Patent ID: 7229667

Claim:
A method of making an article of manufacture, the method comprising the steps of: i) reducing the moisture content of a reactive gas using an acid-gas resistant molecular sieve, to form a reduced moisture reactive gas; ii) reducing the moisture content of a matrix gas using means for moisture reduction; to form a reduced moisture matrix gas; iii) vacuum baking an internal metal surface of a container at a temperature ranging from about 30° C. to about 75° C. for no less than 1 hour, and at a vacuum no more than 100 torr to form a vacuum-baked internal metal surface of the container; iv) exposing the vacuum-baked internal metal surface of the container to a first fluid composition comprising a silicon-containing compound for a time sufficient to allow at least some of the silicon-containing compound to react with oxygen-containing compounds present to form a silicon-treated surface on at least some of the vacuum-baked internal metal surface of the container; v) evacuating the container for a time sufficient to remove substantially all of the silicon-containing compound(s) that has not reacted with the oxygen-containing compounds to form the silicon-treated surface; vi) exposing the silicon-treated surface to a second fluid composition, the second fluid composition comprising a reactive gas having a concentration that is greater than an intended reactive gas concentration of the article of manufacture; vii) evacuating the container for a time sufficient to remove just enough of the second fluid composition to enable maintenance of an increased shelf-life, low concentration reactive gas at the intended concentration in the container; viii) combining at least a portion of the reduced moisture reactive gas with at least a portion of the reduced moisture matrix gas to form an intended gas composition; gas ix) filling the evacuated container with the intended gas composition.