Remote plasma cleaning of optical surfaces: Cleaning rates of different carbon allotropes as a function of RF powers and distances

An extended study on an advanced method for the cleaning of carbon contaminations from large optical surfaces using a remote inductively coupled low-pressure RF plasma source (GV10x DownStream Asher) is reported. Technical and scientific features of this scaled up cleaning process are analysed, such as the cleaning efficiency for different carbon allotropes (amorphous and diamond-like carbon) as a function of feedstock gas, RF power (from 30 to 300 W), and source-object distances (415 to 840 mm). The underlying physical phenomena for these functional dependences are discussed. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.