We, from Gasera’s Customer Experience team, Maria and Sauli, visited our partner in South Korea in mid November. Our partner recently ordered a few Gasera gas monitors. Thus the main goal of our visit was to give a hand in setting up the GASERA ONE HF monitor and to help them start testing it in their laboratory.
About the monitor in question – if you are not familiar with HF: Hydrogen fluoride (HF) is a highly dangerous colourless gas which forms corrosive and toxic hydrofluoric acid upon contact with moisture. It is widely used chemical in pharmaceutical, petrochemical, polymer (e.g. Teflon) and microfabrication industries. In addition to yield related problems, it is also dangerous to human.
Our partner wanted to start testing the GASERA ONE HF due to its improved sensitivity and response time in comparison to previously used measurement equipment. The purpose is to be able to improve yield related problems at the semiconductor industry.
GASERA ONE HF TESTING TOGETHER WITH PARTNER
Visiting South Korea was an educational experience also from work perspective. The first task for us was to unpack the GASERA ONE HF and we proved the successful delivery of the monitor. As we were there, our partner had the possibility to ask all important questions to get the instrument up and running. Face to face discussions helped us to understand challenges that partners and end users are facing in the start. Some actions concerning testing back in Finland were also listed.
During our three days visit, we trained our partner to the use of the monitor and went through UI functionalities. We also briefed them the basic maintenance issues and the calibration procedure. For the first night we set up the indoor air measurement with the HF filter. The next day and the day after we had some constructive discussions about the handling of HF and measurement of it. It was interesting to note that there was a common understanding of measurement processes overall. We shared some thoughts about different materials used in contact with HF. How do they effect on measurement results was also a good discussion point.
We had to rely on Google translate from time to time. With same type of humour we managed to receive a common understanding on how successful measurements will be conducted. Obviously, contacting is easier in the future as we have now met face to face. They will continue their testing measurements and we will give them remote assistance from Finland.
NEW GAS TESTING OPPORTUNITIES IN SOUTH KOREA
The visit at site gives a chance to learn more about the company and business in depth. We were glad to present Gasera and photoacoustic technology to our partner. They were happy to hear more about the Gasera’s business overall. We talked about cleanroom monitoring and other co-operation opportunities.
In addition to HF measurement, there is a wide variety of harmful gases which are monitored in South Korea. We could serve our partner in monitoring other gases with the same photoacoustic technology.
WORKTRAVEL – LONG TESTING DAYS AND LOCAL DINNERS
We visited the first time in South Korea. This was the first visit in the testing premises of this partner. As usually in Asia, a pair of slippers were always available, otherwise their premises were like ours. We worked long testing days in order to finalise all tasks during a short visit. At some point we managed to taste some local differences in work life in the form of small earthquake. Luckily it was only a small one.
In addition, we were honoured to enjoy South Korean hospitality and had some nice dinners with our South Korean colleagues. Food was great and especially Korean barbeque was an unforgettable experience. It was great to have someone to order some local delicious food. Otherwise one of us might have eaten hamburgers only.
During dinners, we didn’t talk much about business but compared our daily lives in Finland and in South Korea. Our South Korean colleagues were polite and cheerful. We shared the same humour and even the taste of music was like ours. They promised to listen the list of famous Finnish heavy metal songs from Spotify. They wondered about Finnish countryside. It turned out that there is a small island called Jeju, where South Koreans have countryside. And they all go there for their holidays. Must be crowded.
HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON AGAIN!
We managed to help our partner to get started with the GASERA ONE HF ramp up. Working side by side with the partner gave us also some important development ideas.
It is always a pleasure to visit peers and it is an investment of time and resources for both. We see this way of working really important to make sure, that our partners will take the full advantage of the equipment they’ve started to use. From this project we received great feedback and learnings also for our future work.
And we hope to be able to visit you soon again!
Maria and Sauli
