Patent attributes
Provided herein is a particle analyzer that is operably connected to a probe unit that is capable of both dislodging particles from a surface and sampling the particles after they have been dislodged. The devices and methods described herein may be lightweight and/or handheld, for example, so that they may be used within a cleanroom environment to clean and sample permanent surfaces and tools. The devices may include optical particle counters that use scattered, obscured or emitted light to detect particles, including condensation particle counting systems or split detection optical particle counters to increase the sensitivity of the device and thereby facilitate detection of smaller particles, while avoiding the increased complexity typically required for the detection of nanoscale particles, such as particles less than 100 nm in effective diameter.
