Vacuum chamber

A gas-tight and pressure-resistant container evacuated by a vacuum pump in which there is residual gas under a low pressure. The residual gas can be air residues attributable to an unavoidable leakage rate, or else gases with a wide variety of properties introduced via dosing valves. Many substances which are liquid under normal atmospheric conditions can also be gaseous under the very low pressures and be present in the vacuum chamber as gases. A wide range of chemical and physical reactions can be implemented in vacuum chambers, such as CVD and  PVD processes, vapour deposition, sputtering, and all low-pressure plasma processes (⇒ Plasma chamber).