AVS show product news: MKS vacuum gauge controller has wide range

MKS Instruments' Vacuum Products Group (Boulder, CO) has launched a new vacuum gauge controller designed to save space and money by allowing one device to be used across a wide range of pressures that would normally require two devices. The introduction of the product, the Series A900 Piezo/MicroPirani Controller, came at this week's meeting of the American Vacuum Society (AVS) in Boston.

According to MKS Instruments representatives at the company's booth, the new controller has the ability to monitor a complete pumpdown, check the base pressure, and backfill gases, all in one unit. Such an ability is useful in applications such as loadlocks, or any system where specialized gases are backfilled. The measurement range of the unit spans 3,000 to 10^-5 Torr.

New MKS Series A900 controller, shown here at the AVS show, is very compact and features a dual transducer (right) that covers an unusually wide pressure range.

The wide functional range is made possible by the use of a dual transducer that combines two types of components -- a piezo transducer and a miniature Pirani gauge – into one sensing unit, tradenamed the DualTrans transducer. The piezo transducer covers the rough vacuum range, while the miniature Pirani sensor – dubbed the MicoPirani gauge because its uses a tiny (1 mm²) silicon chip for sensing – covers atmospheric pressure down to 10^-5 Torr. The new controller can also be used with other specialized transducers available from the manufacturer.

By Gordon Graff
Managing Editor, Laboratory Network.com
ggraff@vertical.net