The CO2 Snow Cleaning process removes particles of all sizes, from visible down to 3 - 5 nanometers.  At the same time, hydrocarbon-based contamination and organic residues can be removed. Carbon dioxide snow cleaning is nondestructive, nonabrasive, residue-free, and environmentally friendly - there is no chemical waste. The cleaning process is based upon the controlled expansion of either liquid or gaseous carbon dioxide. This expansion leads to the nucleation of small dry ice particles and a high velocity carrier gas stream. Upon impact with a surface, the dry ice removes particles of all sizes by momentum transfer, and hydrocarbons and organics via a transient solvent or a freeze fracture mechanism. The high-velocity gas blows the contaminants away. Additionally, nozzle design changes can be made for cleaning large telescope mirrors. 

 

      Carbon Dioxide Snow Cleaning can be used for either initial or final cleaning, and for numerous critical and noncritical cleaning applications in the semiconductor, optics, disk drive, basic research, vacuum technologies, surface science, surface analysis, medical, analytical instrument, telescopes, art conservation, manufacturing communities, and others.  Explore the Examples and Application pages.

 

     Carbon Dioxide Snow Cleaning equipment comes in different styles, and most any configuration can address your contamination removal problems.

 

     This web site is intended to educate and inform the reader about Carbon Dioxide Snow Cleaning. Topics include answers to frequently asked questions including thermodynamics of snow formation, cleaning mechanisms, examples, cleaning parameters, and others.  Furthermore, we discuss many applications, with separate pages for AFM, art cleaning, and telescope mirrors.   Pages can be found on equipment, costs, safety and more.

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Two new pages have been added.  Work by Jantzen et al. clearly proves that CO2 snow cleaning has a higher particle removing efficiency than ultrasonics or high speed air cleaning.  The other page is a short comparison of many cleaning methods.  

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