Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
For the cleaning of silicon substrates, a mixture of an oxidizing and an etching agent is often used. One of the first successful mixtures (1970) is the well known APM or SC-1 cleaning (NH4OH/H2O2/H2O) (1). Since then, other mixtures (oxidizing agent/etching agent) such as HNO3/HF (2), H2O2/HF (3) were developed. For the cleaning of silicon substrates, a mixture of an oxidizing agent and an etching agent always results in good particle performance, since the Si under the particles is continuously oxidized and etched simultaneously (2,3).