Brooks Instrument Blog

Many of our customers need to turn liquids into vapor to apply a treatment to an item, or to use vapor as an ingredient to create something. Some specific examples include MOCVD, Atomic Layer Deposition, or Vacuum Polymer Film Deposition. Generating vapor reliably is very difficult, and many users of vapor cobble their own vapor generation system together and assume everything is working as expected. Most of our customers currently using our vaporizer system began with their own creations, and changed to the Brooks system after encountering the results of their home-made designs such as: inconsistent yield, chamber pressure spikes, operating expenses that are higher than expected, inability to support changing vapor demand, or safety problems or concerns.

In this video, Ed Fisher provides an overview of one of the larger integrated direct liquid injection vaporizer systems that Brooks Instrument has completed.  This fully-automated vapor generation solution provides methyltrichlorosilane (MTS) vapor blended with Hydrogen on demand – whenever and wherever the customer requires vapor. Whether it’s mounted in a cabinet or on a small metal plate, every Brooks vaporizer is configured to meet the exact needs of the application to provide:

Vapor On Demand: The unique method of vaporization used by Brooks provides the fastest on/off vapor flow response available. The dual vaporizer design in the video is also ultra-flexible; allowing the vapor output of two vaporizers to be sent to two different processes, or both vapor outputs can be combined and sent to either individual process whenever there is a spike in vapor demand.

Safe Vapor Generation: As shown in the video, the Brooks design uses color coded labels to identify the system locations that contain hazardous materials, and there are numerous electrical fail-safes and backup systems.  The Brooks method of vaporization also does not require a vessel filled with a bubbling, hazardous chemical to generate vapor. All Brooks vaporizer designs are created to maximize operator and equipment safety.

Control of Vapor Costs: The ultra-fast on/off vapor flow control of the Brooks vaporizer minimizes the amount of vapor wasted in the scrubber that isn’t used in the process. The electrical design in the video extends the real-world operating life of the vaporizers, sensitive liquid precursors do not experience thermal decomposition, and additional instrumentation costs for vapor flow controllers are avoided.

You can find out more information about the Brooks direct liquid injection vaporizer by getting in touch with your local Brooks product expert. If you would prefer that the local expert contact you, feel free to enter some information about your application into this form.

Of course, you’re always welcome to call my colleagues and me at Brooks whenever we can be of assistance: 888-554-3569 ext. 3000.

If you’d like to read a bit more about instrumentation and process control, feel free to check out more of my contributions summarized on my Google Plus profile.

Well, last week sure was a busy one for Brooks with two major trade shows going on for us at the same time. We had the Fuel Cell Seminar in Orlando, FL and the Chem Show in New York, NY last week. I personally attended the Chem Show in NYC. The show was much smaller than in years past but we still made some good contacts and spoke with a lot of customers searching for flow meters and flow controllers. Not to mention our direct liquid injection vaporizer system. I always find it humorous that our magical floating ping pong demo attracts so much attention. It’s so simple yet everyone loves to stop and see how we are using our 4800 Series mass flow controller and 1355 Sho-Rate flowmeter to levitate  a ping pong ball in mid air! Read more…

Yesterday, during the Chem Show in New York City, our very own Steve Kannengieszer was interviewed by Chemical Processing magazine‘s Senior Digital Editor, Traci Purdum. We’re still waiting for the video but I thought I would share some of the Q&A’s that were covered. If you are at the Chem Show, stop by and see us at booth 303! Read more…

During the same exact week that we’ll be at the Chem Show, we’ll also being exhibiting at the Fuel Cell Seminar, dividing and conquering! You’ll see our industry experts Jan Christensen and Nigel Glover hanging out and ready to talk flowmeters with you at our booth, which is booth #412.

We have a lot of great new products to showcase at this years Fuel Cell Seminar like the SLA5800 Series digital thermal mass flow controllers and mass flow meters. The SLA5800 Series elastomer sealed digital thermal mass flow meters and mass flow controllers offer unparalleled flexibility and performance for the fuel cell industry. They offer faster response, better accuracy and improved control over traditional analog devices. Industry leading repeatability ensures a stable process even under changing conditions. The devices’ self diagnostics and alarms eliminate downtime. These devices have a proven track record in many fuel cell test stands, so stop by and ask Nigel or Jan about them. Read more…

As a vendor exhibiting at Intersolar you get to see the show from a little different perspective than the average show visitor.  Through your interaction with numerous customers visiting your booth you start to get a sense of the mood of the attendees and the opportunities that exist in the solar industries.

My first observation is that I was glad Brooks Instrument participated in the Intersolar portion of the combined Semicon/Intersolar show.  From a facilities perspective, the two venues for the shows almost reflected the state of the two industries.  Intersolar is located in Moscone West, a new exhibit hall which features large windows that let in the sun and generates a positive atmosphere on the show floor.  The solar industry is the future and these facilities reflect that optimism.

Read more…

Did you ever look at a large expensive building covered in glass? That glass is usually coated with some exotic materials to reflect heat in either direction. Some glass manufacturers are even shipping self cleaning glass. If you look hard, some of those large glass panels have stripes on them. Builders and architects hate that; so do I.

The stripes are usually caused by variations in the thickness of the coating material causing light to reflect non-uniform angles. A glass coating company I recently visited was coating sample pieces and was struggling with that same problem. This glass company was vaporizing a super secret liquid precursor for coating glass. In this process the vapor traveled through a very hot slot (as wide as the glass) over hot moving glass where a surface reaction takes place causing it to bond with the glass.

Read more…

I’m very excited to introduce you to the official Brooks Instrument Blog! This blog will be a great place for processing audiences from all industries to learn more about Brooks products, technologies, interesting applications, industry trends and so much more. Plus, the blog is a great place for you to share your ideas and opinions about all types of flow, pressure and level products and applications.

We plan on updating the blog more than once a week in categories such as Coriolis and thermal mass flow, level measurement, pressure applications, direct liquid injection vaporizer solutions and variable area meters. We’ve put together a great core team of experts that will post to the blog, including members of Brooks’ management, sales and product management teams. I encourage you to post comments on any or all of the blog entries as it’s a great way to share knowledge and find suggestions from some of the industry’s leading specialists.

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