CO2 LASER-ASSISTED PARTICLE REMOVAL FROM SILICON SURFACES

A CO2 laser particle removal system was built that enables the removal of 0.1 mu m alumina particles from silicon substrates. This system ha s raster scan capabilities to clean large surfaces, which were analyse d using a particle counter. After deposition and removal of 0.1 mu m a lumina particles, the final concentration is less than 25 particles cm (-2) for particle clusters between 0.1 and 10 mu m. The efficiency of particle removal is nearly independent of the laser fluence between 0. 65 and 2.9 J cm(-2) and drops suddenly below 0.65 J cm(-2).