A SURVEY OF VACUUM MATERIAL CLEANING PROCEDURES - A SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT OF THE AMERICAN VACUUM SOCIETY RECOMMENDED PRACTICES COMMITTEE

A subcommittee of the American Vacuum Society (AVS) Recommended Practices Committee has conducted a survey of the cleaning procedures practiced by the ultrahigh vacuum industry and government laboratories. Although no two organizations practiced identical procedure, there was sufficient commonality among those canvassed to suggest that there is a sound basic procedure around which many variations have evolved. In the case of chemical cleaning of stainless steel, it is vapor degreasing, alkaline detergent washing and/or acid cleaning, water rinsing, and then heat drying. Various methods of mechanical, chemical, and thermal cleaning of metals and nonmetals practiced by sample organizations are presented with commentary. The Subcommittee recognizes that different situations call for different cleaning procedures. For this reason it aims to disseminate information so that one may formulate his own procedure best suited to his situation, rather than to recommend a single procedure as the best universally.