pcyoung@entropyltd.net

entropyltd@att.net

Recent advancements for mechanically strong, hermetic sealing technology

has produced very high performance polymeric seals for vacuum device. The
advent of Polymeric seals has advanced and expanded the size and complexity of
electro optical devices; or any device that requires retention of a vacuum or a
hermetic barrier from atmospheric exposure.

Vacuum processing of these typically required attaching them to a vacuum

station specially designed to attain high or ultra high vacuum. This process requires
large conductance feed through and high bake out temperature of the device
requiring processing. When very low residual contaminants are required; very long
process times are necessary on the order of days.

With the advent of sophisticated, mechanically resilient, high temperature

(150 C continuous) polymeric seals; the potential exists for ever more complex and
compact electro optical devices. Unfortunately standard high vacuum processing
places constraints on the conductance of the vacuum interface requiring it to be as
large as possible otherwise residuals and process time prohibits the ultimate
attainable vacuum.
 ENTROPY LTD has developed a novel approach to achieve very low residuals
for elastomeric/polymeric sealed devices within a 24 hour TOTAL PROCESS TIME;
the device bake out temperature never exceeds 100 C!!!

Compare this to the 4-6 percent total residuals for standard vacuum
processing.

If your company has a vacuum device requiring < 100 ppm total residuals
ENTROPY LTD can provide a solution with our new viscous flow processing system.

Polymer seal development:

ENTROPY LTD has expertise in developing custom polymeric seals utilizing

ceramic adjuncts as well as other additives including Nano Particles and MPC’s. The
addition of ceramic fillers is a standard technique long known to improve both
mechanical and chemical properties of the seal.

Of note is the advantage of substantially reducing the permeation rate of gases

through the polymer. Some customization or optimization is obtained through
mixtures of adjunct materials such as glass fibers and various sizes of ceramic
fillers.

There is a wide selection of sizes, from sub micron to 10’s of microns, and types
of filler materials, from spheres to shards, each providing some attribute to assist
the customer in engineering a solution for your specific sealing requirements.

Recently work has been done in universities indicating the advantages in adding
NANO PARTICLES to polymers to further control the aspect of the polymer that
needs modification for that application. For instance if your product or device has a
sensitivity to Oxygen and is inert to the effects of Nitrogen or Argon then there are
specific combinations of Nano Particles and nano composites sizes that will
selectively reduce the permeation of chemically reactive gases relative to inert
gases.

This has significance for devices sensitive to either Hydrogen or to Oxygen, CO,
CO2. Whereas it is difficult to reduce permeation rates of Hydrogen through most
materials; A seal can theoretically be altered with the right formulation of filler
materials to reduce Hydrogen permeation rates substantially.

As the size of devices continues to decrease these customized polymer

formulations have not been exploited sufficiently.

We have experience in formulating polymeric seals with ceramics , NP and Nano

composites. While specific research will be required to determine the ideal
admixture necessary for you application; we can provide some expertise in this
area.

Entropy LTD LLC has devised a low temperature vacuum processing

system that does not require device bake out temperatures any greater
than 100 C. Process is capable of <100 ppm total gas residuals (compared
with ~ 5.6 % residuals using std vac process) in under 24 hours (includes
heating and cooling cycles). This is nearly 100 times better than standard
UHV vacuum processing.

Metallic seals can form excellent hermetic seals good to 10 e-10 torr cc per
second leak rate of Helium. However, soldering, brazing and welding generate
issues relative to the high temperatures necessary to affect a good seal.

Cold metal seals such as Indium still require a substantial force to squeeze
the sealant mandating a fairly large seal area and application of forces; putting
further constraints on the design and many times limiting the size of the device due
to the overtly large seal itself.

Polymeric seals on the other hand are not constrained by the above and can
be scaled to the design as long as there is adequate surface area and sufficient
thickness of the polymer to prevent diffusion and or permeation of gases into the
device.polymeric’s has enabled the construction of smaller more complex devices
as metallic seals limit the size and the mechanical design.