Submicron particle removal
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
InventorsDavid N. Ruzic, Brian E. Jurczyk, Darren Alman, Martin J. Neumann, Huatan Qiu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for non-contact cleaning of particulate contamination of surfaces includes one or more sources that create a charge imbalance between a surface and particles that contaminate the surface, and a power supply that creates a pulsed electrical bias on the surface. This imbalance produces an electrostatic force that propels the particles off the surface. The cleaning process can be associated, for example, with microelectronic lithography and manufacturing.
Claims19
A method for removing contaminant particles from a surface, the method comprising:
- providing a chamber including:
- a plasma source electrically connected to a first power supply;
- and
- a sample electrically connected to a second power supply, the sample having a surface including contaminant particles to be removed;
- flowing inert gas into the chamber and across the surface of the sample;
- applying power to the plasma source using the first power supply so as to generate a plasma sheath in contact with the surface of the sample;
- applying an electrical bias to the sample using the second power supply while the surface of the sample is in contact with the plasma sheath;
- pulsing at least one of the plasma source and the electrical bias;
- creating a charge imbalance between the contaminant particles and the surface;
- and
- exposing the surface of the sample to the plasma sheath for a time duration sufficient to remove a substantial fraction of the contaminant particles therefrom without substantially removing sample surface material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.