New experimental data collected at Lam Research Corporation and theoretical analyses are presented for aqueous-foam cleaning of silicon wafers contaminated with strongly adhered 90 nm Si3N4 particles (Freer et al 2010) We analyze the distribution of contaminant removal along the wafer surface and the influence of foam quality in a vertical rectangular slot upon wafer immersion/withdrawal At zero foam quality, particle removal along the wafer surface is uniform Increased foam quality leads to improved overall removal Removal, however, is no longer uniform with larger detachment rates toward the bottom of the wafer To explain the observed nonuniform particle removal, we adopt a binary-collision model that demands a linear dependence of removal rate on the surface shear rate Perturbation analysis provides the distribution of the wall shear rate along the wafer surface in an unfoamed solution Calculations show that the wall shear rate on the wafer surface is strongly peaked in the meniscus just above the liquid-filled slot Thus, with no foam present, removal in the meniscus zone dominates the overall removal process Because the time of exposure to this high shear is the same for all parts of the surface, we obtain uniform cleaning With foam bubbles present, the wall shear rate in the slot is enhanced, leading to significant removal in the bulk of the slot Because the residence time of a wafer in the bulk cleaning solution varies for different parts of the wafer, contaminant removal in the bulk of the slot depends on the vertical position Combined particle removal in the meniscus zone and in the slot leads to the observed nonuniform distribution of contaminant particles remaining on the wafer surface Increasing foam quality increases the slot wall shear rate and, hence, the removal rate inside the immersion/withdrawal cell