Gigasonic Brush for Cleaning Surfaces

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method for a Gigasonic Brush for cleaning surfaces is presented. One embodiment of the system includes an array of acoustic transducers coupled to a substrate where the individual acoustic transducers have sizes in the range of 9 um2 to 250,000 um2. The system may include a positioning mechanism coupled to at least one of a target surface or the array of acoustic transducers, and configured to position the array of acoustic transducers within 1 millimeter of a target surface. The system may also include a cleaning liquid supply arranged to provide cleaning liquid for coupling the array of acoustic transducers to the target surface. The system may further include a controller coupled to the array of acoustic transducers and configured to activate the array of acoustic transducers.

1 . A method comprising:
 providing an array of acoustic transducers wherein individual acoustic transducers have sizes in the range of 9 square micrometers to 250,000 square micrometers;   positioning the array of acoustic transducers within 1 millimeter of a target surface;   coupling the array of acoustic transducers to the target surface via a cleaning liquid; and   directly exciting a particle having a diameter in the range of 1 nanometer to 500 nanometers on the target surface with acoustic waves at one or more frequencies in the range of 10 Megahertz to 10 Gigahertz from the array of acoustic transducers.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising focusing the acoustic waves from the array of acoustic transducers on a point. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising focusing the acoustic waves from the array of acoustic transducers on a line. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising coupling the array of acoustic transducers to a two dimensional plane. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , where providing an array of acoustic transducers further comprises providing a first group of acoustic transducers configured to operate at a first frequency and providing a second group of acoustic transducers configured to operate at a second frequency. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , where the first group of acoustic transducers and the second group of acoustic transducers are intermixed. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising selectively activating a first acoustic transducer and selectively activating a second acoustic transducer. 
     
     
         8 - 26 . (canceled) 
     
     
         27 . A method comprising:
 positioning a low frequency acoustic transducer that is configured to operate within a first acoustic frequency range such that acoustic waves emitted by the low frequency acoustic transducer are directed toward a target surface;   positioning an array of high frequency acoustic transducers that are each configured to operate within a second frequency range such that acoustic waves emitted by at least one transducer in the array of high frequency acoustic transducers is directed toward the target surface, where the array of high frequency acoustic transducers are positioned closer to the target surface than the low frequency acoustic transducer;   providing a cleaning liquid on the target surface; and   selectively activating the low frequency acoustic transducer and the array of high frequency acoustic transducers to directly excite a particle on the target surface that has a diameter in the range of 1 nanometer to 500 nanometers.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , where positioning the array of high frequency acoustic transducers comprises positioning the array of high frequency transducers within 1 millimeter of the target surface. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising:
 positioning the target surface within 1 millimeter of the array of high frequency transducers.   
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 27 , where selectively activating the array of high frequency acoustic transducers comprises sending separate activation signals to different individual acoustic transducers within the array of high frequency acoustic transducers. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 27 , where selectively activating the array of high frequency acoustic transducers comprises sending a single activation signal to the entire array of high frequency acoustic transducers. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 27 , where selectively activating the low frequency acoustic transducer and the array of high frequency acoustic transducers comprises activating the low frequency acoustic transducer and at least one transducer in the array of high frequency acoustic transducers such that a resulting wave includes a high frequency wave superimposed on a low frequency wave. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 27 , where selectively activating the low frequency acoustic transducer and the array of high frequency acoustic transducers comprises activating the low frequency acoustic transducer and at least one transducer in the array of high frequency acoustic transducers such that a resulting wave includes a high frequency wave concatenated with a low frequency wave. 
     
     
         34 . A method comprising:
 positioning an array of acoustic transducers having sizes in the range of 9 square micrometers to 250,000 square micrometers such that acoustic waves emitted by at least one transducer in the array of acoustic transducers is directed toward a target surface, where the array of acoustic transducers comprises:
 a first group of acoustic transducers configured to operate at a first frequency; and 
 a second group of acoustic transducers configured to operate a second frequency; and 
   selectively activating the first group of acoustic transducers and the second group of acoustic transducers to directly excite a particle on the target surface that has a diameter in the range of 1 nanometer to 500 nanometers with acoustic waves at one or more frequencies in the range of 10 Megahertz to 10 Gigahertz.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , where selectively activating the first group of acoustic transducers and the second group of acoustic transducers comprises selecting to activate at least one transducer in the first group of acoustic transducers and selecting to not activate the second group of acoustic transducers. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 34 , where selectively activating the first group of acoustic transducers and the second group of acoustic transducers comprises selecting to activate at least one transducer in the first group of acoustic transducers and at least one transducer in the second group of acoustic transducers. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 34 , where positioning the array of acoustic transducers comprises focusing at least some transducers in the array of acoustic transducers on a point. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 34 , where positioning the array of acoustic transducers comprises focusing at least some transducers in the array of acoustic transducers on a line. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising:
 coupling at least some transducers in the array of acoustic transducers to the target surface with a cleaning liquid.