Patent ID: 7767023

Claim:
A vacuum pumping system, comprising: a turbo-molecular pump (TMP) configured to be coupled to a vacuum processing system at an inlet end, the TMP including a longitudinal axis substantially parallel to an axis of rotation of the TMP and a first lateral axis substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis; and an independent containment device configured to mitigate a catastrophic failure of said TMP by impeding only one translational degree of freedom (DOF) and only one rotational DOF of the movement of said TMP, wherein impeding only one translational DOF includes impeding translational motion of the TMP in a first lateral direction substantially parallel to the first lateral axis, wherein impeding only one rotational DOF includes impeding rotation of the TMP about the longitudinal axis, and wherein the independent containment device does not impede translational motion of the TMP in a second lateral direction that is perpendicular to both the axis of rotation of the TMP and the impeded first lateral direction such that, during installation of the TMP, freedom of movement of the TMP in the second lateral direction eases alignment and coupling of the TMP with the vacuum processing system.