Cleaning Glass Surfaces

Abstract

Sol-gel coatings generally consist of thin films deposited on solid substrates from a liquid solution. These thin films find applications in modifying the reflectivity of the substrate’s surface, altering its rigidity, or modifying its surface chemistry. They are generally deposited by dip-coating, but may also be deposited using spin coating or other thin film deposition techniques. To achieve uniform, defect-free deposition, the substrate must be free of dust and other particles and it must be uniformly wetting to the sol-gel solution. The most common application is to deposit the film on a substrate that is completely wetting to the solution.