We have studied the characteristics of the mixture of HNO3, HF, and H2O2 chemicals called the controlled slight etch (CSE) solution as an effective wafer cleaning solution. The silicon etch rate in the CSE solution was not dependent on HF concentration of the solution, while that in a mixture of HNO3 and HF was linearly dependent on HF concentration. The CSE solution reduced the surface concentrations of Fe and Cu ions below a concentration of 10(10) atom/cm(2) on the intentionally contaminated wafers and suppressed average surface microroughness increase in comparison to slight etch (SE) solution. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that the CSE cleaning does not leave chemical oxide on the surface. The average breakdown field for the CSE-cleaned sample was 11.5 MV/cm. We explained the etching mechanism that the H2O2 species in the CSE solution slows down the rate of oxidation reaction of the silicon wafer by interrupting autocatalytic reaction of HNO3.