Patent ID: 8246760

Claim:
A method of cleaning a plurality of deposition pins in a system with a lower chamber; a drain basin; a plurality of cleaning tubes, each cleaning tube having an inlet end and an outlet end, each tube inlet end being in fluid communication with the lower chamber, each tube outlet end being in fluid communication with the drain basin, and each tube outlet end adapted to receive at least a portion of one of the deposition pins; and a vent tube, the vent tube having an inlet end and an outlet end, the inlet end being disposed in and in fluid communication with the lower chamber, the terminus of the vent tube inlet end being above the level of the cleaning tube inlet ends relative to a substantially horizontal reference plane, and the outlet end being in direct fluid communication with the drain basin, the method comprising: providing a cleaning fluid into the lower chamber to a level above the outlet ends of each cleaning tube so that vapor within the lower chamber is displaced by the cleaning fluid, and continuing to provide the cleaning fluid so that vapor remaining in the lower chamber is compressed and the cleaning fluid flows upward through the cleaning tubes; and disposing at least a portion of a single one of the deposition pins in the tube outlet end of one of the cleaning tubes while the cleaning fluid flows through the cleaning tubes so that the pin is washed within the tube.