Patent ID: 9028621
Filing Date: 2015-05-12
Classification: H01L

Abstract:
1. A substrate cleaning method for cleaning and drying a substrate, comprising the steps of: rotating the substrate around an axis perpendicular to the substrate while substantially horizontally holding the substrate; discharging pure water onto the center of the substrate that rotates using a first nozzle that discharges the pure water, to form a liquid layer of the pure water on the substrate; moving said first nozzle such that a position on the substrate that receives the pure water discharged from said first nozzle moves from the center of the substrate toward a peripheral edge of the substrate by a given distance; forming a dry region at the center of the substrate by discharging an inert gas onto the center of the substrate for a given period of time using a second nozzle that discharges the inert gas while holding a state where the position on the substrate that receives said pure water is spaced apart from the center of the substrate by the given distance; and after the dry region is formed at the center of the substrate, moving said first nozzle such that the position on the substrate that receives said pure water is continuously moved toward the peripheral edge of the substrate, and continuously moving said second nozzle such that a position on the substrate that receives the inert gas discharged from said second nozzle follows a movement path of the position on the substrate that receives said pure water while being spaced apart from the position on the substrate that receives said pure water by said given distance, wherein said step of continuously moving said first and second nozzles includes the step of adjusting at least one of a flow rate of the pure water discharged from said first nozzle, a flow rate of the inert gas discharged from said second nozzle, a rotational speed of the substrate, and a moving speed of each of said first and second nozzles, such that part of the pure water that is discharged from said first nozzle onto the substrate and spreads on the substrate and part of the inert gas that is discharged from said second nozzle onto the substrate interact with each other, so that a boundary is formed between the liquid layer of the pure water and the dry region on the substrate at a portion where the pure water discharged from said first nozzle and the inert gas discharged from said second nozzle interact with each other without splashing of the pure water, and the formed boundary is moved toward the peripheral edge of the substrate.