The CO2 Snow Cleaning process removes particles of all sizes, from visible down to 3 - 5 nanometers. At the same time, hydrocarbon-based contamination and organic residues can be removed. Carbon dioxide snow cleaning is nondestructive, nonabrasive, residue-free, and environmentally friendly - there is no chemical waste. The cleaning process is based upon the controlled expansion of either liquid or gaseous carbon dioxide. This expansion leads to the nucleation of small dry ice particles and a high velocity carrier gas stream. Upon impact with a surface, the dry ice removes particles of all sizes by momentum transfer, and hydrocarbons and organics via a transient solvent or a freeze fracture mechanism. The high-velocity gas blows the contaminants away.
Carbon Dioxide Snow Cleaning can be used for either initial or final cleaning, and for numerous critical and noncritical cleaning applications including semiconductor, disk drive, research, vacuum technologies, surface science, surface analysis, optical, medical, analytical instrument, telescopes & art conservation.
Applications
Contamination removal from metals, ceramics, polymers, and glasses
Particle and stain removal from Si, InP, and GaAs wafers
Cleaning optics, i.e., coated lenses, laser, IR and UV optics, diamond turned optics
Sample preparation before surface analysis (Auger, XPS, SIMS) and AFM
Basic surface science studies
General laboratory, production, and cleanroom cleaning
Substrate preparation
Manufacturing of many metal and ceramic parts and assemblies
Cleaning vacuum systems components, bellows, electron and ion optics
Removing particles from microelectronic and hybrid circuits
Art cleaning
Cleaning telescope mirrors
Visit www.co2clean.com
Please contact us for further information, pricing and lead times.
