APS provides full refurbishment service for 200mm Upper Body Chamber DPS units. Typical half-coat 0021-01421 and full-coat 0040-02544 chambers are stripped of the original A-Coat by grit blasting the substrate back to bare metal. This removes all traces of the old coating and anodize layer completely, and starts out with a new surface for remainder of the processing.
The chamber is then machined to remove interior defects in the process area substrate. During the etching process, corrosive gases will eventually break through any protective coating. At that point, the chamber needs to be refurbished. When left beyond that point, the etch gases will continue to degrade the anodize layer and create pitting in the substrate. Machining will remove these pits and restore a smooth substrate.
Anodizing is crucial to chamber performance. The OEM Type III for hard anodic coatings, Class I non-dyed anodize is applied. The anodize is applied over a roughened substate. Once cleaned, the coating can then be applied without further grit blasting.
The nickel plating can be restored to improve electrical conductivity. This is done per MIL-SPEC and polished prior to the coating process.
Finally, APS Materials is able to re-coat with one of several compatible Metal Etch Chamber protective coatings. Some processes call for aluminum oxide, yttrium oxide, or another ceramic or carbide requirement. APS provides any coating the customer prefers, or we can suggest a coating similar to the OEM A-Coat or an alternative solution.