Abstract
The removal of ionic contaminants from silicon surfaces (wafers) during wet cleaning by pulsating flow is investigated using numerical physical modelling and verified experimentally. Two KCl removal processes, stagnant bath and megasonic flow rinse, are measured and modelled. The numerical model includes the effects of convection, diffusion, and, for the case of chemical rinse, surface reaction. The effects of pulsating flow are modelled by adding a sinusoidal velocity component to the steady flow velocity. The numerical results for KCl removal by deionised water at room temperature exhibit good agreement when compared with the experimental results. The results demonstrate that the surface contamination level can be reduced by more than one order of magnitude through the use of pulsating flow within a short cleaning time.
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