I've got a Tb (terbium) sputtering target that is packed in oil, due to it being reactive with air.
What is the best way to remove the oil? I think dissolving the oil is better than simply washing it away with a surfactant like soap.
I was told by a colleague that any kind of alcohol will dissolve the oil, but don't know much about the subject. I also think I've heard that hexanes is a solvent for oil.
Kurt J Lesker has a documented cleaning procedure:
https://www.lesker.com/newweb/deposition_materials/cleaning_oilcovered_materials.cfm?pgid=0
Dont use alcohol, use Hexane or white spirit and do cleaning in inert atmosphere.
Please note even if you remove your your target which is packed in oil, clean it thoroughly to remove all the oil. The moment you start keeping your target outside in air, it will probably oxidize and covert into a powder.
I once purchase a small ingot of Samarium, which was packed in oil. I cleaned it up thoroughly, and though I did a very good job, and cut out a disc out of the ingot, and insert it into another Cu- target to prepare Sm-doped Cu films by sputtering. But e\within a week a found the samarium disc completely oxidised and turned into powder.
So the message is even if you clean the oil off thoroughly, you will be required to keep you Tb target in perfect vacuum on a 24 hour basis, otherwise it may oxidise and crumble.
K. Sreenivas
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