Vacuum Furnace for Degassing Stainless-Steel Vacuum Components

Ultra-high vacuum systems must often be constructed of materials with ultra-low outgassing rates to achieve pressure of 10^-6 Pa and below. Any component placed into the ultra-high vacuum system must also be constructed of materials with ultra-low outgassing rates. Baking stainless steel vacuum components to a temperature range of 400 °C to 450 °C while under vacuum is an effective method to reduce the outgassing rate of vacuum components for use in ultra-high vacuum systems. The design, construction, and operation of a vacuum furnace capable of baking vacuum components to a temperature of 450° C while maintaining a pressure of 10^-3 Pa or lower is described. The furnace has been used for extended bakes at 450 °C while maintaining pressures below 10^-5 Pa. As an example, we obtained an outgassing rate of 1.2 × 10^-9 Pa L s^-1 for a gate valve baked for 20 days at a temperature of 420 °C.