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Carbon coating removal of ceramic devices

I would like to know how to remove carbon coating from ceramic packaged devices? Usually, I carbon coat dies and use the RIE (plasma etcher) to etch the carbon from a regular device. But ceramic devices can't be treated with RIE due to their thermal sensitivity and reaction to oxygen in the RIE. Can anybody let me know how to remove carbon coated ceramic samples?

Thank you,

Andy Ped
- Irvine , California, USA
2003

Since carbon does not dissolve in any chemical I know, the only other way of removing it from ceramics is to heat the ceramic in air well above 300 °C and burn it off. Carbon will form CO2 that is environmentally safe. The time of removal will depend on carbon thickness, oven temp and availability of O2 in air. If the carbon coating has any other elements, they could form a residue that may need subsequent scrubbing for removal.

Mandar Sunthankar
- Fort Collins, Colorado
2003