Method for cleaning a surface

1. A method for spray cleaning a surface of a plate-like article, comprising the steps:

treating the surface with free flow cleaning, wherein liquid is dispensed through a dispense nozzle onto the surface in a continuous liquid flow,

treating the surface with spray cleaning, wherein liquid is directed through a spray nozzle towards the surface in form of droplets,

wherein the surface is treated with a spray cleaning step before the free flow cleaning step and a spray cleaning step after the free flow cleaning step, and at least two of the spray cleaning steps are run for 5 s to 45 s each, and the droplets have a mean diameter D30 of between 0.001 mm and 0.1 mm.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sequence of a free flow cleaning step followed by a spray cleaning step is carried out at least twice.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the free flow cleaning steps and/or the spray cleaning steps utilizes an alkaline cleaning liquid.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein alkaline cleaning liquid comprises an oxidizing agent selected from the group consisting of ozone, hydrogen peroxide, and a mixture of ozone and hydrogen peroxide.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the cleaning liquid comprises ammoniac.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the spray cleaning steps utilizes a cleaning liquid selected from the group comprising water, organic solvent alkaline composition, and acidic composition.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the free flow cleaning step and at least one of the spray cleaning steps, which are before or after the free flow step, timely overlap not more than 5 s.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plate-like article is rotated during at least one cleaning step.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the spray cleaning steps, which are before or after the free flow step, utilizes a spray nozzle selected from the group airless spray nozzle, two phase nozzle with inner mixing or two phase nozzle with outer mixing.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein at least one of the spray cleaning steps, which are before or after the free flow step, utilizes a two phase nozzle with outer mixing.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the spray nozzle's orifice is located at a distance d to the plate-like article's surface of d being in a range of 0.1 cm to 10 cm.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least two of the spray cleaning steps are run for 8 s to 30 s each.

13. The method according to claim 2 wherein at least two of the free flow cleaning steps are run for 8 s to 30 s each.

14. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the spray nozzle scans laterally across the plate-like article.

15. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the spray nozzle's orifice is located at a distance d to the plate-like article's surface with d being in a range of 0.3 cm to 5 cm.

16. A method for spray cleaning a surface of a structured semiconductor wafer, comprising:

A—treating the surface with free flow cleaning, wherein liquid is dispensed through a dispense nozzle onto the surface in a continuous liquid flow;

B—treating the surface with spray cleaning, wherein liquid is directed through a spray nozzle towards the surface in form of droplets, wherein the droplets have a mean diameter D30 of between 0.001 mm and 0.1 mm;

R—rinsing, wherein de-ionized water is supplied in a free flow; and

D—drying to remove the liquid from the surface,

wherein a basic process sequence is R-B-A-B-R-D with the core sequence B-A-B is preceded with a pre-rinse and succeeded by a rinse and dry sequence, and at least two of the spray cleaning steps B are run for 5 s to 45 s each.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the sequence is R-B-A1-A2-B-R-D where in between at least two spray cleaning steps, two or more free flow cleaning steps A1, A2 may be conducted with two different cleaning liquids.

18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the sequence is R-B-A-B-A-R-D where the core sequence B-A-B starts after the pre-rinse step R.

19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the mean diameter D 30 is calculated based upon volume distribution as follows:

D 30 =(Σ D i 3 N i /ΣN i )^(1/3),

wherein D i is the mean droplet diameter of each size class i of a sample, and N i is the number of droplets in each size class i.

20. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the mean diameter D 30 is calculated based upon volume distribution as follows:

D 30 =(Σ D i 3 N i /ΣN i )^(1/3),

wherein D i is the mean droplet diameter of each size class i of a sample, and N i is the number of droplets in each size class i.