Low outgassing and anticorrosive metal surface treatment for ultrahigh vacuum equipment

We report on a stainless steel passivation technology useful for the future We report on a stainless steel passivation technology useful for the future submicron ultralarge‐scale integration (ULSI) manufacturing. In the near future, low pressure processing will become more important. With presently available equipment, outgassing from the inner surface of metal chambers is one of the factors that can hinder ultrahigh vacuum processing. Therefore, absorbed molecular contaminations must be eliminated. We report the development of low outgassing metal surface that is derived from an O2 or F2 passivation process. This process requires an initial metal surface to have mirror finish without Beilby layer. Specifically, by using a 316L stainless surface, under clean conditions, outgas volume of moisture are shown to be reduced by a factor of 102, compared with conventional finished steel surfaces. In addition O2/F2 passivation, though inherently different, give stainless steel surfaces that show excellent corrosi...