The increasing complexity of semiconductor devices imposes challenging requirements on particle contamination and surface damage. To meet these requirements novel surface-cleaning processes are evaluated, which combine physical energy with organic solvents. In this work, the performance of megasonic cleaning with deionized water (DIW) and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) was evaluated in terms of particle removal efficiency (PRE) and damage analysis. The goal was to define an optimum process window where the PRE was maximum and the damage was minimum. Particle removal and damage analysis were performed on unpatterned silicon wafers and with patterned polysilicon lines, respectively, under identical sonic power and process parameters. A comparison between these two solvents reveals that at low sonic power the particle-cleaning performances in DIW and NMP are similar. At high sonic power, in both solvents a detailed analysis of the PRE and damage indicates a non-homogeneous trend over the surface of the wafer. More particularly, in DIW higher PRE and damage are noticed towards the edge of the wafer. In NMP, the opposite trend was observed. However, an equivalent performance was obtained at a lower sonic power in case of NMP compared to DIW. Further understanding of megasonic cleaning in solvents, and an optimization of the process parameters are the key to improve the performance of megasonic cleaning in organic solvents like NMP. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009