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68-611: Edwards Ltd is a British multinational vacuum pump and exhaust gas management systems manufacturer. Its headquarters are in Burgess Hill , UK, and has been part of the Atlas Copco Group since 2014. Edwards holds 1,700 patents , including for dry (oil-free) vacuum pumps , and produces equipment used for manufacturing semiconductors , scientific research, freeze drying and other industries. Its pumps remove contaminants at CERN's Large Hadron Collider . Manufacturing

136-404: A diffusion pump, or a dry scroll pump backing a turbomolecular pump. There are other combinations depending on the level of vacuum being sought. Achieving high vacuum is difficult because all of the materials exposed to the vacuum must be carefully evaluated for their outgassing and vapor pressure properties. For example, oils, greases , and rubber or plastic gaskets used as seals for

204-584: A high vacuum for oil purification. A vacuum may be used to power, or provide assistance to mechanical devices. In hybrid and diesel engine motor vehicles , a pump fitted on the engine (usually on the camshaft ) is used to produce a vacuum. In petrol engines , instead, the vacuum is typically obtained as a side-effect of the operation of the engine and the flow restriction created by the throttle plate but may be also supplemented by an electrically operated vacuum pump to boost braking assistance or improve fuel consumption. This vacuum may then be used to power

272-511: A measurement taken around 1635, or about 34 feet (10 m). This limit was a concern in irrigation projects, mine drainage, and decorative water fountains planned by the Duke of Tuscany , so the duke commissioned Galileo Galilei to investigate the problem. Galileo suggested, incorrectly, in his Two New Sciences (1638) that the column of a water pump will break of its own weight when the water has been lifted to 34 feet. Other scientists took up

340-807: A safe, regulatory way. Vacuum coating is used in other industries, including solar cell photovoltaics. They are produced with processes such as crystalline silicon , CdTe, CIGS, or Silicon Thin Film Technology, all of which require vacuum. Lithium-ion batteries are a rapidly growing market, that also requires large amounts of vacuum in various stages of their production. Edwards CTI-Cryogenics and Edwards Polycold cryopumps and cryochillers play their role in cryogenic fields: MRI machines that uses liquid helium and require cryogenic cooling, storage of large quantities of food, freezing of blood and tissues samples, and semiconductors, as their technology and structures become more complex. The Edwards Lecture Series

408-543: A single application. A partial vacuum, or rough vacuum, can be created using a positive displacement pump that transports a gas load from an inlet port to an outlet (exhaust) port. Because of their mechanical limitations, such pumps can only achieve a low vacuum. To achieve a higher vacuum, other techniques must then be used, typically in series (usually following an initial fast pump down with a positive displacement pump). Some examples might be use of an oil sealed rotary vane pump (the most common positive displacement pump) backing

476-406: A suction pump was used in siphons to discharge Greek fire . The suction pump later appeared in medieval Europe from the 15th century. By the 17th century, water pump designs had improved to the point that they produced measurable vacuums, but this was not immediately understood. What was known was that suction pumps could not pull water beyond a certain height: 18 Florentine yards according to

544-400: Is consumed to back atmospheric pressure. This can be reduced by nearly 10 times by backing with a small pump. Additional types of pump include the: Pumping speed refers to the volume flow rate of a pump at its inlet, often measured in volume per unit of time. Momentum transfer and entrapment pumps are more effective on some gases than others, so the pumping rate can be different for each of

612-458: Is known as viscous flow. When the distance between the molecules increases, the molecules interact with the walls of the chamber more often than with the other molecules, and molecular pumping becomes more effective than positive displacement pumping. This regime is generally called high vacuum. Molecular pumps sweep out a larger area than mechanical pumps, and do so more frequently, making them capable of much higher pumping speeds. They do this at

