Cleaning process for tools, etc. prior to coating deposition

摘要

Contaminants such as oil are cleaned from the workpiece surface by producing on the surface a binding coating, which is then removed together with the contaminants. The binding coating is an oxide, nitride or scale coating which is deposited on the surface by vapour deposition in a vacuum chamber. The coating is removed in the chamber by a vacuum sputtering process. The material of the binding coating is chosen to have a sputter rate that is higher than that of the surface base material.