The document discusses creating a vacuum and discusses various approaches to building vacuum systems at low cost. It begins with using an inexpensive rotary vane pump to create an initial vacuum and then discusses strategies for building more advanced vacuum systems. These strategies include looking for mass market components, shopping on sites like Taobao, dumpster diving, and building components yourself when needed. The document provides examples of vacuum systems the author built over time, from an initial system scavenged from dumpsters to an ultra-high vacuum system built using these low-cost approaches.

1. A talk about nothing
Sébastien Bourdeauducq, Stewart Mackenzie
Institute of Experimental Physics for Morons, Hong Kong
June 14, 2017
David Iliff, CC-BY-SA

2. Why create a vacuum?

3. Why create a vacuum?

4. Why create a vacuum?

5. Why create a vacuum?

6. Why create a vacuum?

7. Why create a vacuum?

8. Why create a vacuum?

9. Why create a vacuum?
”On the usefulness of useless knowledge” – Helmut Schwarz

10. Let’s get started
The first step: oil-sealed rotary vane pump, the most common and
cheapest type of pump. Creates a vacuum around 10−2 to
10−3mbar from atmosphere. This vacuum can be used to start
other pumps (e.g. turbomolecular pump, diffusion pump, ion
pump) that reach higher vacuums, if needed.
Sounds simple enough?

11. Let’s get started

12. Let’s get started
Wait

13. Let’s get started
Vacuum companies are bullshitting you.

14. Vacuum company bullshit

15. Vacuum company bullshit

16. Vacuum company bullshit
98.5% markup! Now that’s good business!

17. Vacuum company bullshit

18. Solutions?
• Be skeptical of vacuum businesses
• Do not use overly fancy items (”good enough”)
• When you do need fancy, shop around
• MDC Vacuum, Highlight Tech Corp, Fil-Tech, Duniway
Stockroom, ...
• Look for mass markets
• Build your own
• Taobao
• Dumpster diving
• eBay

19. Rotary vane pump
• Do not use overly fancy items
• Look for mass markets: those pumps are also used for
servicing AC
• Taobao

20. Vacuum hardware
• Look for mass markets: used in semiconductor processes,
making bags of potato chips, ...
• Taobao

21. Vacuum gauge
• Look for mass markets
• Taobao
• Build your own (electronics)

22. My first vacuum system (Berlin 2013)
Dumpster diving + Build your own

23. My first vacuum system (Berlin 2013)

24. First plasma

25. Electron beam

26. Evaporator (Hong Kong 2015)

27. Evaporator (Hong Kong 2015)

28. Evaporator (Hong Kong 2015)

29. Evaporator (Hong Kong 2015)

30. Evaporator (Hong Kong 2015)

31. Ultra-high vacuum system (Hong Kong 2015–)
• Very challenging
• Three types of pumps (scroll, turbomolecular, ion)
• Needs bake-out and very clean parts
• Maybe one day do single-atom (ion trap) experiments

32. Ultra-high vacuum system (Hong Kong 2015–)

33. Ultra-high vacuum system (Hong Kong 2015–)

34. Creating UHV: Ion pump power supply
• Do not use overly fancy items
• Build your own
• Taobao

35. Measuring UHV: Ionpak
• Build your own
• OSHW - github.com/m-labs/ionpak

36. Measuring UHV: Ionpak

37. The next step: Spectropak
• Controller for quadrupole mass spectrometers
• Also OSHW
• Quite complex – high frequency, high voltage, high dynamic
• Very useful for UHV diagnostics and troubleshooting

38. Thank you and happy hacking!