Patent ID: 8500913

Claim:
A method for treating a surface, comprising: providing an apparatus that includes a chamber and a plurality of atomization nozzles proximate the chamber, a first of the nozzles being in fluid communication with a different liquid than a second of the nozzles; placing a substrate within the chamber; imparting a charge upon the substrate utilizing a power source; forming a first aerosol within the chamber utilizing said first of the nozzles while not utilizing said second of the nozzles; passing at least some of first aerosol across a space within the chamber toward a surface of the substrate, and utilizing the first aerosol to treat at least a portion of the substrate surface; forming a second aerosol within the chamber utilizing said second of the nozzles while not utilizing said first of the nozzles; passing at least some of second aerosol across a space within the chamber toward the substrate, and utilizing the second aerosol to treat at least a portion of the substrate surface; and exposing the substrate surface to multiple independent plasmas within the chamber, at least two of the multiple independent plasmas differing in composition from each other, the plasmas comprising one or more of Ar, Xe, Ne and Kr; at least one of the first and second aerosols comprising HF, at least one of the first and second aerosols being charged, the charged aerosol being of the same polarity of the substrate and being subjected to the presence of an electric field of a plasma sheath configured to interact with a polarity induced onto particulates on the substrate to assist in sweeping the particulates from the substrate, and at least one of said independent plasma steps comprising O 3 .