Samco
Aqua Plasma® Cleaners
Aqua Plasma® cleaners is a plasma treatment system that uses water vapor (H₂O) as a reactive gas. It performs metal oxide reduction, direct bonding, surface hydrophilization, and organic contaminant decomposition. Designed to support both fundamental research and industrial manufacturing lines, Samco Aqua Plasma® cleaners ensure consistent process repeatability for packaging and device fabrication workflows.
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Aqua Plasma® Cleaner AQ-2000
Handles A3 size and larger
Features of Aqua Plasma® Cleaners
Aqua Plasma® is an innovative surface treatment and cleaning technology that utilizes water vapor as its primary reactive gas. Developed as an environmentally friendly alternative to fluorocarbon chemistries, this process achieves safe metal oxide reduction and ultra-fine surface modification across semiconductor manufacturing, electronic component assembly, and medical or biotechnology applications.
Conventional plasma cleaning methods present clear operational and technical limitations. While oxygen plasma offers fast cleaning rates, it causes surface oxidation and discoloration on copper and silver, leading to degraded electrical properties and poor electrical contact. It also requires subsequent wet cleaning, drying, and chemical waste treatment. Argon plasma avoids oxidation by cleaning through physical sputtering, but it generates sputtered debris that redeposits onto surrounding areas and impairs device performance. Hydrogen plasma effectively reduces oxides, but it introduces serious explosion hazards in the event of a gas leak, necessitating costly explosion-proof facilities and stringent safety management.
Aqua Plasma® overcomes these challenges by combining effective chemical reduction, high operational safety, and environmental sustainability. Its reduction mechanism removes surface oxide layers from silver and copper electrodes in optoelectronic and microelectronic devices without causing oxidative discoloration or sputtering redeposition. Because the process operates using vaporized liquid water, it eliminates explosion risks and removes the need for complex safety infrastructure. Furthermore, as a completely dry process, Aqua Plasma® operates without volatile organic compounds or liquid waste, requires no post-treatment rinsing or drying, and releases clean exhaust emissions.
Aqua Plasma® Cleaners FAQ
- What is the main process gas used in Aqua Plasma®?
- Aqua Plasma® primarily uses water vapor derived from liquid water as its reactive process gas, offering an eco-friendly surface treatment without using fluorocarbon or hazardous gases.
- How does Aqua Plasma® overcome the safety risks of hydrogen plasma?
- Hydrogen plasma carries explosion risks if gas leaks occur. Aqua Plasma® uses water vapor, eliminating the risk of explosion even in the event of material leakage and ensuring safe operation without specialized safety infrastructure.
- What advantages does Aqua Plasma® offer over conventional oxygen plasma?
- Oxygen plasma causes oxidative discoloration on metals such as silver and copper, leading to electrical performance degradation. Aqua Plasma® utilizes chemical reduction to clean metal surfaces without causing oxidation.
- How does Aqua Plasma® differ from argon plasma cleaning?
- Argon plasma cleans through physical sputtering, which can cause sputtered material to redeposit on surrounding areas and degrade device characteristics. Aqua Plasma® cleans via reduction action without physical sputtering redeposition.
- Is post-cleaning treatment required after an Aqua Plasma® process?
- No. Aqua Plasma® is a completely dry process that requires no post-treatment rinsing or drying. It generates no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or liquid waste.
