Abstract: Apparatus for cleaning, assembling, testing and inspecting contamination sensitive hardware. The apparatus includes an environmental process enclosure having an inner processing chamber, and a carbon dioxide jet spray cleaning system. The enclosure includes a loadlock pass-through having front and rear access doors for providing access to the inner processing chamber. A blower is disposed in the enclosure for circulating purified gas therethrough. A prefilter disposed prior to an inlet of the blower, and a high purity filter and laminar flow screen are disposed in the inner processing chamber. A heater is provided for heating the purified gas and a temperature controller is coupled to the heater for controlling the temperature of the purified gas. A table is disposed in the inner processing chamber upon which contamination sensitive hardware and testing and assembly apparatus may be placed.

Abstract: CO.sub.2 jet spray cleaning apparatus that monitors CO.sub.2 snow plume characteristics. The present invention is a CO.sub.2 jet spray cleaning system that comprises a holding tank for containing liquid CO.sub.2, a spray nozzle coupled to the holding tank, a valve coupled between the holding tank and the spray nozzle, and a temperature sensor coupled to the nozzle for sensing the temperature of a plume of CO.sub.2 that is sprayed by the nozzle and for providing a signal indicative thereof. The system may also comprise a display coupled to the temperature sensor for displaying the temperature of the plume of CO.sub.2 to an operator, or an alarm coupled to the temperature sensor for alerting an operator that the temperature of the plume of CO.sub.2 has risen to a predetermined level. Either the displayed signal or the alert signal indicates that the quality of the plume has diminished and that the liquid CO.sub.2 in the holding tank should be replenished. The present CO.sub.2 jet spray cleaning system and CO.

Abstract: Optical sensing apparatus for use with a CO.sub.2 jet spray nozzle that sprays a plume. The apparatus comprises a coherent light source that provides a light beam. A photodiode is disposed such that it detects the light beam emitted by the coherent light source that passes through the plume sprayed by the CO.sub.2 jet spray nozzle. A bandpass filter is disposed between the photodiode and the coherent light source that only passes light produced by the coherent light source. A controller coupled to the coherent light source and the photodiode that comprises a power supply for providing power to the coherent light source and the photodiode. The controller includes a digital voltmeter coupled to the photodiode for displaying a voltage output signal corresponding to the amount of light energy detected by the photodiode, and a go/no-go indicator for providing an indication of CO.sub.2 snow production.