# US 12,214,385 B2 · Method for cleaning semiconductor process equipment and system thereof

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- Number: US 12,214,385 B2
- Document ID: US12214385B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/979,795
- Filed: 2022-11-03
- Published: 2023-05-11
- Granted: 2025-02-04
- Earliest claimed: 2021-11-05
- Applicants: Chun-Jung Chiu; Chun-Hsiung Chen; Wan-Chen Chuang
- Inventors: Chun-Jung Chiu; Chun-Hsiung Chen; Wan-Chen Chuang
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12214385B2

## CPC

- B08B 7/0042: {by laser}
- B08B 5/02: Cleaning by the force of jets, e.g. blowing-out cavities {(airguns or nozzles per se B05B1/005)}
- B08B 7/04: by a combination of operations
- B08B 13/00: Accessories or details of general applicability for machines or apparatus for cleaning
- H10P 72/0406: {for cleaning followed by drying, rinsing, stripping, blasting or the like}
- Y02P 70/50: Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product
- B08B: CLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
- H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10
- Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS

## Abstract

A method for cleaning semiconductor process equipment and a system thereof are provided. The method is adapted to apply to an object with at least one pollutant thereon and includes steps of providing multi-channel optical tweezers to irradiate the pollutant and locations where the pollutant is neighbor to, in order to let the optical tweezers generate a resultant force to the pollutant; and providing an airflow to the object. The resultant force is greater than a maximum static friction between the pollutant and the object so as to remove the pollutant.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for cleaning semiconductor process equipment, adapted to apply to an object with at least one pollutant thereon, comprising steps of:
providing multi-channel optical tweezers to irradiate a single one of the at least one pollutant and locations where the at least one pollutant is neighbor to, in order to let the optical tweezers generate a resultant force to the at least one pollutant; and
providing an airflow to the object;
wherein the resultant force is greater than a maximum static friction between the at least one pollutant and the object; and
wherein the optical tweezers are applied from different directions.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method for cleaning the semiconductor process equipment according to claim 1, wherein the step (b) is executed simultaneously when the step (a) is being executed.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method for cleaning the semiconductor process equipment according to claim 1, wherein the object is a photomask or a photomask protective film.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method for cleaning the semiconductor process equipment according to claim 1, wherein the optical tweezers are formed by means of a main laser light entering into a spatial light modulator.