METHOD AND UNIT FOR CLEANING A SURFACE REGION COVERED WITH CONTAMINANT OR UNDESIRABLE MATERIAL

摘要

The present invention relates to a method of cleaning a surface at least partly covered with contaminant or undesired material by applying atomic hydrogen. The invention also proposes an irradiation unit adapted to perform the cleaning method. In the present method the atomic hydrogen is generated by dissociation of molecular hydrogen directed to a surface containing catalytic material, which causes the dissociation of at least a part of the molecular hydrogen to atomic hydrogen. The surface with the catalytic material is arranged close to the surface to be cleaned and is dimensioned such that its total surface area is at least twice the surface area of the to be cleaned surface region. The method allows for the cleaning of the surface region in a constructive simple and efficient manner.