Dry surface cleaning apparatus using a laser

A dry surface cleaning apparatus for removing surface contaminants on a surface of a workpiece comprising:

• a laser for generating a laser beam;
• a beam delivery control unit for splitting the laser beam into a first and a second laser beam, wherein the first and the second laser beam propagate along different directions from each other;
• a frequency modulator for modulating the second laser beam to generate a shorter wavelength laser beam, wherein the shorter wavelength laser beam has a shorter wavelength than that of the second laser beam and the shorter wavelength laser beam is used to directly detach the surface contaminants on the surface;
• and
• a laser focusing lens for converging the first laser beam on a laser focus around the surface of the workpiece to generate a plasma shock wave around the laser focus, wherein the plasma shock wave is used to clean the surface contaminants on the surface.