The 11th "Iran National Vacuum Conference"

The 11th "Iranian National VacuumConference" was organized by Khatam University in Tehran with the participation of a large number of experts, researchers, students and those interested in this field.

According to the public relations and website of Khatam University, the 11th National VacuumConference of Iran organized by the Vacuum Society of Iran with the cooperation and hosting of Khatam University and with the presence and participation of a large number of specialists, researchers, students and those interested in this field was held on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 at Khatam University, Tehran, Iran.

In the opening ceremony of this conference, Dr. Majid Ghena’at Shoar, a faculty member of Shahid Beheshti University and the president of the Vacuum Society of Iran, referred to the history of the establishment and the history of the activities of this association and said: “The Vacuum Society of Iran started working in 2003 and its activities have been in various fields. It expanded basic sciences such as technology, physics, chemistry, and material science, and during this time, it has been able to become a member of the World Vacuum Association, Asia and Oceania Vacuum Association with its continuous efforts.”

Among the measures, he pointed out the comprehensive training course on vacuum sciences and technologies, the specialized course on vacuum sciences and technologies at the space research institute, specialized seminars at Shahid Beheshti and Khatam universities, and the manufacturing of the telescope mirror layering device of the National Observatory of Iran. He also listed the achievements of his association in the past years and said: “We are pleased that we have been able to achieve the necessary goals in this field.”

In the following, Dr. Abdollah Shamisa, a faculty member and director of the Electrical Engineering department of Khatam University, who was also responsible for the scientific secretaryship of the 11th "Iranian National VacuumConference", expressed his satisfaction that this event was held for the second time at Khatam University this year.

He further said: "Unfortunately, in recent years, the financial support of scientific associations has decreased drastically, and this is despite the fact that the continuation of the activities of such associations can promote the scientific advancement of the university and also help the industry, due to the constant preparation of Khatam University and Dr. Majid Ghasemi."

The director of the Electrical Engineering department of Khatam University also mentioned the establishment and launch of fields such as energy economy and convergent technologies among the practical measures of this university to help the industry in this field.

Afterwards, Dr. Ahadi spoke about the "Pasargad Institute for Advanced Innovative Solutions (Rahyaft)" in a speech and reminded: “In ‘Rehiyaft’, we have carried out 4 research projects in the last 2 years, including converting mechanical energy into thermal energy, the recycling project of Knight Zero alloys, and the project of making a non-contact dilatometry device.”

At the same time, this active member of "Rahyaft" mentioned the issue of vacuum as one of the important issues that is focused on in the material engineering department of this institution and the readiness of "Rahyaft" to provide any necessary assistance and information required by the experts in this field.

In this conference, Dr. Alireza Moshfegh, a professor at Sharif University and one of the founders of the Vacuum Institute in Iran, also gave a speech on the topic of "Manufacturing two-dimensional materials based on vacuum technology: principles, properties, and applications" and said: “Two-dimensional materials can be made using both chemical and physical methods. In the recent method though, the desired quality is not obtained and with vacuum technologies, we can solve this problem as well.”

He continued: “Humans always take inspiration from nature to produce two-dimensional materials, and the human brain, as a two-dimensional phenomenon like a tree and coral in the ocean, has a very large surface area and can maintain its durability even under the most extreme conditions.”

Dr. Moshfegh added: “The significance of two-dimensional materials in human life after 2004 was highly noticed in the world, and the experiment conducted in this field this year led to the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physics for its experimenters, who included 2 people. Currently, the issue of two-dimensional materials has become a fundamental debate in the field of writing scientific articles, and this year alone, more than 16 thousand articles have been published in prestigious scientific journals of the world on this topic.”

According to this faculty member of Sharif University, two-dimensional materials have many properties in improving people's lives, and one of the effects of these benefits can be mentioned in the field of digital medicine, and in general, there is a huge thirst from high-tech industries towards the university for research in this field.

In the 11th National Vacuum Conference of Iran, Kouros Hamzeh, the head of the Industrial Jahad Organization of Sharif University, spoke on the topic of "standard use for technology and space activists" and first introduced this organization, its establishment history and activities.

He also mentioned supplying the necessary equipment, including vacuum evaporation layering device, changing the direction towards the production of thin film circuits and special optical components, building a vacuum evaporation layering device with diffusion vacuum pump, and manufacturing evaporation sources and magnetron spiring cathodes, among other measures as the achievements of Sharif University and Industrial Jahad Organization during these years.

Hamzeh went on to give definitions of the word “standard” and returned to the main topic of his speech and said: “A standard represents an agreed level of quality, performance or consistency that is recognized by a group. The history of the standard goes back to the first transactions of humans and it has become the cornerstone of modern society.”

According to Hamzeh, in Iran, since 1921, and with the establishment of the Department of Weights and Quantities in the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Public Works, the issue of standards has become popular until today when we face the most advanced criteria for determining the standard of any products. Interoperability, safety and efficiency are among the primary benefits in setting standards for any products.

The head of Sharif University and Industrial Jahad Organization further mentioned the standards in the field of vacuum technology and spoke about the activities of the National Committee of Mechanics and Metallurgy and the National Committee of Metrology, Weights and Scales to determine these standards.

In the following, Farhad Masoumian, a senior researcher and one of the permanent associates of the Iranian Vacuum Association, presented a report on the design and construction of the mirror layering system of the National Observatory telescope.

