Patent ID: 8679287

Claim:
A method of protecting a vacuum pump in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system from CVD reactants in effluent from an ALD process in an evacuated primary CVD reaction chamber in the system where the reactants in the effluent are initially successive flows of individual reactants separated by pulses of purge gas flows, comprising: heating a reaction element that comprises a mesh in an evacuated secondary reaction chamber positioned in a foreline between the primary CVD reaction chamber and the vacuum pump to a temperature that accommodates reaction of the CVD reactants; and flowing all of the effluent of individual separated reactants into and through enough of the mesh of the heated reactor element to thoroughly mix all of the theretofore individual separated reactants together with each other in the mesh so that the mixed reactants react together in gas-phase and surface reactions in and on the mesh to react substantially all of the CVD reactants in and on the mesh and thereby to consume the reactants in and on the mesh, which effectively removes the reactants from the effluent before the effluent reaches the vacuum pump.