Due to downscaling, the emerging nanotechnology industry requires new cleaning tools providing the ability to remove nanometer-size defects. The dry laser cleaning technique, which consists in the irradiation of materials with nanosecond laser pulses, is considered as a promising approach. This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the "laser-particle-surface" interaction processes. The experiments show that the removal results from a competition between several mechanisms. The explosive evaporation of the trapped humidity at the vicinity of the contaminates was identified as the dominant cleaning mechanism in the low fluence regime. Among the ablation mechanisms observed with larger fluences, we analyzed the local substrate ablation resulting from the optical near field enhancements underneath the particles. Although this mechanism is not compatible with damage-free cleaning requirements, it can have numerous applications, like the nanostructuration of solid surfaces.
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