Tiger Optics advances market leadership with LaserTrace 3™

Laser Optics LLC, continuing to expand the capabilities of its patented CW-CRDS technology, introduced the LaserTrace 3™ trace gas analyzer at the Semicon West trade show in San Francisco. The LaserTrace 3 can detect moisture, oxygen, methane, and other analyte contaminants at limits that are more than two times (2X) lower than previous generations of the product line.

Tiger, in the industry vanguard, sells laser-based trace gas analyzers to semiconductor manufacturers, tool manufacturers, purifier manufacturers and the gas companies that supply bulk and specialty gases to the industry. In semiconductor manufacturing, contamination in process gases has a destabilizing effect and negatively impacts deposition processes. As a result of as little as single-digit parts-per billion impurities in process gases, product yields are reduced. To remedy this problem, the LaserTrace 3 allows users to monitor for intrusions at levels that were never previously available.

"The leading semiconductor manufacturers have adopted our patented CW-CRDS technology due to the superior detection range, ease of use, the lowest total cost of ownership in the industry, and the fact that this is an absolute technology. No calibration gases are required," said Lisa Bergson, Tiger's founder and chief executive. "In order for our customers to meet targets for the 15-year International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, they need to monitor their process gases at ever increasing levels of purity. The technological advancements of the LaserTrace 3 are a result of Tiger Optics' on-going investment in research and development. We're thrilled that our customers will now be able to realize a two-fold improvement in their detection limits."

Since its debut in 2003, the LaserTrace platform has been widely accepted for semiconductor applications, based on its versatility, ease-of-use, and low cost-of-ownership. The multi-species, multi-point, multi-gas product line accommodates up to four sensor modules in a standard 19-inch rack, or permits placement of individual sensor models as far as 200 feet from the computerized control unit. In 2005, the company introduced its LaserTrace O2 as the world's first laser-based, trace oxygen analyzer to detect parts-per-trillion levels in ultra-high-purity gases.

In 2008, the LaserTrace+ made possible the lower detection limit (LDL) of 200 parts-per-trillion, affording the widest dynamic range of any dedicated analyzer currently in the market.

Tiger Optics in profile
Tiger Optics LLC makes powerful, laser-based gas analyzers that feature and foster clean technology. The company's instruments help manufacturers achieve faster throughput, with less waste. More than 1,000 robust Tiger units are at work in such demanding environments as semiconductor fabrication plants, gas manufacturers, chemical companies, and the metrology institutes of 13 nations.

For further information, view website: www.tigeroptics.com or e-mail: sfowler@tigeroptics.com

Tiger Optics meets demand to monitor gas mixtures

Tiger Optics LLC, the manufacturer of laser-based instruments widely used to detect contaminants in pure gases, said its devices are increasingly sought to monitor gas mixtures. To meet demand, Tiger said it is deploying more gas analyzers from its HALO product line, one of the company's most versatile.

The development signals yet another milestone for Tiger Optics, which holds exclusive rights to multiple, broad-based patents from Princeton University on Continuous Wave Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy (CW CRDS). Tiger analyzers detect the presence of fugitive components down to the low parts-per-trillion level in a variety of gases. Over the past decade, CW CRDS has advanced the analysis of many packaged pure gases, including inert gases, reactive gases (toxic gases, corrosives, and hydrides), and rare gases.

Mixed gas products are commonly used in calibration of chemical instruments, medical and healthcare facilities, laser applications, electronic manufacturing and metal welding. Each application has unique demands of precision in terms of the amounts of blended gases, as well as tolerance for impurities in the mixture.

"Water vapor is a common contaminant that can shorten the useful lifetime of packaged gas mixtures. Our HALO product line is a perfect fit for trace moisture analysis in quality control," said Lisa Bergson, founder and chief executive of Tiger Optics.

Among the features that distinguish the HALO analyzers: fast response, high accuracy, wide detection range, and capacity to evaluate many base gases. The first HALO, introduced in 2006, was designed to offer the speed, specificity and reliability of the original Tiger tools at approximately half the price andone-quarter the size. The device measures moisture in a range from 2 parts-per-billion to 20 parts-permillion.

