Apparatus for treating the inner surface of vacuum chamber

Abstract

An apparatus for treating the inner surface of a vacuum chamber includes a support, means for anchoring the vacuum chamber to the support and holding the vacuum chamber, a broach having a plurality of cutting edges having cutouts, and broach drive means to which the broach arranged on the support is fitted. The broach drive means unidirectionally moves the broach relatively to the vacuum chamber in an axial direction to cut off a contaminated layer on an inner surface of the vacuum chamber. The outer diameter of each cutting edge, excluding the cutouts, is set greater than that of an immediately preceding one in a direction of a rearmost edge face from a front edge face. The apparatus may also include means for supplying an inert gas or a mixture of nitrogen and inert gases to a surface of the vacuum chamber being treated by the broach, or means for supplying a lower alcohol for dissolving contaminants contained in the contaminated layer to the surface of the vacuum chamber being treated by the broach.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.