This report describes the usage, specification, troubles and the countermeasures of dry pumps in Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). In J-PARC, while dry scroll pumps (DSP) are widely used, many of them are being replaced with roots pumps due to frequent maintenance and troubles of DSP. Some of the facilities use roots pumps with special specifications, such as radiation resistant specifications, separate power supply, and with diaphragm type, etc. Although some problems have occurred with both DSPs and roots pumps, they have been addressed by revising maintenance methods and improving parts, contributing to stable operation for users.

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) is widely used as one of the primary techniques for investigating the surface chemical composition of materials. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the demand to observe the electronic states associated with chemical reactions under operating conditions close to real environments, such as in fuel cells and catalytic materials. To address this need, Near Ambient Pressure X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (NAP-XPS) instruments have been developed and continuously improved. This article introduces atmospheric pressure photoelectron spectroscopy at pressures of several bars and provides data examples. Additionally, we present software technology designed to visualize spatiotemporal-resolved data expected to be obtained in the future using this measurement technique.

We overview plasma-enhanced chemical vaper deposition (PECVD) of high-quality thin-film silicon. In PECVD, such a film is grown by the deposition of precursors, which is generated by the gas-phase reactions of source gases in plasma. The growth of the film depends on the surface reactions of precursors and the reactions in the growing film, i.e., in-film reactions, which influences the film structure and properties. The in-film reactions also take place after the growth, i.e., post-growth annealing. So, the reactions should be properly controlled throughout the growth and annealing for the high-quality film formation. Here, the growth kinetics and related reactions are presented for device-grade hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films.

In the vacuum freeze drying process, four technologies are important : freezing, drying, antioxidant treatment and packaging, the first two of which constitute its core technologies. Freezing concerns its rate and temperature, while drying necessitates attention to cold trap temperature and vacuum degree.

Non-equilibrium processes such as nucleation are difficult to observe in situ using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) because of spatiotemporal stochastic process. Therefore, we have been developing a method to predict/detect nucleation events and observe under low electron doses conditions in real time with the support of machine learning. Low electron dose observation is important to avoid radiolysis of water in the observation of aqueous solutions using liquid-cell TEM. Our data-driven TEM that can suggest observation points to the operator by processing in situ observation data in real time. In other words, it is data-driven TEM in which the TEM helps the operator, rather than the TEM being driven by the data. By incorporating the two codes into the TEM's software, nucleation can now be observed efficiently.