Challenges in nanoparticle sensing at ultra-dilute regimes

Detection and identification of very low concentration of nanoparticle contaminants at extremely low concentration regimes is of great significance for modern semiconductor manufacturing facilities. More than 75% of particles on an integrated chip are from liquid contaminates that are introduced during the fabrication process. While optical based methods are the leading techniques for particle detection, detection of impurities becomes a great challenge, especially at sub-20 nm size in high purity solvents. In this work, we present results on the detection of sub-100 nm particles using various optical methods, both on surfaces and within flowing streams.