Gas absorption and outgassing of metals

Abstract The solution of the diffusion equation is taken as a foundation of the theory of gas-metal interaction in high vacuum. The boundary conditions are formulated from the analysis of the gas balance equations on a metal surface and in a gas volume. The boundary conditions are generally non-linear but in some important cases linearization is permissible. In this way it is possible to obtain analytical expressions for the instantaneous gas flow on electron- and photon-induced desorption, low temperature thermal desorption and gettering at a constant pressure. By means of these formulae one can generalize the experimental data of various authors and calculate the kinetics of such processes as the outgassing of an electron collector, the gas desorption by synchrotron radiation in a vacuum chamber of electron or positron colliding-beam storage-rings, the degassing of an ultra-high vacuum system, the gas sorption by barium and titanium, etc.