Retractable Effusion Cell
Retractable Effusion Cell
- Reload source material or perform source maintenance without venting the growth chamber.
- Ideal for production systems that require maximum system uptime.
- Keep aluminium molten (new version!) while venting the growth chamber.
- Reliable and robust design with (> 10, 000 cycles of insertion & retraction).

The Retractable Effusion Cell (REC) is the essential upgrade for any production system to maximise system uptime. The REC can be used to rapidly refill source material or exchange sources if a source fault occurs. The source is retracted from the chamber using a UHV linear bellows assembly, which has proven to be extremely robust and reliable with no reports of bellows failure (> 30 installed in-field).
The system may operate and grow materials as normal while the REC is isolated.
Alternatively, the REC may be used to isolate molten aluminium (@ 680°C) while performing system maintenance.
To further minimise the downtime of the source, it is possible to use a glove bag proceedure and avoid the need for baking the REC module. Otherwise, a heating jacket is provided to bake up to 200°C.
The REC consists of:
- A VAT manual gate valve (CF100 / CF150).
- Pump/vent nipple with all metal right angle valves (CF38 & CF16).
- UHV linear bellows.
- Manual linear drive (may be motorized).
- Additional shield/shutter (new version only – required for molten aluminum).
- Heating jacket for bakeout.
The REC is compatible with effusion cell volumes of up to 100 cc (CF100) or 200 cc (CF150).