A cleaning material, device, and method for predictably cleaning the contact elements and support hardware of a tester interface, such as a probe card and a test socket, in which the cleaning pad has a predetermined configuration appropriate for the particular pin contact elements and a substrate having a defined functionalized surface topology and geometry which can be introduced into the testing apparatus during the normal testing operations. The cleaning material has a predetermined topography with a plurality of functional 3-dimensional (3D) microstructures that provide performance characteristics which are not possible with a non-functionalized and flat surface.