In 2007, Tiger unveiled HALO+, designed to analyze moisture in gases down to ultra-low levels (0.4 ppb to 20 ppm) required in semiconductor fabrication plants. The latest addition, the HALO-500-H2O, permits a facility's quality control lab to evaluate moisture levels over a very wide 20 ppb - 500 ppm range, encompassing expected moisture values in most gas mixtures. Even under conditions where high moisture samples are followed by sub ppm level samples, the HALO-H2O and HALO-500-H2O can achieve 95 percent of a reading in less than 3 minutes, thereby assuring fast, highly accurate measurements and outstanding sample throughput in the lab.

Such accuracy is essential if gas mixtures are to be evaluated with certitude. Mixtures comprising multiple (two to 100-plus) components are used to set the reference point or scale of laboratory, research, and industrial instruments to accepted primary standards. Meticulous blending to exact specification for each gas component is essential for high sensitivity and accurate measurements from calibrated equipment, such as detectors of environmental pollutants, monitors for breathing gases, and emissions analyzers for industrial manufacturing like fuel and petrochemical production. With HALO analyzers, moisture measurements are accurate to within 4 percent of each reading, thereby providing a great degree of confidence in the shelf life and stability of calibration mixtures.

A standard HALO analyzer includes a family of six base gases (argon, helium, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and clean dry air). The HALO gas menu can be enhanced with other base gases, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, fluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride, as well as gas mixtures.

Options are also available for gas mixture samples that require compatible cell material (such as corrosion-resistant alloys) or specific operation settings (such as such as high/low flow or custom pressure range).

For further information, view website: www.tigeroptics.com or e-mail: sfowler@tigeroptics.com

Upgraded SERVOTOUGH SpectraExact maintains
position as market-leading photometric process analyser

New upgrades to the Servomex SERVOTOUGH SpectraExact (2500) maintain and enhance its position as industry's leading photometric process gas analyser.

 Renowned for offering single or multi-component gas analysis to suit virtually any process, combustion or emissions gas analysis application, the Version D SpectraExact offers new digital communications options, upgraded safety certifications and refinements to the SpectraExact's proven capabilities.

Brand new digital communication options enable the full functionality of the SpectraExact to be controlled remotely and safely, with Modbus implemented through a choice of MODBUS RTU or MODBUS TCP/IP (Ethernet) protocols.

A High Integrity cell option is now available, supplied with specialist chemraz "O" rings to ensure improved leak tightness for use in high concentration, highly toxic gas measurements. Available in one, two, four and eight millimetre pathlengths, the High Integrity cell further enhances the measurement flexibility of the analyser. Meanwhile a Steam Heated cell is now a standard option and available on the safe area, IEC Ex and ATEX variants.

New gas and dust certifications ensure the SpectraExact remains suitable for a wide range of dangerous environments.  IEC Ex certifications have been granted for use in Zone 2 and Zone 1 gas and Zone 21 dust environments,  as well as  ATEX Cat 3 (Zone 2) and Cat 2 (Zone 1) certification to cover both gas and dust environments.

A number of design improvements have also been made to increase the efficiency of the SpectraExact, including improved cell heater connector integrity, improvements to the EMC assembly and redesign of the external AC filter unit.  All these new features combine to improve the flexibility and further enhance the reliability and resilience of the analyser.

"After listening to feedback from our customers, we have made fundamental improvements to the SpectraExact to meet their changing requirements and expectations," says Stuart Rye, Process Photometry Product Manager, Servomex.

"By adding even more value to the SpectraExact's comprehensive functionality, Servomex has ensured that it will continue to lead the field of process photometers for years ahead. This will ensure the SpectraExact remains the analyser of choice for many demanding applications across a vast range of industries, including the measurement of hazardous and corrosive gases and liquids."

The D Version of the Safe area, ATEX and IEC Ex variants are available immediately, with the FM-approved FM CI1, Div2 version to be available in the United States from June-2011.

For more information about the SERVOTOUGH SpectraExact (2500), contact the European Business Centre (+31 (0) 79 330 1581 / 00800 737866390 Toll free in France, Holland, Germany, Belgium and the UK) Americas Business Center (+1 281 295 5800) or Asia Pacific Business Centre (+86 (0)21 6489 7570).

For further information view website: www.servomex.com  Refer to page 229