Patent ID: 7862658
Filing Date: 2011-01-04
Classification: B08B,C23F,C23G,H01L

Abstract:
1. An etching apparatus comprising: a rotating means for holding a semiconductor wafer and for rotating said wafer in a horizontal plane, wherein said wafer has a device area on a first surface, a surface peripheral area on said first surface, and an end face, and wherein said surface peripheral area is located outside said device area and between said device area and said end face; an edge nozzle for emitting an etching liquid toward the surface peripheral area and said end face of said wafer, wherein said etching liquid emitted from said edge nozzle selectively etches out an unnecessary material existing in said surface peripheral area and said end face of said wafer, and a surface nozzle for emitting a protection liquid toward a center of the device area at an acute angle with the horizontal plane, wherein said etching liquid emitted from said edge nozzle has an emission direction oriented along a rotation direction of said wafer or outward with respect to a tangent of said wafer formed near a contact point of said liquid with said surface peripheral area of said wafer; wherein said etching liquid emitted from said edge nozzle is beam-shaped; wherein a distance of an end of said edge nozzle from a point where a longitudinal axis of said edge nozzle intersects said first surface of said wafer is set as a value in the range of 1 mm to 50 mm; and the angle of said edge nozzle with respect to a tangent of said wafer at said point, in a plane angled toward the first surface of the wafer, is set as a value in the range of 0° to 90°.