Abstract
The xenon excimer lamp, which emits vacuum ultraviolet radiation, is frequently used as a dry cleaning device for objects such as flat-panel displays (FPDs). UV dry cleaning processes are generally monitored with UV illuminometers, however these do not detect the direct influence of the cleaning process on the substrate. Therefore, a monitoring method that focuses on the treated substrate is required. In this study, we investigated a method to evaluate VUV influence under xenon excimer lamp processing, using a quartz crystal microbalance technique which can detect very small changes in mass. With an organic (fluorocarbon) thin film as the detecting element of the quartz crystal microbalance, we have investigated mass change through irradiation with a xenon excimer lamp, in nitrogen, oxygen, and air atmosphere, respectively. It was confirmed that mass change increased linearly with time, under all conditions, and that monitoring of VUV influence was possible by means of the quartz crystal microbalance method using fluorocarbon thin film.