  We describe an ex-situ surface-cleaning procedure that is shown to reduce
motional heating from ion-trap electrodes. This precleaning treatment, to be
implemented immediately before the final assembly and vacuum processing of ion
traps, removes surface contaminants remaining after the electrode-fabrication
process. We incorporate a multi-angle ion-bombardment treatment intended to
clean the electrode surfaces and interelectrode gaps of microfabricated traps.
This procedure helps to minimize redeposition in the gaps between electrodes
that can cause electrical shorts. We report heating rates in a stylus-type ion
trap prepared in this way that are lower by one order of magnitude compared to
a similar untreated stylus-type trap using the same experimental setup.
