Method for removing titanium dioxide deposits from a reactor
View Patent ↗A process for the selective removal of a TiO 2 -containing substance from an article for cleaning applications is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, there is provided a process for removing a TiO 2 -containing substance from an article comprising: providing the article having the TiO 2 -containing substance deposited thereupon; reacting the substance with a reactive gas comprising at least one selected from a fluorine-containing cleaning agent, a chlorine-containing cleaning agent and mixtures thereof to form a volatile product; and removing the volatile product from the article to thereby remove the substance from the article.
1. A process for removing TiO 2 from a reactor wherein the reactor is used to coat TiO 2 onto an article, said process comprising:
providing the reactor to be cleaned wherein the reactor contains a chamber comprising a surface other than the article at least partially coated with a substance comprising TiO 2 ;
adding to the reactor a reactive gas comprising at least one cleaning gas;
reacting the TiO 2 with the reactive gas to form at least one volatile product; and
removing from the reactor the at least one volatile product.
2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least one cleaning gas is selected from the group consisting of a fluorine-containing cleaning gas, a chlorine-containing cleaning gas, and combinations thereof.
3. The process of claim 2 , wherein the at least one cleaning gas is a chlorine-containing cleaning gas.
4. The process of claim 3 wherein the chlorine-containing cleaning gas is at least one member selected from the group consisting of BCl 3 , COCl 2 , HCl, Cl 2 , ClF 3 , and NF z Cl 3-z , where z is an integer from 0 to 2.
5. The process of claim 2 wherein the at least one cleaning gas is a fluorine-containing cleaning gas.
6. The process of claim 5 wherein the fluorine-containing cleaning gas comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of NF 3 ; ClF 3 ; ClF; SF 6 ; a perfluorocarbon; a hydrofluorocarbon; an oxyfluorocarbon; a hypofluorite, a fluoroperoxide; a fluorotrioxide; COF 2 ; NOF; F 2 ; NF n Cl 3−n , where n is a number ranging from 1 to 2; and combinations thereof.
7. The process of claim 6 , wherein the fluorine-containing cleaning gas is NF 3 .
8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reactive gas further comprises an inert diluent gas.
9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reacting step is conducted by an in situ plasma, a remote plasma, an in-situ thermal source, a remote thermal source, a remote catalytic source, a photon activation source, or combinations thereof.
10. The process of claim 9 , wherein the reacting step is conducted by an in situ plasma.
11. The process of claim 9 wherein the reacting step is conducted by a remote plasma.
12. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reactive gas is conveyed to the chamber from a gas cylinder, a safe delivery system, a pipeline, a point of use delivery system, a vacuum delivery system, or combinations thereof.
13. The process of claim 5 , wherein the fluorine-containing reactive gas is formed in close proximity to the reactor by a point-of-use generator.
14. The process of claim 1 wherein the article is selected from the group consisting of a glass-containing work piece, a metal-containing work piece, a ceramic work piece, and mixtures thereof.
15. A process for the deposition of a TiO 2 coating on a glass article, the process comprising:
placing the glass article into a reactor;
depositing the TiO 2 coating onto the glass article and a substance comprising TiO 2 onto at least one surface within the reactor other than the article using at least one metal precursor wherein the depositing step is conducted by a process selected from the group consisting of chemical vapor deposition, vacuum deposition, spray pyrolysis and combinations thereof;
adding to the reactor a reactive gas comprising at least one cleaning gas;
reacting the TiO 2 on the reactor surface other than the article with the reactive gas to form at least one volatile product; and
removing from the reactor the at least one volatile product.
16. The process of claim 15 , wherein the at least one cleaning gas is selected from the group consisting of a fluorine-containing cleaning gas, a chlorine-containing cleaning gas, and combinations thereof.
17. The process of claim 16 , wherein the at least one cleaning gas is a chlorine-containing cleaning gas.
18. The process of claim 17 wherein the chlorine-containing cleaning gas is at least one member selected from the group consisting of BCl 3 , COCl 2 , HCl, Cl 2 , ClF 3 , and NF z Cl 3-z , where z is an integer from 0 to 2.
19. The process of claim 16 wherein the at least one cleaning gas is a fluorine-containing cleaning gas.
20. The process of claim 19 wherein the fluorine-containing cleaning gas comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of NF 3 ; ClF 3 ; ClF; SF 6 ; a perfluorocarbon; a hydrofluorocarbon; an oxyfluorocarbon; a hypofluorite, a fluoroperoxide; a fluorotrioxide; COF 2 ; NOF; F 2 ; NF n Cl 3-n , where n is a number ranging from 1 to 2; and combinations thereof.