Acetone has a high affinity for water absorption, such that it is used as a final rinse after etching and water quenching to remove residual water from surfaces. It is used, alone, as the only solvent rinse or in conjunction with alcohols.

As a solvent, acetone is the primary agent for;

• dissolving photo resist lacquers,
• cleaning specimen surfaces prior to photo resist application,
• cleaning equipment (spinners, etc.)
• the application, and as a soak/spray after photo resist patterning and thin film metallization . . . the lift-off technique.

As a mixture with ice it is used as both a chilling solution for other etch mixtures, and as a drying agent for the removal of water vapor from other gases, such as pressurized argon. As a direct spray, it also is used for its chilling action, and has been used on specimen study under a microscope to reduce heat distortion, or reduce electron impingement damage effects using a transmission electron microscope (TEM) .

Please Note:
If humidity is much above 50% RH, an acetone spray will absorb water vapour from the air and deposit droplets on the specimen surface being cleaned, hence contaminating the surface, not cleaning it.