ULTRASONIC CLEANING OF SURFACES:

AN OVERVIEW

Ismail Kashkoush and Ahmed Busnaina

Center for Particulate Con t rol in Process Equipment &
Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Department
C lark son University, Potsdam, NY 13699-5725

Frederick Kern Jr. and Robert Kunesh

IBM G eneral T echnology Di vi sion
Essex Junction , Vermont 05 452

Removal of su bmi cron particles from silicon-wafers presents an en or-

mous challenge t o the semiconductor industry. Ultrasonic cleaning is
an established method for removing micron-size microcontaminants or
larger from h ard su r faces . This paper presents an overview of the sonic
cleaning research as applied t o microcontarnination co n t rol. The paper
al so presents n ew re cen t re su lts on sub m icro n particle removal.

In this study, the effectiveness of ultrasonic cleaning technique in

rem ov in g submicron p articles is in vest iga t ed . The effect of the particle
size, concentration , t ime and fr equency fun ctions, and sonication time
on subrnicron particle removal effe ctiveness is studied. The effect of
moving t he fluid in the sonicat ion bath is also considered. The resu lt s
in d icate that a cousti c microstreaming produced by ultrasonics waves
play the dominant role in the cleaning process. The removal efficiency
is sh ow n t o b e depend ent on the ultrasoni c time and fr equency func-
tions. Al so . t he liqu id te mperature is s ho wn t o b e a m ajor factor on
the u ltrasonic c leani n g p ro cess. Cavitation d a m age to the wafer sur-
face h as be en obser ved under cer t a in conditions . Preliminary results
indicate that t he ultrasonic cle a n ing technique is ca p a b le of removing
particle sizes of 0.3 mi cr ons or larger.

INTRODUCTION

The knowledge of the the ultrasonic cleaning mechanism is essential in understand-

ing, improving and optimizing the cleaning process. It provides useful and much needed
des ign guidelines for making better cleaning eq u ip ment . The formulation of the basic

Particles 011 SWIQL:eS 3, Edited by K.L. Minai

Plenum Press, New York, 1991 217
physical principles of ultrasonic cleaning has not b een fin alized yet l - 3. It has been sh own
that the main mechanisms responsible for the the cleaning process in a sound field a re
cavit a t ion and acousti c streaming. In fa ct , the role pl ayed by each of these fa ctors is
not well u nderstood yet 3.

The objective here is to present the fundamental principles of surface cleaning by

means of ultrasound. The dependence of the ultrasonic cleaning efficiency on the prop-
er t ies of the liquid used and the parameters of the sou n d field are discussed . The role
played by the acoustic cavitation and acoustic streaming in the cleaning proces s is di s-
cussed. The analysis of an ultrasonic cleaning pro ce ss is performed and the co n d it ions
under which the operational characteristics are optimized for m aximum removal effi-
cie ncy a re determined .

Many attempts to st u d y the bubble dynamics , as related to the surface cl eaning ,

have b een performed . Rayleigh" studied theoretically the collapse of a spherical cavity.
Rayleigh 's paper is still considered even today as the foundation of physical a coustics.
Noltingk and Neppiras" have developed the equations that describe the motion of a gas
fill ed and empty cavity in a liquid medium excited by a sound source. They predicted
that cavitation will diminish as the frequency is raised (more than 15 MH z).

The dynamics of bubble motion has be en d eveloped'v f stressing on the r elationship

b etween t ransient and st a b le cavit a t ion and their threshold. Cases of isothermal an d
a d ia b a t ic motion a re stu d ied . Direct verification of theories of bubble dynamics is ob-
tained using high speed cin em a t ogr a p hy" .

B enjamin10,ll studied t he p hys ica l mechanism of t he co lla pse of cavita ti on bubbles

an d pressure waves arising therefrom. Once t he collapse is com p leted, a st ro ng sh ock
wave is formed. This sh ock h as a rarefactio n phas e b ehind it wh ich might r eopen a cavity.

Olaf1 2 has investigated s u rface cleaning by the use of ultrasoni c waves in the r ange
of 15 kH z to 2. 5 M II z on m echanically polished surfaces. He st u d ie d sou n d densit y and
d ir ection , time of irradiation , and liquid properties. The cav it a t ion threshold was shown
to in crease with the in crease of hydrostatic pressure. Experiments were p erformed t o
sh ow the existence o f acous t ic streaming around the radiator. R esults obtained con-
firmed that the cleaning is due to acousti c streaming as well as cavitat ion. Al so , the
clea n ed area was sh own t o in cr ea se as a function of the irradiation time, see figure 1.

Rozenberg 13,14 us ed high speed photography to ex am in e the mechanism of ultrasonic

cleaning. Two independent m echanisms are revealed. The first is impact explosive de-
struction associated with the annihilation of cavitation bubbles . The second mechanism
sta rts after the explosion is co m p le t ed . Small bubbles en erge t ica lly penetrate into all
pores and gaps between the contaminant layer and the surface , and their vibrations p eel
and tear off the con t a m in ation layer. If the adhesion for ce b etween the contamination
layer and surface is greater than the strength of the con t a m in a t ion layer , a fragment of
t he layer is torn lo ose. If the strength of the con t a m in a n t is greater than that b etween
t h e layer and the surface , the co nta m in atio n layer is p eel ed fro m t he surfa ce .

Plesset and Chapman' " h av e modeled numeri cally t he co llapse of an initia lly spheri-
cal va p or cavity in t he n eighborhood of a solid b oundary as sh ow n in figures 2 and 3. J et
velocit ies up to 130 in]s h ave b een calc u lated in wa t er at atmos p h eric press ure. B oll e

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