Ossila's UV Ozone Cleaner is capable of removing contamination on the surface of samples, providing you with ultraclean surfaces within minutes. By using a high-power UV light source, ozone is generated - which then breaks down surface contaminants into volatile compounds. These volatile compounds evaporate from the surface leaving no trace. This method can produce near-atomically clean surfaces without causing damage to the sample.
Features
The UV Ozone Cleaner houses a high intensity low pressure mercury vapour discharge lamp. By utilizing the emission at 185 nm and 254 nm ozone can be generated. The presence of ozone and UV light allow for the removal of organics and sterilizes the surface.
Large Cleaning Area
The illumination area is 100 mm by 100 mm this allows for the cleaning of a wide array of samples including:
Microscope Slides4-Inch WaferAFM TipsDiced SubstratesPetri DishesAnd More
The Bright display and tactile keypad provide a simple interface, alongside the easy to use software it only takes a short time to start cleaning your samples. In addition the inbuilt software monitors the temperature inside the system, this allows you to make sure delicate samples do not overheat.
Added Safety
Ossila's UV Ozone cleaner has been designed with safety in mind. Adhering to BS EN 61010-1:2010 standards alongside EMC, Low Voltage and RoHS CE directive. The system provides users with added reassurance that the equipment they are using has been built with both quality and safety in mind.
Ossila aim to help simplify research that is why we give a free 2 year warranty on our equipment. In addition we offer rapid dispatch of items, free shipping on many orders, and discounts for large purchases. On top of this we provide expert support, tutorials, and a range of informative guides.
What are the uses of UV Ozone Cleaning
UV Ozone cleaning sees a wide range of uses across multiple disciplines, the two main uses for the technique are for surface cleaning and surface treatment. Surface cleaning using UV ozone cleaning is typically done as a final step in a cleaning procedure to remove residual organics that are present on the surface of a sample. The process results in an atomically clean surface free form any organic contaminants.
Surface treatment using UV Ozone is also a popular application of this technique. During the cleaning process the formation of ozone and oxygen radicals can result in reaction with water molecules present in the air. This results in the formation of hydroxide radicals. These vary short lived highly reactive species can react with bonds on the surface of substrates resulting in the formation of high energy hydroxide groups. This can help with preparation of samples by increasing the surface energy of a substrate.
There are also other applications of UV Ozone cleaning such as surface sterilization, UV curing, UV chemical reactions, and much more. For more information on the different applications and detailed examples of how UV Ozone cleaning can be used please see our applications tab
How does UV Ozone Cleaning Work?
UV Ozone cleaning relies upon the use of a high-intensity UV light source which illuminates the surface to be cleaned with two specific wavelengths of light. Low pressure mercury vapour discharge lamps are typically used which have two dominant emission peaks at 184 nm and 254 nm. Upon irradiation molecular oxygen present within air is dissociated by radiation below 200 nm in length. This results in the formation of two radicals of oxygen. These radicals go on to react with further molecular oxygen forming molecules of ozone.
At the same time light at 254 nm is used to excite organic species present on the surface of the sample. This process increases the reactivity of the contaminants with ozone. Upon reacting the material is cleaned from the surface. For more information on the cleaning process and also how UV ozone cleaning can alter the surface energy of substrate please see our theory tab on this page.
Specifications
| UV lamp type | Synthetic Quartz UV Grid Lamp |
| UV lamp dominant wavelengths | 185 nm and 254 nm |
| UV lamp dimensions | 100 mm x 100 mm |
| UV lamp current | 30 mA (constant) |
| 254 nm output intensity | 20 µW/cm2 at distance of 100 cm |
| UV lamp lifetime | T80 (2000 hours); 8-10 years of standard daily use |
| Power supply | Mains 220-240 VAC Fused at 1A |
| Optional AC/AC Adapter | 110 V / 230V |
| Max run time | 59 minutes 59 seconds |
| Safety features | Safety interlock, High temperature warning, thermal cutout |
| Substrate tray size | 100 mm x 100 mm |
| Maximum recommended substrate size | 100 mm x 100 mm |
| Overall Dimensions | Width 204 mm Height 227 mm Depth 300 mm |
*Please note that this UV Ozone Cleaner does NOT have an integrated ozone filtration system, and must therefore be operated in a working fumehood.
Datasheets
UV Lamp Spectrum (Graph of relative intensity of emission spectrum)
UV Lamp Lifetime (Graph of relative intensity over operational time in hours)
Compliance Documents
Declaration of Conformance (Low Voltage Directive, EMC Directive, RoHS Directive,and BS EN 61010-1:2010)
User Manual
User Manual
General Applications
UV Ozone cleaning is a versatile technique, it can be applied to a wide array of materials to provide surface cleaning and treatment. It can also be used for a variety of other applications which require either the presence of ozone or UV light. Below is a list of common materials that can be treated using UV ozone cleaning:
Quartz/Glass
Silicon/Silicon Oxides
Metals (e.g Gold, Silver, Steel)
Transparent Conductors (ITO, FTO, IZO, AZO)
Metal Oxides (e.g Aluminium Oxide, Titanium Oxide)
III-V Semiconductors (e.g Gallium Arsenide, Silicon Nitride)
AFM/STM Probes
Optical Components
If you would like to know if your material is suitable for use with UV Ozone cleaning please feel free to contact us at info@ossila.com.
