THE EFFECT OF TIME, TEMPERATURE AND PARTICLE-SIZE ON SUBMICRON PARTICLE REMOVAL USING ULTRASONIC CLEANING

Ultrasonic cleaning is an established method for removing micron-size particles or larger from hard substrates. This paper presents the effe ct of the ultrasonic frequency and time functions on submicron particl e removal effectiveness. The effect of the particle size, concentratio n and the cleaning liquid temperature is also investigated. The remova l efficiency is shown to he dependent on the ultrasonic time and frequ ency functions. The liquid temperature is shown to have a major effect on the ultrasonic cleaning process. The removal efficiency is shown t o decrease with decreasing particle diameter. The results show that th e ultrasonic cleaning technique can effectively remove particles of si zes 0.3 mum and larger.