Stating that the National Observatory of Iran project is one of the largest national projects of the country, which is supported by the Presidential Office of Science and Technology, he discussed the history of the beginning of this project from the spring of 2017 to the winter of 2022, which has been officially put into operation.

This vacuum field researcher also held a training workshop on the topic of "basics of designing vacuum chambers and determining the pumping system" in another part of the programs of this conference.

In this workshop, which was well received by the attendees, Masoumian introduced the main components of vacuum systems, which, according to him, include the vacuum chamber, pumping system, valves and connections, and the strain gauge device, and reminded that: “In order to build a chamber, many considerations must be made. Keep in mind that one can refer to the appearance, internal considerations, materials, openings and connections and mechanical strength.”

According to this expert in the field of vacuum, the appearance of a container can be spherical, cylindrical, rectangular or polyhedral, and its material can be metallic or non-metallic. The mechanical strength criteria of an enclosure are also a function of its internal considerations; That there are conditions inside the chamber that do not destabilize the vacuum inside it.”

He further said: “Internal considerations include real and false leaks and substances that have vapor pressures. The joints in the same chamber are either permanent or removable, and in permanent joints, welding should be done, which is the best type of welding, which is called TIG welding. Rubbers or all-metal joints may also be used in removable joints.”

According to Masoumian, as much as possible, welding in the chamber should be done from inside the chamber and not outside. Another point is that in the construction of a chamber, double-sided welding from both the outside and the inside is a mistake.”

In the final part of this conference, Dr. Majid Ghena’at Shoar, a faculty member of Shahid Beheshti University and the president of the Iranian Vasuum Association, referred to the problems of scientific associations such as the National Space Association, in terms of meeting their current expenses and said: “the association is a small society in a specialized sense, but in general it is a very big society and the fields of physics, chemistry, materials, etc. benefit from its services. However, unfortunately, it does not receive financial supports to continue giving services to the scientific community of the country.”

He attributed the sustainability of this association to the scientific efforts of scientists like Farhad Masoumian, who, according to him, has been playing a significant role in spreading awareness in the society by providing valuable scientific services to the scientific community of the country.

In this regard, as the president of Iran's National Vacuum Association, he appreciated the efforts of Masoomian by presenting a plaque of appreciation.

The final part of the programs of the 11th National Vacuum Conference of Iran ended with the words of Dr. Abdollah Shamisa, the executive secretary of this conference. In his speech, he appreciated Dr. Fathollahi, the scientific secretary of this conference, as well as the Iran Vacuum Association and presented a report on the process of holding this conference.

According to Shamisa, among the many articles that had been sent to the secretariat of the conference, 31 articles were selected for judging, and finally 16 articles were accepted for presentation and 15 articles were accepted as a poster presentation. He considered this conference a successful scientific event for the audience.”

According to the same report, in the 11th National Vacuum Conference of Iran, the following articles were presented at the same time in two conference halls (Amphitheater and Imam Reza Hall):

• "Investigating the effect of the pressure parameter in the glow discharge plasma on the electron density of the plasma" (Solmaz Jamali from Science and Technology Research Institute)
• "Measuring the conductivity of two-dimensional silicon nanostructures by the ohmic two-probe method in a multi-probe scanning tunneling microscope" (Ali Khademi from Sharif University of Technology)
• "Design and implementation of the automatic pressure control system of the Damavand tokamak vacuum chamber using multiple model control" (Mehdi Amini from Science and Technology Research Institute)
• "Design and construction of a multi-purpose lamination device to improve the quality of thin layers in the rotary lamination process" (Kara Bahmani from Sharif University of Technology)
• "Manufacturing and characterization of CuGaO2 delafusite oxide thin layer by sputtering" (Masoud Abrari from Shahid Beheshti University)
• "Design and fabrication of conductive transparent electrode based on dielectric/metal/dielectric structure for use in cathode of perovskite solar cells" (Ebrahim Yazdi from Kashan University)
• "The effect of methylammonium lead bromide perovskite solution concentration on the performance of perovskite Norxil diode" (Ali Akbar Rostami from Shahid Beheshti University)
• "Decreasing the contact angle of PMMA surface with gelatin solution due to argon plasma and its durability" (Rahele Ebrahimi from Malek Ashtar University of Technology)
• "Characterization of hard and soft X-ray emission of the 10-kJ mod focal plasma device" (Noshin Pishbin from Science and Technology Research Institute)
• "Simulation of the interaction of the ion beam of the focal plasma device with the inner surface of the Faraday cup" (Maryam Akbari Nasaji from Science and Technology Research Institute)
• "Investigation of the effect of magnetic field intensity on the energy deposition resulting from the collision of elusive electrons with Damavand tokamak limiter" (Laleh Atai Seresht from Isfahan University)
• "Simulation of electron cyclotron resonance discharge produced by permanent magnets" (Seyedeh Narges Razavinia from Science and Technology Research Institute)
• "Detection of aflatoxin G1 using plasmonic ellipsometry" (Babak Mousaei from University of Tehran)
• "Effect of GLAD parameters on the performance of resistance switches" (Abolafazl Rasouli Ardalani from Sharif University of Technology)
• "Effect of vacuum annealing temperature and strip width on magnetic impedance in amorphous alloyc" (Mehrdad Moradi from Kashan University)
• "Deposition of selective nickel electroless coatings on ITO for plasmonic and magnetoplasmonic applications" (Akram Poursharif from Isfahan University of Technology).