• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2000.05a
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• pp.743-746
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• 2000

The removal of contaminants of silicon wafers has been investigated by various methods. Laser cleaning is the new dry cleaning technique to replace wafer wet cleaning in the near future. A dry laser cleaning uses inert gas jet to remove contaminant particles lifted off by the action of a KrF excimer laser. A laser cleaning model is developed to simulate the cleaning process and analyze the influence of contaminant particles and experimental parameters on laser cleaning efficiency. The model demonstrates that various types of submicrometer-sized particles from the front sides of silicon wafer can be efficiently removed by laser cleaning. The laser cleaning is explained by a particle adhesion model. including van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding, and a particle removal model involving rapid thermal expansion of the substrate due to the thermoelastic effect. In addition, the experiment of wafer laser cleaning using KrF excimer laser was conducted to remove various contaminant particles.

• Laser Solutions
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.2-11
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• 2000

Laser cleaning has begun to attract a considerable amount of interest recently as a new cleaning technique among scientists and engineers. The unique characteristics of laser cleaning are currently finding successful applications in industry, in medicine as well as in the world of art conservation. This paper takes an overview of the laser cleaning technique itself including basic principles and characteristics, and provides an account of current trends especially with regard to practical applications. Experience with its successful applications in various fields shows that laser cleaning may be about to emerge as a real alternative to conventional cleaning methods.

• Laser Solutions
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.27-33
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• 2003

A laser shock cleaning technology is a new dry cleaning methodology for the effective removal of small particles from the surface. This technique uses a plasma shock wave produced by a breakdown of air due to an intense laser pulse. In order to optimize the laser shock cleaning process, it needs to evaluate the cleaning performance quantitatively by using a monitoring technique. In this paper, an acoustic monitoring technique was attempted to investigate the laser shock cleaning process with an aim to optimize the cleaning process. A wide-band microphone with high sensitivity was utilized to detect acoustic signals during the cleaning process. It was found that the intensity of the shock wave was strongly dependent on the power density of laser beam and the gas species at the laser beam focus. As a power density was larger, the shock wave became stronger. It was also seen that the shock wave became stronger in the case of Ar gas compared with air and N$_2$ gas.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.185-190
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• 2007

There is a growing interest to develop a new cleaning technology to overcome the disadvantages of wet cleaning technologies such as environmental pollution and the cleaning difficulty of contaminants on integrated circuits. Laser cleaning is a potential technology to remove various pollutants on a wafer surface. However, there is no fundamental data about cleaning efficiencies and cleaning mechanisms of contaminants on a wafer surface using a laser cleaning technology. Therefore, the cleaning characteristics of a wafer surface using an excimer laser were investigated in this study. Fingerprint consisting of inorganic and organic materials was chosen as a representative of pollutants and the effectiveness of a laser irradiation on a wafer cleaning has been investigated qualitatively and quantitatively. The results have shown that cleaning degree is proportional to the laser irradiation time and repetition rate, and quantitative analysis conducted by an image processing method also have shown the same trend. Furthermore, the cleaning efficiency of a wafer contaminated by fingerprint strongly depended on a photothermal cleaning mechanism and the species were removed in order of hydrophilic and hydrophobic contaminants by laser irradiation.

• Laser Solutions
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.39-45
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• 2001

This paper introduces a cleaning process for removing submicron-sized particles from NiP hard disk substrates by the liquid-assisted laser cleaning technique. Measurements of cleaning Performance and time-resolved optical diagnostics are Performed to analyze the physical mechanism of contaminant removal. The results reveal that nanosecond laser pulses are effective for removing the contaminants regardless of the wavelength and that a thermal mechanism involving explosive vaporization of liquid dominates the cleaning process.

• Laser Solutions
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.17-25
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• 2009

The surface cleaning method based on the laser-induced breakdown (LIB) of gas and subsequent plasma and shock wave generation can remove small particles from solid surfaces. In the laser shock cleaning (LSC) process, a high-power laser pulse induces optical breakdown of the ambient gas above the solid surface covered with contaminant particles. The subsequently created shock wave followed by a high-speed flow stream detaches the particles. In this work, a novel surface cleaning process using laser-induced breakdown of liquid is introduced and demonstrated. LIB of a micro liquid jet increases the shock wave intensity and thus removes smaller particle than the conventional LSC method. Experiments demonstrate that the cleaning force and cleaning efficiency are also increased significantly by this method.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.714-720
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• 2023

Laser cleaning has the advantages of environmental protection, precision, and high efficiency, and has good prospects for application in removing oxide films on the surface of aluminum alloy. This paper discusses the cleaning threshold and cleaning mechanism of aluminum alloy surface oxide film. A nanosecond pulsed laser was used to remove a 5-㎛-thick oxide film from the surface of 7A04 aluminum alloy, and the target surface temperature and cleaning depth were simulated. The effects of different laser energy densities on the surface morphology of the aluminum alloy were analyzed, and the plasma motion process was recorded using a high-speed camera. The temperature measurement results of the experiment are close to the simulation results. The results show that the laser cleaning of aluminum alloy oxide film is mainly based on the vaporization mechanism and the shock wave generated by the explosion.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.143-150
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• 2012

Laser cleaning have been found to be a useful cleaning tool to remove contaminants without inducing damage to the substrate and making secondary pollutant. In this study, the effect of Nd:YAG laser cleaning system, emitting at 1064 nm and 532 nm, on acrylic resin applied onto copper coupons and pieces of bronze was investigated. The samples after laser cleaning tests were examined using microscopy, FT-IR, SEM-EDS. As a result, the acrylic resin could be removed from most of the samples at low laser energy density. Laser wavelength 532 nm was more effective than 1064 nm because of using lower laser energy density, which could reduce heat damage to substrates. Although the acrylic resin was easily removed, it revealed melted surfaces and removed bronze patina which must remain. The problems should be solved by future studies using different laser system or laser wavelengths.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Laser Processing Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.23-26
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• 2000

This paper introduces a cleaning process for removing submicron-sized particles from NiP hard disk substrates by the liquid-assisted laser cleaning technique. Measurements of cleaning performance and time-resolved optical diagnostics are performed to analyze the physical mechanism of contaminant removal. The results reveal that nanosecond laser pulses are effective for removing the contaminants regardless of the wavelength and that a thermal mechanism involving explosive vaporization of liquid dominates the cleaning process.

• Laser Solutions
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2004

The dynamics of laser-induced plasma/shock wave and the interaction with a surface in the laser shock cleaning process are analyzed by optical diagnostics. Shock wave is generated by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser in air or with N$_2$, Ar, and He injection into the focal spot. The shock speed is measured by monitoring the photoacoustic probe-beam deflection signal under different conditions. In addition, nanosecond time-resolved images of shock wave propagation and interaction with the substrate are obtained by the laser-flash shadowgraphy. The results reveal the effect of various operation parameters of the laser shock cleaning process on shock wave intensity, energy-conversion efficiency, and flow characteristics. Discussions are made on the cleaning mechanisms based on the experimental observations.