Effect of humidity and aging on adhesion and removal of glass particles from FPD glass

Surface cleaning is an essential process in the manufacturing of flat panel displays (FPDs). This paper introduces recent results that show the effect of humidity on the adhesion and removal of glass particles from flat panel displays. Glass particles were deposited on FPD glass samples and aged in 95% relative humidity for one to six weeks. The glass samples were then cleaned using a megasonic cleaning technique. The results show that the particle removal efficiency decreases with aging time. Complete removal of particles can be achieved under certain cleaning conditions. The results also show that particle imprints were left on the glass surface after megasonic cleaning. The formation mechanism of these imprints is not quite clear, but these imprints yield a high adhesion between glass particles and the FPD glass surface.