In-situ plasma cleaner for SEM, FIB, XPS, ALD, EUVL, and other high vacuum chambers.
SEMI-KLEEN and EM-KLEEN series remote plasma cleaners were based on the high efficiency inductively coupled plasma (ICP) discharge technology developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Our patent-pending Turbo Discharge™ technology further improves the plasma strength by as much as 3X compared with traditional ICP discharge technology.
Typical applications:
- In-situ sample cleaning for FE-SEM, FIB, and TEM
- Contamination removal for semiconductor equipment, such as CD-SEM, EBR, EBI, EUVL
- High vacuum chamber cleaning to remove water, hydrocarbon, and fluorocarbon contamination, reduce the pump-down time
- Sample cleaning for XPS, SIMS, AES
- Sample cleaning for ALD and epi-growth after organic solvent cleaning






SmartClean™ technology developed by PIE Scientific combines the most advanced plasma discharge technology in nuclear research and the semiconductor industry. EM-KLEEN and Semi-KLEEN plasma cleaners are far more advanced than previous generations of plasma cleaners. Our plasma cleaner can beat competitors on any specification. In addition, many unique features are only available on our products.



Introduction:
SEMI-KLEEN and EM-KLEEN series plasma cleaner provide a gentle plasma cleaning solution for contamination control in high vacuum systems, such as SEM, FIB, AES, XPS, ALD, EUVL, etc. It consists of a controller and a remote plasma source. A remote plasma source should be installed on the vacuum chamber to be cleaned. The controller provides the RF power to the remote plasma source. It breaks down the process gas such as oxygen, hydrogen, or other gas mixtures and generates reactive radicals. Radical species will then diffuse into the chamber to be cleaned and react with the contaminants. The byproducts are usually low molecule weight, high vapor pressure molecules that can be easily pumped away. Remote plasma cleaner can clean vacuum systems and samples at the same time. Option to support aggressive and sometimes corrosive plasma such as H2, NF3, CF4, NH3 is available.
EM-KLEEN vs SEMI-KLEEN
EM-KLEEN plasma cleaner provides an affordable contamination removal solution for SEM, FIB, XPS systems. SEMI-KLEEN remote plasma source is designed to meet the tough requirement from semiconductor industry. SEMI-KLEEN plasma cleaner has the upgrade option to eliminate nanometer scale particle generation—-a feature that is critical for semiconductor capital equipment. Automatic impedance matching option is only available for SEMI-KLEEN Series plasma cleaner. SEMI-KLEEN plasma cleaner is very versatile. It can be configured to include sapphire tube option for aggressive process gases such as H2, NF3, CF4 and NH3. We also provide custom design service based on SEMI-KLEEN plasma cleaner to meet specific application requirements. For example, SEMI-KLEEN plasma cleaner can be used for etching and deposition on ALD systems.

Video presentation:
Principle of remote plasma cleaning for SEM, FIB and the method of operation. The operation of EM-KLEEN and SEMI-KLEEN is the same.