Aug 30 2007
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Although cleaning contaminants at the submicron level is always a challenge, it is essential during the manufacture of electronics and all forms of work at the microscopic scale. This method displaces and eliminates microscopic particles from substrates.
Problem
It has become increasingly important to clean particles from electronic manufacturing and other equipment. However, it is difficult and costly to perform this task with precision and consistency.
Standard techniques and apparatus use reactive gases in combination with mechanical agitation to eliminate contamination particles from a substrate surface. These reactive gases are used in an effort to increase the cleaning efficiency. Traditional cleaning equipment that does not use reactive gases provides a cleaning efficiency that is around 70% for particles measuring 1.25 µm.
In conventional electronics production lines, cleaning processes usually account for around 30% or more of the processing time in the manufacture of an instrument. But even these reactive gas-based cleaning instruments do not adequately remove particles from the substrate surface for the purpose of semiconductor and other clean manufacturing processes. Therefore, an apparatus is required that can efficiently remove particles from substrates. Such substrates can then be used in semiconductor manufacturing processes.
Methodology for Removing Submicron Contaminants
A broadband impulse displaces the contaminants, and an air knife assembly configured to produce a laminar flow of gas across the surface of the substrate sweeps the displaced particles away from the substrate surface for subsequent removal. Additionally, plasma can be added to the process to absorb the contaminants after they have been displaced.
Application for Submicron Contaminant Removal Technology
This technology can be employed to a variety of situations including:
- Laboratory equipment
- Test and measurement
- Medical devices
Status of the Submicron Contaminant Removal Technology
The technology is in the final release form and its US patents have been approved.