Patent ID: 8591660

Claim:
A process for cleaning the surface of a substrate comprising a material coated with an organic substance, the cleaning process comprising: introducing said substrate into a treatment chamber, having a pressure of between 10 mbar and 1 bar therein, which is supplied with a gas stream containing at least 90% oxygen by volume; and generating a plasma by passing an electric discharge between the surface of said substrate and a dielectric-covered electrode, breaking down said organic substance through the action of the free radicals O . thus produced, inducing re-dissociation, by applying UV radiation of a suitable wavelength, of the oxygen and/or ozone molecules that are formed by recombination of the free radicals O . , concurrently with the generating the plasma, wherein the cleaning operation comprises breaking down said organic substance on the substrate using the plasma and inducing re-dissociation of the recombined free radicals O . produced in said plasma by the UV radiation, wherein said cleaning operation is performed before coating the substrate with an organic or metallic coating, and wherein the UV radiation induces the oxygen and/or ozone molecules produced away from cold arcs of the plasma, to dissociate the ozone into a molecular oxygen and a free radical O . .