680-473: Is now the second biggest market for Edwards Vacuum, after the semiconductor and electronics industry. The compact disk was invented in the 1980s, initially to store and play digital audio recordings but a few years later also as general data storage. Vacuum is used for the metallization of CD surfaces. In 1984, Edwards’ Henry Wycliffe invented the Drystar roots/claw dry pump, patended by Edwards. The Drystar

748-403: Is possible. Several types of pumps may be used in sequence or in parallel. In a typical pumpdown sequence, a positive displacement pump would be used to remove most of the gas from a chamber, starting from atmosphere (760 Torr , 101 kPa) to 25 Torr (3 kPa). Then a sorption pump would be used to bring the pressure down to 10 Torr (10 mPa). A cryopump or turbomolecular pump would be used to bring

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816-656: Is predominantly handled by subsidiary businesses in the Czech Republic , South Korea, USA and China. Edwards' global research and development facilities remain in the UK. Major customers in 2012 included Samsung , Hynix , Agilent and LG . In 1919, physicist and university lecturer Frederick David Edwards and his father William founded their eponymous business in Camberwell, London , as Edwards Equipment and Services. They sold vacuum pumps to research laboratories from

884-533: Is the longest-running lecture series at City, University of London , having reached its 44th edition in 2023. The lecture commemorates the work of physicist and Edwards Vacuum founder FD Edwards, a member of staff at City, University of London's predecessor institution, The Northampton Institute, and Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers. The lecture has a distinguished history and has been given by five Nobel Laureates over

952-416: Is typically 1 to 50 kPa, while a scroll pump might reach 10 Pa (when new) and a rotary vane oil pump with a clean and empty metallic chamber can easily achieve 0.1 Pa. A positive displacement vacuum pump moves the same volume of gas with each cycle, so its pumping speed is constant unless it is overcome by backstreaming. In a momentum transfer pump (or kinetic pump ), gas molecules are accelerated from

1020-576: Is usually baked, preferably under vacuum, to temporarily raise the vapour pressure of all outgassing materials in the system and boil them off. If necessary, this outgassing of the system can also be performed at room temperature, but this takes much more time. Once the bulk of the outgassing materials are boiled off and evacuated, the system may be cooled to lower vapour pressures to minimize residual outgassing during actual operation. Some systems are cooled well below room temperature by liquid nitrogen to shut down residual outgassing and simultaneously cryopump

1088-509: The Edwards vacuum pump business. Vacuum technology has always been an important utility in the production of electronics. The first TV and radio technologies emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, and Edwards Vacuum delivered vacuum pumps for the production of valve amplifiers, which enabled transmission and reception. In its initial years, Edwards Vacuum imported vacuum equipment from Germany's Leybold . A freeze-drying method using vacuum chambers

1156-607: The Shoreham factory of former subcontractor J H Holmes and Son Ltd in 1958. In the 1960s the firm listed as a public company and suffered from strike actions . Its founder FD Edwards died, and after financial difficulties, the company was sold to BOC . BOC Group's purchase of Edwards in 1968 was followed by international expansion, particularly into Asia, and investment at the Crawley , Eastbourne , Shoreham and Burgess Hill sites. In 1984, Edwards developed and patented

1224-464: The mass flow rate of the pump. When discussing a leak in the system or backstreaming through the pump, throughput refers to the volume leak rate multiplied by the pressure at the vacuum side of the leak, so the leak throughput can be compared to the pump throughput. Positive displacement and momentum transfer pumps have a constant volume flow rate (pumping speed), but as the chamber's pressure drops, this volume contains less and less mass. So although

1292-526: The UK, France, Germany and the USA. When World War II began, German patents were voided in the UK, which meant Edwards was cut off from their suppliers. This led the company to begin manufacturing its own products in 1939. The firm was rebranded W Edwards and Co in 1940, then Edwards High Vacuum International Ltd in 1950, and moved from London to Crawley in 1953. Edwards purchased Italian freeze-drying equipment manufacturer Alto Vuoto SpA in 1954, followed by

