Efficiency studies of particle removal with pulsed-laser induced plasma

The detachment and removal of micro- and nanoparticles from surfaces is of importance in many industries. The cleaning of silicon wafers is of great interest in the semiconductor, microelectronics, and optics industries. The development and adoption of dry, rapid, non-contact, and non-damaging particle removal technologies is a critical process. The proposed laser-induced plasma (LIP) removal technique is a novel method for detaching and removing fine particles from substrates. The current technique is a dry, non-contact method that takes advantage of the strong shock wavefront from expanding plasma, created by focusing a laser pulse in air above the substrate. The transient pressure field acts on the target particles to produce a rotational moment and a rolling mode of detachment from the substrate. In the current study, the LIP removal technique is employed repeatedly to remove particles over an area of a silicon wafer, and a systematic efficiency study for the removal effectiveness is performed. A Q-switched Nd:YAG pulsed laser operating at 1064 nm with a 370 mJ pulse energy and 5 ns pulse length is used in experiments. 0.99 μm diameter silica spheres and 3.063 μm diameter polystyrene spheres were successfully detached and removed with no substrate damage. The removal efficiency at various gap distances between plasma core and substrate is determined and reported. This work is the first laboratory demonstration of the LIP technique over an extended area. The reported results substantiate the LIP removal technique as a serious option for particle detachment and removal from extended areas.