Method and apparatus for baking out a gate valve in a semiconductor processing system

摘要

A device for achieving vacuum conditions more quickly in a semiconductor processing system having a vacuum pump (4), a gate valve (6) and a chamber (2) includes a rigid body containing heating elements (9) that contact the surface of the gate valve. The device may include a U-shaped retainer clip (26) for holding the device to the gate valve. A method for heating a gate valve to drive off contaminants involves heating the lower portion (8) of the gate valve to drive contaminants towards the vacuum pump.