1360-662: The accumulation of displaced molecules in the high vacuum pump. Entrapment pumps can be added to reach ultrahigh vacuums, but they require periodic regeneration of the surfaces that trap air molecules or ions. Due to this requirement their available operational time can be unacceptably short in low and high vacuums, thus limiting their use to ultrahigh vacuums. Pumps also differ in details like manufacturing tolerances, sealing material, pressure, flow, admission or no admission of oil vapor, service intervals, reliability, tolerance to dust, tolerance to chemicals, tolerance to liquids and vibration. A partial vacuum may be generated by increasing

1428-454: The atmosphere. Momentum transfer pumps, also called molecular pumps, use high-speed jets of dense fluid or high-speed rotating blades to knock gas molecules out of the chamber. Entrapment pumps capture gases in a solid or adsorbed state; this includes cryopumps , getters , and ion pumps . Positive displacement pumps are the most effective for low vacuums. Momentum transfer pumps, in conjunction with one or two positive displacement pumps, are

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1496-486: The base pressure will be reached when leakage, outgassing , and backstreaming equal the pump speed, but now minimizing leakage and outgassing to a level comparable to backstreaming becomes much more difficult. An entrapment pump may be a cryopump , which uses cold temperatures to condense gases to a solid or adsorbed state, a chemical pump, which reacts with gases to produce a solid residue, or an ion pump , which uses strong electrical fields to ionize gases and propel

1564-456: The challenge, including Gasparo Berti , who replicated it by building the first water barometer in Rome in 1639. Berti's barometer produced a vacuum above the water column, but he could not explain it. A breakthrough was made by Galileo's student Evangelista Torricelli in 1643. Building upon Galileo's notes, he built the first mercury barometer and wrote a convincing argument that the space at

1632-418: The chamber could still be full of residual atmospheric hydrogen and helium. Vessels lined with a highly gas-permeable material such as palladium (which is a high-capacity hydrogen sponge) create special outgassing problems. Vacuum pumps are used in many industrial and scientific processes, including: In the field of oil regeneration and re-refining, vacuum pumps create a low vacuum for oil dehydration and

1700-408: The decades, increasing the importance of vacuum purity. The scientific and medical markets have always been important for Edwards. The introduction of X-ray technology required the use of a vacuum. Vacuum technology also played an important role in the development of neuroimaging (brain scanners), like MRI , CT, and PET scanners . The first home computers were brought to the market in the 1970s and

1768-469: The development of computer technology has been unstoppable ever since. The mass production of CRT displays and integrated circuits necessitated electronic companies to scale up, with vacuum installations becoming bigger and demand for vacuum purity increasing. In the 1970s, Edwards Vacuum also collaborated with Seiko Seiki for the invention of magnetically suspended turbopumps. These molecular turbopumps use magnetically levitated bearings, which eliminate

1836-418: The development of radar transmitters and receivers used in operations, glass coating of binoculars and windscreens , infrared systems , used for night flying and operations, foil coating , which confused radar systems and the introduction of freeze-drying to remove moisture, applied to various pharmaceutical processes. After the war, some of the inventions found new applications. The first transistor radio

1904-473: The ex employees's trade secrets . Hoffman counter claimed Edwards used the confidential due diligence information to pitch their products to Hoffman's key customer at prices just below Hoffman's own intended level, and to demand cost reductions from suppliers to match those obtained by Hoffman. Hoffman alleged Edwards employed monopoly practices in breach of the Sherman Act because it had 70% share of

1972-477: The expense of the seal between the vacuum and their exhaust. Since there is no seal, a small pressure at the exhaust can easily cause backstreaming through the pump; this is called stall. In high vacuum, however, pressure gradients have little effect on fluid flows, and molecular pumps can attain their full potential. The two main types of molecular pumps are the diffusion pump and the turbomolecular pump . Both types of pumps blow out gas molecules that diffuse into

