Helium Shortage 5.0: How to Keep Vacuum Leak Testing Online
The global helium market is experiencing its most severe disruption to date. Qatar's Ras Laffan helium sources pperated by QatarEnergy LNG and its infrastructure were destroyed in March 2026 which removed 30–38 % of global supply overnight. With the US and Qatar covering more than 75 % of global demand under normal conditions, recovery will be slow—restoring Ras Laffan's capacity alone could take up to five years.
INFICON customers are directly affected: industrial leak detection falls in the lowest allocation priority tier, making supply disruptions and cost increases a near-term operational reality. Forming gas—a non-flammable mixture of 5 % hydrogen in nitrogen—offers a proven alternative that eliminates this dependency entirely.
The Solution: LDS3000 and Forming Gas
The LDS3000 is a mass spectrometer-based leak detector used across battery manufacturing, automotive, cooling and refrigeration, and other industrial production environments. It detects tracer gases at low concentration levels, combining fast response times with high measurement sensitivity.
Forming gas is detected at mass 2 (hydrogen), versus mass 4 for helium. The key implication: water vapor in the test environment dissociates in the mass spectrometer and raises the hydrogen background signal. This background is controllable, but only with the correct system configuration.
Optimizing Sensitivity with EcoBoost
EcoBoost is an INFICON-developed operating mode for the LDS3000 that actively suppresses the hydrogen background during measurement. It works by optimizing pump speed and inlet conditions to reduce the H₂O-related signal. Without EcoBoost enabled, leak testing with forming gas is not practical. Enabling it is a standard part of any forming gas configuration.
Watch our EcoBoost Video
How to Convert your Testing System to Forming Gas
- The test chamber must be made of stainless steel. Aluminum outgasses at levels that mask the leak signal.
- All plastics, elastomers, and polymer components must be removed from the chamber interior.
- The backing pump must have sufficient capacity to maintain the low foreline pressure required for stable sensor operation.
Replacing oil-sealed backing pumps with dry-running alternatives removes a further source of background noise: hydrocarbon vapors from oil-sealed pumps migrate into the ion source and elevate the mass 2 signal.
Interested in using Argon as test gas instead? INFICON also offers the LDS Arnova—the first industrial leak detector capable of using either ambient air or argon in a vacuum chamber. Learn more about this innovative solution.
