Corrosion performance of ultra-high-purity 316L stainless steel with engineered surfaces in simulated semiconductor manufacturing environment

The purpose of this paper is to compare the effect of various surface treatments on the corrosion resistance of an ultra-high-purity (UHP) stainless steel in aqueous and simulated semiconductor manufacturing environment. Four types of surface treatment technologies, i.e. mechanical polishing (MP), electro-polishing (EP), electrochemical nitridation (EN) and alternating voltage passivation (AVP), were used to modify the corrosion resistance of UHP steels. SEM, XPS and Mott–Schottky analyses were used to characterize the steel surface morphology and the passive layer. The corrosion resistance was evaluated in aqueous HCl solution as well as in a moisturized HCl gas environment. Results show that the AVP provides the highest corrosion resistance for the steel, followed by EN and then EP. The MP yields the steel susceptible to corrosion. Such a diversified performance is related to the modification of the passive layer, as well as the ability of removing inclusions from the steel during surface engineering. This work provides valuable data in designing and implementing surface technology for steels to enhance the corrosion performance in semiconductor industry.