UV Ozone cleaning is a versatile technique not only can it be used across a wide array of materials but it can also be used to perform a variety of different tasks. Below is a list of some of the common applications of UV Ozone treatment:
Surface cleaning
UV curing
Surface sterilization
UV chemical reactions
Surface Treatment
Removal of surface monolayers
Oxidation of surfaces
Micropatterning
Application Notes
Removal of Surface Monolayers and Improving Surface Hydrophilicity
In this application we used the UV ozone cleaner to remove a surface layer of n- octadecyl trichlorosilane (OTS) to improve the wetting of water-based solutions on a silicon substrate. OTS is an organic molecule which is used in the fabrication of organic field effect transistors to improve the electrical properties of deposited films. OTS consists of a trichlorosilane group which reacts with the native oxide of silicon to form three siloxane bonds with the surface. These bonds repeat across the surface of the silicon substrate until the entire surface is covered in a monolayer of OTS. The long hydrocarbon chains which are present result in the substrate having a very low surface energy.
Wetting of high surface energy solvents, such as water, become impossible and the contact angle of deposited droplets are therefore high. The OTS treated substrate was exposed to UV ozone for approximately 10 minutes to clean the surface of the octadecane carbon chains. Below is an image of a water droplet present on the surface of an OTS treated silicon substrate and an image of a droplet after treatment. The treatment has increased the surface energy enough to allow complete wetting of the water droplet on the substrates surface.
Surface Treatment of PMMA Substrates to Reduce Contact Angle
Plastics substrates have very low surface energy due to the abundance of C-H bonds and other similar low energy bonds. Coating thin films from solutions that have high surface tension solvents can be difficult due to the poor wetting that occurs. One method to assess the degree of wetting is to look at the contact angle a droplet makes on the surface of teh susbtrate. The lwoer the contact angle that a particular sovlent makes the better the wetting it. UV ozone cleaning can be used to treat the surface to improve the wetting of solvents.
During the process of UV ozone treatment ozone reacts with surface bonds breaking down the organic groups and eventually releasing volatile species. During the process intermediate steps occur in which low energy bonds such as the C-H bond are replaced with higher energy groups such as C-OH. The below figure shows how surface treatment can be used to improve the surface energy of a substrate and that the length of exposure to ozone can vary the degree of surface energy change.
How Does UV Ozone Clean Samples?
UV ozone cleaning is a photo-sensitized oxidation process in which organic molecules in their excited state chemically react with ozone molecules resulting in the cleaving of bonds and the dissociation of molecules from the surface. The process utilizes a high intensity UV light source which has two dominant emission peaks at 185 nm and 254 nm. These two wavelengths are responsible for different processes which ultimately result in the cleaning of the surface.
Figure 1. Video showing the process of ozone formation and photo-sensitized oxidation of organic contaminants.
Radiation below 200 nm is strongly absorbed by molecular oxygen, the energy of the absorbed photon is enough to break the oxygen-oxygen double bond resulting in the formation of two free radicals of oxygen (O•). These free radicals can subsequently react with molecular oxygen producing ozone molecules (O3).
UV radiation at 254 nm is readily absorbed by organic species that are present on the surface of many substrates. The exciton that is formed will be in a highly energetic state, the energy may also be high enough for certain molecules to make organic radicals.
The excited states and organic radical species present on the surface readily react with ozone present within the atmosphere resulting in the formation of volatile species such as carbon dioxide, water, molecular nitrogen, and short chain organic compounds. These volatile compounds can easily desorb from the surface under atmospheric conditions resulting in a pristine surface.
How Does UV Ozone Alter Surface Energy?
UV Ozone treatment alters the surface energy of samples via two methods, the first of these is through the removal of low energy contaminants from the surface. These are typically organic atmospheric contaminants that have adsorbed onto the surface of a substrate. The second way is through treatment of the surface and the formation of high energy bonds on the surface of the samples.
The removal of contaminants is done via the photo-oxidation process, this process results in the desorption of contaminants from the surface due to the chemical break down of the organic material. The underlying substrate is typically a higher energy surface such as a ceramic or a metal this results in the surface energy of the sample increasing in comparison to when it was untreated. This treatment does not last forever as over time organic contaminants will begin to reabsorb back onto the surface slowly decreasing the surface energy.
The second way that UV Ozone treatment works to improve the surface energy is via the formation of hydroxyl functional groups on the surface of the substrate. During the irradiation process light at 253.7 nm can break down water molecules resulting in the formation of OH and O free radicals. Hydroxyl free radicals will typically react with ozone present to form water and Oxygen, however when the UV degradation of water occurs near the surface of the sample the hydroxyl free radical can react with the surface forming a functional group. This functional group has a high bonding energy resulting in an increase in the surface energy of most surfaces.
For more information on the theory of surface energy and how to calculate surface energies please visit our surface energy guide page.
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To the best of our knowledge the technical information provided here is accurate. However, Ossila assume no liability for the accuracy of this information. The values provided here are typical at the time of manufacture and may vary over time and from batch to batch.
