The technology of chromium oxide passivation on stainless steel surface

A complete chromium oxide (Cr[sub 2]O[sub 3]) passivation technology has been developed for stainless steel surfaces for use in high purity gas-delivery systems and process chambers. Starting with an electrochemical buffing (ECB) to add to electro-polished (EP) SUS316L stainless steel material, an optimal thermal treatment was found by using a gas mixture of 10% hydrogen, 1--10 ppm oxygen and argon balance gas at 500C for 1 h. Five-day corrosion tests with HCl gas (containing 1.4 ppm moisture) at 5 kg/cm[sup 2] and 100C showed no sign of corrosion on the chromium oxide passivated surface. Chemical stability tests on this surface with silane specialty gas thermal decomposition also showed a remarkable noncatalytic activity compared with conventional surfaces.