Method and apparatus for removing particles from surface of article
AssigneeEbara Corporation
InventorsToshiaki Fujii, Kikuo Okuyama, Manabu Shimada
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for removing particles from a surface of an article, such as a semiconductor wafer in a clean room. The particles are supplied with an electric charge. Subsequently, an ultrasonic wave or a gas stream is applied onto the surface of the article while an electric field is applied for driving away the electrically charged particles from the surface, thereby removing particles having a dimension smaller than 1 micrometer from the surface. The presence of a collecting member allows the removal of resulting, floating particles.
Claims9
An apparatus for removing particles from a surface of an article comprising:
- an ionizing device configured to supply particles on the surface of the article with an electric charge, said ionizing device comprising a photoelectron emitting material and a light source configured to irradiate at least one of an ultraviolet ray and a radiation ray onto the photoelectron emitting material;
- at least one of an ultrasonic generator configured to apply an ultrasonic wave to the surface of the article and a stream source configured to generate a gas stream onto the surface of the article;
- and
- a first electrode configured to form an electric field for driving electrically charged particles from the surface of the article.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.