Plasma cleaning is a universally applied environmentally benign process used in numerous manufacturing processes for removal of sub-micron contamination. Dry processing is advantageous in a wide variety of manufacturing operations for removal of many types of contamination including organic residues, polymer coatings or build-ups, waxes, metals and metal oxides, fluorine and other halogens. The overall manufacturing device performance is improved by removing unwanted contaminants or any material that may impact bonding and/or electrical performance.
Additional contaminant examples include handling or packaging residues and processing materials such as coatings or polishing residues. Plasma cleaning can permit rework or maintain multiple use fixtures and process components by eliminating build-up that may occur through repetitive use. In many applications, plasma is a faster process that saves money through waste stream elimination and saves valuable production space by reducing the required system footprint.