2040-651: The first practical high vacuum dry (no-oil) pump. The design was taken up by the fast-growing semiconductor manufacturing market. In 1992, Edwards purchased Electrotech Ltd's semiconductor manufacturing exhaust gas management systems. It was based in Nailsea before moving to Clevedon, UK to add to Edwards' semiconductor manufacturing environmental abatement technology. Four years later in 1996, new facilities in Burgess Hill are inaugurated. In 1997, BOC merged its electronics gases business with Edwards as BOC Edwards. In

2108-436: The following motor vehicle components: vacuum servo booster for the hydraulic brakes , motors that move dampers in the ventilation system, throttle driver in the cruise control servomechanism , door locks or trunk releases. In an aircraft , the vacuum source is often used to power gyroscopes in the various flight instruments . To prevent the complete loss of instrumentation in the event of an electrical failure,

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2176-423: The gases being pumped, and the average volume flow rate of the pump will vary depending on the chemical composition of the gases remaining in the chamber. Throughput refers to the pumping speed multiplied by the gas pressure at the inlet, and is measured in units of pressure·volume/unit time. At a constant temperature, throughput is proportional to the number of molecules being pumped per unit time, and therefore to

2244-410: The grain direction of the metallic flanges should be parallel to the flange face. The impact of molecular size must be considered. Smaller molecules can leak in more easily and are more easily absorbed by certain materials, and molecular pumps are less effective at pumping gases with lower molecular weights. A system may be able to evacuate nitrogen (the main component of air) to the desired vacuum, but

2312-428: The instrument panel is deliberately designed with certain instruments powered by electricity and other instruments powered by the vacuum source. Depending on the application, some vacuum pumps may either be electrically driven (using electric current ) or pneumatically-driven (using air pressure ), or powered and actuated by other means . Old vacuum-pump oils that were produced before circa 1980 often contain

2380-525: The integrated vacuum pump frame systems market in the US and suppressed competition, imposing non-compete covenants on its suppliers and engaged in employee intimidation; customer threats, and bad faith litigation. In May 2021, Edwards was granted a partial, interim injunction against Hoffman selling a bellows component. Judgement declined to accept Edwards' application of Noerr–Pennington doctrine to dismiss Hoffman's anti competition counterclaim. In June 2022,

2448-418: The invention of many types of vacuum pump, including the molecular drag pump , the diffusion pump , and the turbomolecular pump . Pumps can be broadly categorized according to three techniques: positive displacement, momentum transfer, and entrapment. Positive displacement pumps use a mechanism to repeatedly expand a cavity, allow gases to flow in from the chamber, seal off the cavity, and exhaust it to

2516-435: The ions into a solid substrate. A cryomodule uses cryopumping. Other types are the sorption pump , non-evaporative getter pump, and titanium sublimation pump (a type of evaporative getter that can be used repeatedly). Regenerative pumps utilize vortex behavior of the fluid (air). The construction is based on hybrid concept of centrifugal pump and turbopump. Usually it consists of several sets of perpendicular teeth on

2584-444: The most common configuration used to achieve high vacuums. In this configuration the positive displacement pump serves two purposes. First it obtains a rough vacuum in the vessel being evacuated before the momentum transfer pump can be used to obtain the high vacuum, as momentum transfer pumps cannot start pumping at atmospheric pressures. Second the positive displacement pump backs up the momentum transfer pump by evacuating to low vacuum

2652-423: The need for environmental solutions in the electronics industry. Two years prior, in 1992, Edwards Vacuum had acquired a small start-up company specialising in the abatement of semiconductor process exhaust gases, allowing for a more environmentally friendly manufacturing process of semiconductors. Flat-screen display technology began in the 2000s, replacing the cathode-ray tube displays of the previous century. In

2720-427: The nineteenth century. Heinrich Geissler invented the mercury displacement pump in 1855 and achieved a record vacuum of about 10 Pa (0.1 Torr ). A number of electrical properties become observable at this vacuum level, and this renewed interest in vacuum. This, in turn, led to the development of the vacuum tube . The Sprengel pump was a widely used vacuum producer of this time. The early 20th century saw

