Abstract.
The efficiency of the “steam laser cleaning” process is examined. For the investigation of the physics of particle removal from the particularly interesting surface of silicon we have deposited well-characterized spherical polymer and silica particles of different diameters ranging from several tens to hundreds of nanometers on commercial wafers. As a result of our systematic study we observe a sharp threshold of the steam cleaning process at 110 mJ/cm2 (λ=532 nm, FWHM=7 ns) which is independent of the size (for particles with diameters as small as 60 nm) and material of the particles. An efficiency above 90% after 20 cleaning steps is reached at a laser fluence of 170 mJ/cm2. Experiments with irregularly shaped alumina particles exhibit the same threshold as for spherical particles.
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Received: 28 January 2000 / Revised version: 28 March 2000 / Published online: 11 May 2000
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Mosbacher, M., Dobler, V., Boneberg, J. et al. Universal threshold for the steam laser cleaning of submicron spherical particles from silicon . Appl Phys A 70, 669–672 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00021079
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00021079