“…Plasma systems, including those incorporated into heated chemical vapor deposition systems, are increasingly common. 1,7,23 Plasma cleaning may take place by the following possible processes: (i) A sputter-off mechanism, in which excited ions, electrons, or neutral atoms have sufficient energy to break bonds in the system, e.g., Si−C, Si−H, Si−O, C−C, or C−H bonds, leading to sputtering from the surface, (ii) an evaporative mechanism, in which plasma ions react with surface contaminants to form volatile products, e.g., CO 2 , O 2 , OH, etc., or (iii) a lift off mechanism, in which ions, electrons, or neutral atoms achieve sufficient energy to remove underlying oxide, which sweeps away organic contamination on top of it. 24 These mechanisms are not distinct, they usually take place simultaneously with one predominating.…”