Measuring how well a vacuum is discharged is a huge challenge, and this strange procedure allows us to do it even better

The void is actually not empty. in our universe It has never been. And it won’t be. One way to define it that is easy to get comfortable with is to describe it as a region of space in which there is absolute absence. of matter and energy.

This is the classic concept of emptiness, and it invites us to accept the possibility of its existence, that it does exist, Different degrees of void It can be determined by comparing the pressure in the area of ​​space we want to measure with the atmospheric pressure.

However, modern science has superseded this view. evolution for relativistic mechanics And quantum mechanics has allowed scientists to develop a description of a vacuum that is more modifiable to reality as it is seen as the physical state of an associated system. with the least amount of energy That this could be.

From the point of view Quantum mechanics The void is not empty. It contains randomly generated waves. Also, these waves behave like particles, so there is one way to define this quantum vacuum It is described as a soup of particles that arise and deteriorate very quickly.

This is known as vacuum fluctuations, and the best way to understand it is to Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. This is the idea behind the existence of our universebut what interests us in this article is something more ordinary.

Vacuum discharge gauge is very important for making chips

The quality of the vacuum, understood as the reduction of the amount of matter and energy present in a given region of space, often makes the difference. And we are not talking about theoretical lucubration; There are many scenarios where it is very important in practice quality gap.

Ultraviolet lithography (UVE) machines Manufactured by ASML And they are installed in chip factories of companies such as TSMC, Intel or Samsung, among others, inside the home large vacuum chamber It is designed to reduce the possibility of an airborne dust particle causing physical damage to a part of the silicon wafer.

Another example that clearly demonstrates the need to obtain a high-quality vacuum is tubes Particle accelerators Through it spin particles that are accelerated by very strong magnetic fields. or vacuum chamber for experimental reactors nuclear fusion Where deuterium and tritium nuclei are fused.

These are just three of the scenarios in which it is practically important to measure vacuum quality, and all of them could benefit from the findings of a group of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the United States. And this team Develop a procedure Very sophisticated, according to her first tests, It evaluates the space more accurately than any other system.

Currently, the procedure used in most industrial and research facilities where the vacuum chamber uses sensors designed to determine the electrical current, however small, when gas molecules inside the canister are ionized. The problem is This system degrades Over time, so it must be recalibrated to prevent its reliability from sinking.

In this image we can see how a NIST researcher modified the vacuum gauge he and his colleagues designed. The metal cylinder on the right is the vacuum chamber used to take the measurement.

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The NIST researchers’ suggestion is different. What they did to measure the vacuum of the room was to think of how many gas molecules are inside the can measure their reaction With an array of lithium atoms confined and cooled to a temperature very close to absolute zero (-273.15°C) that the laser shines on.

The interesting thing is that this procedure, according to the researchers who designed it, is very accurate, moreover, the measuring equipment Does not require calibration. At the moment, this strategy has passed the first test of the set of tests that it must pass in order to be officially established as a benchmark. But it looks very good. It’s all about getting weird like connecting the vacuum better. And by the way, to understand it a little better.

Pictures: Nest

more information: Nest