| abstract |
A cleaning composition for cleaning particulate contamination from small dimensions on microelectronic device substrates. The cleaning composition contains dense CO 2 (preferably supercritical CO 2 (SCCO 2 )), alcohol, fluoride source, anionic surfactant source, non-ionic surfactant source, and optionally, hydroxyl additive. Such cleaning composition overcomes the intrinsic deficiency of SCCO 2 as a cleaning reagent, viz., the non-polar character of SCCO 2 and its associated inability to solubilize species such as inorganic salts and polar organic compounds that are present in particulate contamination on wafer substrates and that must be removed from the microelectronic device substrate for efficient cleaning. The cleaning composition enables damage-free, residue-free cleaning of substrates having particulate contamination on Si/SiO 2 substrates. |