The Lam Chamber redesign was created due to a process change by our customer that was causing the anodized aluminum chamber to fail prematurely. The exposed portion of the mid chamber was breaking down and causing particulate failure of the wafers.

Because of the failure of the mid chamber the equipment down time and maintenance had increased to a weekly occurrence.

We studied the problem and the design of the chamber and came up with a solution. We remachined the mid chamber and designed a ceramic liner to replace the failing area. We also redesigned the oring seal to allow for easier installation and better sealing.

Chamber cleaning went from weekly to monthly and chamber replacement was not necessary. Over a period of one year this upgrade saved the customer in excess of $50,000 dollars in parts and maintenance costs and millions of dollars in lost product.