2788-418: The parties entered into a Confidential Settlement Agreement through which both parties' claims were dismissed with prejudice . Vacuum pump The predecessor to the vacuum pump was the suction pump. Dual-action suction pumps were found in the city of Pompeii . Arabic engineer Al-Jazari later described dual-action suction pumps as part of water-raising machines in the 13th century. He also said that

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2856-450: The pressure differential, some fluid from the chamber (or the well, in our example) is pushed into the pump's small cavity. The pump's cavity is then sealed from the chamber, opened to the atmosphere, and squeezed back to a minute size. More sophisticated systems are used for most industrial applications, but the basic principle of cyclic volume removal is the same: The base pressure of a rubber - and plastic -sealed piston pump system

2924-457: The pressure further down to 10 Torr (1 μPa). An additional ion pump can be started below 10 Torr to remove gases which are not adequately handled by a cryopump or turbo pump, such as helium or hydrogen . Ultra-high vacuum generally requires custom-built equipment, strict operational procedures, and a fair amount of trial-and-error. Ultra-high vacuum systems are usually made of stainless steel with metal-gasketed vacuum flanges . The system

2992-403: The properties of vacuum. Robert Hooke also helped Boyle produce an air pump that helped to produce the vacuum. By 1709, Francis Hauksbee improved on the design further with his two-cylinder pump, where two pistons worked via a rack-and-pinion design that reportedly "gave a vacuum within about one inch of mercury of perfect." This design remained popular and only slightly changed until well into

3060-444: The pump by imparting momentum to the gas molecules. Diffusion pumps blow out gas molecules with jets of an oil or mercury vapor, while turbomolecular pumps use high speed fans to push the gas. Both of these pumps will stall and fail to pump if exhausted directly to atmospheric pressure, so they must be exhausted to a lower grade vacuum created by a mechanical pump, in this case called a backing pump. As with positive displacement pumps,

3128-412: The pumping speed remains constant, the throughput and mass flow rate drop exponentially. Meanwhile, the leakage, evaporation , sublimation and backstreaming rates continue to produce a constant throughput into the system. Vacuum pumps are combined with chambers and operational procedures into a wide variety of vacuum systems. Sometimes more than one pump will be used (in series or in parallel ) in

3196-417: The risk of vacuum contamination, require less maintenance, and feature lower noise and vibration levels. This type of technology is particularly suitable for scientific applications and the harsh processes in semiconductor manufacturing. The newly emerged dry pumps and turbomolecular pumps supported innovation in the scientific instrument markets over the next couple of decades. The scientific instrument market

3264-720: The rotor circulating air molecules inside stationary hollow grooves like multistage centrifugal pump. They can reach to 1×10 mbar (0.001 Pa)(when combining with Holweck pump) and directly exhaust to atmospheric pressure. Examples of such pumps are Edwards EPX (technical paper ) and Pfeiffer OnTool™ Booster 150. It is sometimes referred as side channel pump. Due to high pumping rate from atmosphere to high vacuum and less contamination since bearing can be installed at exhaust side, this type of pumps are used in load lock in semiconductor manufacturing processes. This type of pump suffers from high power consumption(~1 kW) compared to turbomolecular pump (<100W) at low pressure since most power

3332-576: The rubber gaskets more common in low vacuum chamber seals. The system must be clean and free of organic matter to minimize outgassing. All materials, solid or liquid, have a small vapour pressure, and their outgassing becomes important when the vacuum pressure falls below this vapour pressure. As a result, many materials that work well in low vacuums, such as epoxy , will become a source of outgassing at higher vacuums. With these standard precautions, vacuums of 1 mPa are easily achieved with an assortment of molecular pumps. With careful design and operation, 1 μPa

