Thin organic self-assembled monolayer films are used to promote adhesion and seal the pores of metal oxides as well as direct the deposition of layers on patterned surfaces. Defects occur as the self-assembled monolayer forms, and the number and type of defects depend on surface preparation, deposition solvent, temperature, time and other parameters. Particles commonly deposit during organosilane self-assembly on metal oxide surfaces. The particles are defects because they are prone to react in subsequent processing, which may not be desirable if the organosilane serves as a pore sealant or passivation layer. Cleaning the organosilane by solvent extraction to remove non-polar agglomerates followed by an aqueous mixture of ammonium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide, which is Standard Clean 1, a common particle removal step for silicon surfaces, produced monolayers with few agglomerates based on atomic force microscopy without etching the layer. The combined cleaning sequence contained fewer particles than separate cleaning steps, showing that the cleans removed particles with different compositions. The thickness and contact angle of cleaned monolayers was comparable to those made using a costlier solvent.
