Optical Cleaning — Silicon Diffraction Gratings
Q. Using Detojet detergent at high concentration is damaging the silicon diffraction gratings without cleaning it sufficiently. I have also tried the Luminox solution but it does not clean the surface adequately. Are there any products offered by Alconox, Inc.that are low foaming, so they can be used in the parts washer, that will effectively clean silicon without damaging it?
Cleaning Copper Optical Molds
Q. The ammonia-peroxide solution (also known as Standard Clean 1 or SC1) is a very effective cleaner on our nickel optical molds, but we cannot use that cleaner on our new copper optical molds. The SC1 solution is very corrosive to copper. So we would like to find another cleaner that we could use for both copper and nickel parts. We are mostly removing machining fluid and particulates. Our parts have a very tight spec on particulates. We need to have essentially no particulates greater than 10 um, and this is inspected with a microscope. Obviously, the ammonia-peroxide solution is moderately dangerous to work with, and disposal is expensive. We go through at least 55 gallons per month of the ammonia-peroxide solution, it is quite a hassle.
Cleaning Anti-reflection Coated Lenses
Q. We need to clean anti-reflection coated lenses and protective silver coated mirrors. Any recommendations? A.
Optical Lens Cleaning
Q. How do you clean wax marks on optical lenses which are difficult to remove?
A. Use either 1% Alconox or Liquinox in a heated 160 deg F ultrasonic bath followed by a deionized water rinse to clean optical lenses during manufacturing.
Stripping NiCr-AG-NiCr Coating
Q. To strip NiCr-Ag-NiCr coating, I was preparing a solution @4% of Cerium Ammonium Nitrate (C.A.N.)and I added Citrajet @1% to be used as a wetting agent (surface inclined). The addition of Citrajet neutralized completely the effect of the C.A.N; which did not attack the NiCr layers. Can you give me some explanation and which Alconox product I have to use as wetting agent.
A. CAN is a very strong oxidizing agent. Organic functional groups with double bonds, alcohols, benzene rings and ethers are likely to be oxidized by CAN, thereby “neutralizing,” or depleting it, thereby rendering it less effective for stripping coatings. Most wetting agents have organic functional groups that will be oxidized by CAN, including Citrajet.