In the production of semiconductors and lithium batteries, how can stainless steel airtight parts ensure the airtightness required for ultra-high purity gas transmission?
Publish Time: 2025-04-07
In the production process of semiconductors and lithium batteries, it is crucial to ensure the airtightness of ultra-high purity gas transmission. These industries have extremely high requirements for gas purity, and any tiny leaks may lead to product defects or performance degradation. Therefore, the design, manufacture and application of stainless steel airtight parts must follow strict standards to ensure that they achieve the required airtightness. This goal can be achieved through material selection, precision machining, surface treatment and strict testing processes.
First of all, the selection of materials is the basis for ensuring that stainless steel airtight parts have excellent airtightness. In the semiconductor and lithium battery industries, 316L stainless steel is usually selected as the main material. This type of stainless steel not only has excellent corrosion resistance and mechanical strength, but also can withstand long-term use in high temperature and high pressure environments. In addition, the low carbon content in 316L stainless steel helps reduce the risk of intergranular corrosion, which is particularly important for maintaining long-term stable airtightness. However, relying on the material itself is not enough to fully guarantee airtightness, and it needs to be optimized in combination with other processes and technical means.
Precision machining technology is indispensable for manufacturing high-precision stainless steel airtight parts. Modern manufacturing processes such as CNC machine tools and wire-cutting electric discharge machining (EDM) can achieve very high dimensional accuracy and surface finish, which is essential to ensure the flatness and close contact of the sealing surface. Especially in applications that require a high vacuum environment, any tiny unevenness will cause gas leakage. Therefore, manufacturers usually perform ultra-precision cutting and grinding on key parts to achieve nanometer-level flatness on the sealing surface. At the same time, advanced measurement tools such as coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) are used to inspect the finished products to ensure that each component meets the design specifications.
In addition to precision machining, surface treatment is also one of the key steps to improve the airtightness of stainless steel airtight parts. For example, electrolytic polishing can not only remove tiny surface defects, but also form a passivation film to further enhance corrosion resistance. In addition, some special application scenarios may require higher cleanliness standards. At this time, you can consider using ion beam cleaning or ultrasonic cleaning to completely remove surface contaminants. These treatments not only improve the appearance quality, but more importantly, improve the reliability of the sealing interface and reduce the risk of leakage caused by impurities.
In order to verify whether the stainless steel airtight parts have truly reached the airtight standards required for ultra-high purity gas transmission, a series of rigorous tests must be carried out. Helium mass spectrometry leak detection is the most commonly used method, which uses the small size characteristics of helium molecules to detect tiny leaks at extremely low concentrations. By placing the part to be tested in a closed chamber and filling it with helium, and then using a helium mass spectrometer to scan the potential leak area, the leak can be accurately located and quantified. This method is extremely sensitive and can detect leak rates of less than one millionth of an atmospheric pressure, fully meeting the stringent requirements of the semiconductor and lithium battery industries for airtightness.
Finally, in actual applications, it is also necessary to consider how to properly install and maintain the stainless steel airtight parts to maintain their optimal performance. Correct installation includes ensuring that all connections are evenly stressed and not over-tightened or loose, to avoid seal failure due to stress concentration. It is also important to regularly inspect and replace aged or damaged seals, especially those exposed to harsh working conditions. In addition, establishing a sound maintenance record and early warning mechanism can help to detect potential problems in time and prevent unexpected downtime or product quality accidents.
In short, in semiconductor and lithium battery production, ensuring that stainless steel airtight parts meet the airtight standards required for ultra-high purity gas transmission is a systematic project involving all aspects from material selection to final use. By carefully selecting high-quality materials, using advanced processing technology and surface treatment processes, and supplemented by strict testing and maintenance procedures, the stable operation of the system can be effectively guaranteed to meet the growing high-quality needs in the industry. With technological advances, more innovative solutions are expected to be developed in the future to further improve the performance and reliability of stainless steel airtight parts.
