Importance

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Abstract

A solid surface cleaning device utilizes a jet of ice particles of ultrapure water for removing contaminants from a surface of a solid such as a semiconductor wafer. The electrical resistivity of ultrapure water stored in a tank is reduced by means of a gas such as dry air or carbon dioxide evolving into the water from a bubble tube disposed in the tank. The water whose resistivity is thus reduced is sprayed from a nozzle into an ice-making container which is refrigerated by the vaporization of a refrigerant discharged into the container. The fine ice particles that are thus generated in the container are sprayed and blasted from a jet spray nozzle onto the surface of the cleaned solid supported within a jet spray chamber. The air inside the chamber is exhausted by a blower together with the ice particles that have been ejected from the jet spray nozzle.

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First Claim