3400-496: The same year, Edwards acquired Ceres Technologies, Inc.. Ceres is a US-based manufacturer and designer of gas and vapour delivery equipment for the semiconductor industry. It also purchased HHV Pumps Pvt Ltd, a designer and manufacturer of vacuum pumps located in Bengalaru, India , for £10.9 million. Atlas Copco also agreed to purchase the assets of Chinese, liquid ring vacuum pump manufacturer Shandong Jinggong Pump Co Ltd, to join

3468-487: The same year, the company purchased Systems Chemistry Inc, a supplier of management systems for ultrapure chemicals used in semiconductor manufacturing, from Submicron Systems Corp of Allentown (USA). It became Edwards' chemical management division. Allentown, USA . It became Edwards' chemical management division. In 1999, Edwards acquired the Minneapolis -based division of FSI International Inc, for US$ 38 million. This

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3536-557: The same year. Edwards joined MIT.nano as a founding member, following its completion in 2018. MIT.nano is a 214,000-square-foot laboratory dedicated to the characterisation and fabrication of nanoscale materials, structures, devices, and processes. In 2020, the company opened a new Service Technology Centre in Dublin . In 2022, Edwards invested in a new facility to manufacture products for the semiconductor industry in Arizona, USA . During

3604-525: The scientific industry. The Atlas Copco Group , a Swedish multinational industrial company, acquires Edwards Vacuum. Edwards purchased Brooks Automation's CTI-Cryogenics and Polycold branded cryopump operations based in Chelmsford and Monterrey for US$ 675 million in 2018. In 2019, Edwards marked its 100th anniversary. Its new North America Semiconductor Technology Centre in Hillsboro opened in

3672-544: The semiconductor market were opened in South Korea. Most of Edwards' UK manufacturing capacity was moved, with abatement systems remaining in Clevedon, completing plans proposed under BOC in 2005. Edwards was awarded its seventh Queen's Award in 2012, and acquired USA-based Gamma Vacuum in 2013, maintaining the brand until this day. Gamma Vacuum specialises in ion and titanium sublimation pumps, with customers mainly in

3740-451: The system. In ultra-high vacuum systems, some very odd leakage paths and outgassing sources must be considered. The water absorption of aluminium and palladium becomes an unacceptable source of outgassing, and even the absorptivity of hard metals such as stainless steel or titanium must be considered. Some oils and greases will boil off in extreme vacuums. The porosity of the metallic vacuum chamber walls may have to be considered, and

3808-492: The then owners of Edwards. In 2019, Hoffman Instrumentation Supply Inc was a component vendor to Edwards' US , subsidiary Edwards Vacuum LLC , and held talks about becoming exclusive supplier for some items. It was also proposed that Hoffman would construct subassemblies and complete systems, but only for Edwards. One of Hoffman's key customers enquired whether it could provide a vacuum system that would work with pumps other than Edwards'. Hoffman informed Edwards whose response

3876-490: The top was a vacuum. The height of the column was then limited to the maximum weight that atmospheric pressure could support; this is the limiting height of a suction pump. In 1650, Otto von Guericke invented the first vacuum pump. Four years later, he conducted his famous Magdeburg hemispheres experiment, showing that teams of horses could not separate two hemispheres from which the air had been evacuated. Robert Boyle improved Guericke's design and conducted experiments on

3944-477: The vacuum chamber must not boil off when exposed to the vacuum, or the gases they produce would prevent the creation of the desired degree of vacuum. Often, all of the surfaces exposed to the vacuum must be baked at high temperature to drive off adsorbed gases. Outgassing can also be reduced simply by desiccation prior to vacuum pumping. High-vacuum systems generally require metal chambers with metal gasket seals such as Klein flanges or ISO flanges, rather than

4012-409: The vacuum side to the exhaust side (which is usually maintained at a reduced pressure by a positive displacement pump). Momentum transfer pumping is only possible below pressures of about 0.1 kPa. Matter flows differently at different pressures based on the laws of fluid dynamics . At atmospheric pressure and mild vacuums, molecules interact with each other and push on their neighboring molecules in what

