Reactive ion etching (RIE) causes several types of damage in fabrication of integrated circuits. In this article the metallic contamination content of silicon wafer surfaces after performing RIE plasmas has been measured by total reflection x-ray fluorescence. The dependence of the contamination content on different electrode materials was investigated and could be shown to be mainly a function of the electrode material, not as much as of the rest of the material of which the reactor is built. In order to remove the metals found on the wafer surface after RIE, different cleaning cycles were applied to the wafers and it could be shown that the standard RCA cleaning, followed by a HF dip, works well for most contaminants, with the exception of Cu and Ni. In particular, it was found that Ni deposited onto a silicon surface as a consequence of a RIE type plasma cannot be removed by a standard RCA clean. There are strong indications that Ni is not deposited in the form of atoms, but that a stable nickel silicide is formed.