Acoustic laser cleaning of silicon surfaces

We investigate the detachment of small particles from silicon surfaces by means of acoustic waves generated by laser-induced plasma formation at the back side of the sample. It is demonstrated that sufficiently high acoustic intensities can be reached to detach particles in the submicron regime. In order to study this “acoustic laser cleaning” in more detail, we have developed an interference technique which allows one to determine the elongation and acceleration of the surface with high temporal resolution, the basis for an analysis of the nanomechanical detachment process, which takes place on a temporal scale of nanoseconds. We find that the velocity of the detaching particles is significantly higher than the maximum velocity of the substrate surface. This indicates that not only inertial forces, but also elastic deformations of the particles, resulting from the acoustic pulse, play an important role for the cleaning process. PACS 81.65.Cf; 68.35.Np