Varian 921-0014 VacIon Ion Pump Control Unit 10-Pump 115/130V 50/60Hz

Varian 921-0014 VacIon Ion Pump Control Unit 10-Pump 115/130V 50/60Hz

The Varian 921-0014 is a VacIon pump control unit designed to power and monitor up to 10 sputter ion pumps simultaneously or individually. A front-panel rotary selector allows the operator to choose any single pump (1 through 10) or monitor all pumps at once, with a secondary switch toggling the analog meter between individual (EACH) and aggregate (ALL) readout modes. A six-position Meter Range switch steps through current and voltage measurement ranges (5 µA, 50 µA, 500 µA, 5 mA, 50 mA, and 5 kV), letting the operator track pump operating current across a wide range of vacuum levels. A rear-panel Recorder output provides + and – terminals for chart recorder integration.

Specifications & What's Included

• Model: Varian 921-0014
• Type: VacIon Ion Pump Control Unit
• Number of pumps supported: 10
• Pump selection: User-selectable — individual pumps 1–10 or ALL simultaneously
• Pumps Metered switch: EACH or ALL
• Input voltage: 115/130V AC
• Phase: Single phase
• Frequency: 50/60 Hz
• Current draw: 1 A
• Meter Range positions: 5 µA, 50 µA, 500 µA, 5 mA, 50 mA, 5 kV
• Panel meter: Weston D.C. analog panel meter
• Rear connectors: 10 multi-pin pump output connectors (Pump 1–10), chain-secured dust caps
• Recorder output: Rear-panel + and – terminals
• High voltage warning labels on top cover and rear panel
• Form factor: Benchtop / rackmount-compatible chassis
• Included: Unit only — no manual, pump cables, or peripherals

Applications

The Varian 921-0014 was designed for laboratory and industrial ultra-high vacuum (UHV) systems that use Varian VacIon sputter-ion pumps to maintain vacuum levels in the 10⁻⁶ to 10⁻¹¹ Torr range. Ion pump controllers like this one were standard equipment in particle accelerator beam lines, electron microscope columns, surface science chambers, semiconductor process equipment, and thin-film deposition systems from the 1960s through the 1980s — the era when Varian Associates (later Varian Medical Systems and Agilent Technologies) was the dominant supplier of UHV ion pump technology. The 10-pump capacity made this unit suitable for large multi-chamber vacuum systems where a single controller needed to supervise an entire bank of pumps, with the Recorder output allowing continuous logging of pump current as a proxy for system pressure. Ion pump controllers of this generation remain in use today in legacy research systems and accelerator facilities that continue to run original Varian VacIon pump hardware.