Cleaning of mass standards: a comparison of new and old techniques

The new cleaning techniques of low-pressure hydrogen plasma and UV/ozone were directly compared with the established nettoyage-lavage procedure using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) on PtIr and Au-alloy samples. The different cleaning techniques have been validated with respect to the achieve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMetrologia Vol. 49; no. 6; pp. 628 - 634
Main Authors Marti, K, Fuchs, P, Russi, S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bristol IOP Publishing 01.12.2012
Subjects
Chemical contaminants
Hydrocarbons
Measurement
Oxidation
Ozone
Ultraviolet radiation
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Summary:The new cleaning techniques of low-pressure hydrogen plasma and UV/ozone were directly compared with the established nettoyage-lavage procedure using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) on PtIr and Au-alloy samples. The different cleaning techniques have been validated with respect to the achieved cleanliness, the remaining contaminants and the speed of action. The new techniques were found to be more efficient for the removal of hydrocarbons, delivered reproducible results and the final surface chemical state was achieved repeatedly. For hydrogen plasma we found the speed of action is four times faster than for the UV/ozone cleaning and results in slightly smaller amounts of remaining hydrocarbons. Hydrogen plasma also removed oxygen compounds whereas UV/ozone led to oxidized surfaces. Further cyclic measurements with hydrogen plasma and UV/ozone revealed a fast reduction of oxides upon plasma treatment and a re-oxidation when subsequently treated with UV/ozone.
ISSN:0026-1394
1681-7575
DOI:10.1088/0026-1394/49/6/628