| 摘要 |
Disclosed herein is an improved gas gate (42) for interconnecting regions of differing gaseous composition and/or pressure. The gas gate includes a narrow, elongated passageway (92) through which substrate material (11) is adapted to move between said regions and inlet means (93) for introducing a flow of non-contaminating sweep gas into a central portion of said passageway. The gas gate is characterized in that the height of the passageway and the flow rate of the sweep gas therethrough provides for transonic flow of the sweep gas between the inlet means and at least one of the two interconnected regions, thereby effectively isolating one region, characterized by one composition and pressure, from another region, having a differing composition and/or pressure, by decreasing the mean-free-path length between collisions of diffusing species within the transonic flow region. The gas gate preferably includes a manifold at the juncture point where the gas inlet means and the passageway interconnect.
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