Patent ID: 7326437
Filing Date: 2008-02-05
Classification: B05D,G03F,H01L

Abstract:
1. A method for coating a surface of a substrate with a polymer solution comprising: securing a substrate to be coated with a polymer solution in a coating chamber having a rotatable chuck, the rotatable chuck to support the substrate; generating a carrier-solvent vapor mixture and saturating the coating chamber with the carrier-solvent vapor mixture, wherein a carrier gas is mixed with a solvent vapor to form the carrier-solvent vapor mixture; removing excess solvent liquid while processing substrates to be coated with a polymer solution, wherein the excess solvent liquid comprises solvent that did not get transformed into the solvent vapor from the region above the substrate within the chamber to form a reduced droplet carrier-solvent vapor mixture; injecting the reduced droplet carrier-solvent vapor mixture into the coating area region above the substrate, wherein the coating area region above the substrate is saturated with the reduced droplet carrier-solvent vapor mixture; dispensing the polymer solution over a surface of the substrate while the coating chamber is saturated with the carrier-solvent vapor mixture; and rotating the substrate to spread the polymer solution over the surface of the substrate; and wherein the removing of excess solvent liquid to form the reduced droplet carrier-solvent mixture helps prevent excess solvent liquid from dropping on the substrate.