Introduction
Ultra-HighVacuum (UHV) environments of 10
-7
Torr or
lower and high vacuum environment of 10
-5
Torr or lower
are critical formany instruments and semi-conductor
manufacturing processes. Under these vacuum
conditions, steel and aluminum components outgas large
quantities of water, CO
2
, CO, and other contaminant
molecules. Largepumping systems and extensive bake-
out treatments are required to remove thesematerials in
order to attain andmaintain low vacuum environments.
This research investigates the use of an amorphous
silicon coating to reduce outgassing of components in
high vacuum andUHV environments.
