Reducing the Uncertainty of Industrial Trace Humidity Generators through NIST Permeation-Tube Calibration

Permeation-tube moisture generators (PTGs) are commonly used by the semiconductor industry as transfer standards for the calibration of hygrometer systems measuring trace amounts of water vapor in gases (water vapor mole fractions typically below 1 × 10⁻⁶). They are relatively simple devices that generate a steady stream of humidified gas by diluting water vapor delivered at a constant rate from a permeable capsule with precisely metered purified gas, usually nitrogen. Here a new calibration service enabling the measurement of PTG permeation rates directly in terms of NIST primary standards of trace humidity generation is described. Rather than using commonly employed gravimetric methods for permeation-tube calibration, the method applied here links the permeation rate of the permeation tube to the thermodynamic properties of ice. Using a hygrometer based on cavity ringdown spectroscopy, we compare the water vapor concentrations produced by the NIST low frost-point generator (LFPG) and a specially constructed PTG containing the permeation tube undergoing calibration. A least squares fit of the data determines the permeation rate of the tube under test. We describe the calibration system, experimental procedure and present sample calibration data. The expanded relative uncertainty of NIST permeation-tube calibrations is 1.8% with a coverage factor k = 2, dominated by the Type A uncertainties.