4080-415: The volume of a container. To continue evacuating a chamber indefinitely without requiring infinite growth, a compartment of the vacuum can be repeatedly closed off, exhausted, and expanded again. This is the principle behind a positive displacement pump , for example the manual water pump. Inside the pump, a mechanism expands a small sealed cavity to reduce its pressure below that of the atmosphere. Because of

4148-560: The years (Professor Denis Gabor, Professor Sir Harry Kroto , Professor Sir Peter Mansfield, Professor Sir Paul Nurse, and Professor Carlo Rubbia ), as well as several Fellows of the Royal Society and Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2005, Nominet determined the domain name bocedwards.co.uk had been abusively registered by Eaton Engineering (Herts) Ltd and ordered that it be transferred to The BOC Group Ltd,

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4216-534: The years that followed, technology evolved and displays became increasingly thinner, higher in resolution and larger. As a result, the required composite structures become increasingly complex, and the manufacturing methods became more demanding. Edwards Vacuum is involved in flat-screen display production with its turbomolecular pumps, which enable the high levels of vacuum required for the production process and coating of these displays. Abatement installations remove global warming, toxic, pyrophoric, and corrosive gases in

4284-497: Was a positive-displacement roots/claw pump that does not require oil for lubrication. The semiconductor industry in particular moved away quickly from oil-sealed pumps in favour of the new dry pumps. In the harsh semiconductor processes, oil-sealed pumps required frequent servicing and oil changes: this new dry pump technology enabled more complex production processes in the semiconductor industry. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change came into force in 1994, driving

4352-705: Was followed by the purchase of the Hick Hargreaves vacuum ejector and deaerator units; Wilhelm Klein GmbH; Stokes piston pump operations, and Hibon Inc for £12.8 million from Smiths Group . In 2002, they purchased Seiko Industry's turbomolecular pump manufacturing business for £70 million. Edwards then sold The Hibon, Hicks Hargreaves and Wilhelm Klein low pressure compressor businesses were sold on to Ingersoll Rand in 2006. Linde AG purchased BOC in 2006 for €12.4 billion, selling Edwards to CCMP Capital and its Asian fund in 2007 for US$ 901 million. Edwards

4420-450: Was patented in the 1930s. During World War II, the technology was further perfected and expanded to freeze-dry instant coffee, but also blood plasma and penicillin. Penicillin itself was also produced using vacuum technology. World War II marked an acceleration in technological development for vacuum technology. Vacuum pump manufacturers innovated their products and new applications for vacuum emerged. This included but wasn't limited to,

4488-428: Was released in 1954, and its manufacturing process made use of vacuum pumps . The first integrated circuit or “chip” came to the market at the end of the 1950s, and vacuum pumps again played an important role in their production. These early inventions were Edwards' first steps into the electronics and semiconductors industry, which is to this day the company's biggest market. Chips became increasingly small throughout

4556-493: Was renamed Edwards Group Ltd, and then Edwards Group plc. A new, Cayman Island -based holding company called Edwards Group Ltd was listed on NASDAQ in 2012 via ADS under the ticker symbol EVAC, with a US$ 100 million IPO. It was delisted in 2014 when Atlas Copco purchased the operating subsidiary Edwards Ltd for £1 billion. Manufacturing sites were opened in 2011 in the Czech Republic for the industrial, pharmaceutical, chemical, and scientific markets while manufacturing sites for

4624-513: Was to suggest purchasing Hoffman. Information was provided about Hoffman to Edwards for due diligence , under a non disclosure agreement , in order to progress the acquisition. It included technical specifications for the pump agnostic vacuum system and Hoffman's cost structures. The parties did not agree terms to purchase Hoffman and Edwards withdrew from the process. A group of employees left Edwards to work for Hoffman and in 2020, Edwards sought an injunction against Hoffman to prevent misuse of

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