Generation of CF4 from Teflon for reactive atmosphere processing and growth of metal fluorides

Claim 1

A controllable process for generating CF 4 from commercially available polytetrafluoroethylene comprising the steps of: (a) charging a depolymerization reactor with precisely known quantities of tetrafluoroethylene; (b) selecting a reactor temperature, from a plot of tetrafluoroethylene decay constants versus temperature, which provides for the generation of C 2 F 4 at a desired rate; (c) creating an atmospheric purge by causing an inert carrier gas to flow through said reactor; (d) raising the temperature of said reactor to said selected temperature thereby causing a C 2 F 4 -purge gas mixture to be formed within said reactor; (e) directing said C 2 F 4 -purge gas mixture from said reactor into a pyrolysis chamber, previously heated to a temperature high enough to cause the C 2 F 4 component of said mixture to decompose into known amounts of CF 4 and elemental carbon, at a flow rate sufficient to insure a gas mixture dwell time within said chamber of from 5 to 15 minutes; and (f) removing said CF 4 from said chamber with said carrier gas while allowing said elemental carbon to be trapped along the relatively cool walls of said chamber.