Patent ID: 8637408

Claim:
A proximity head for generating a fluid meniscus on a surface of a wafer using a fluid chemistry, wherein a gas is applied to the fluid meniscus and the surface to confine the fluid meniscus to a footprint on the surface of the wafer, comprising: a body having a plurality of inlets and a plurality of outlets defined in the body for exchanging fluid to generate the fluid meniscus between a surface of the body and the surface of the wafer, each of the plurality of inlets being coupled to a supply of the fluid chemistry, and wherein the plurality of outlets are defined in the body to surround the plurality of inlets, the plurality of outlets configured to remove the fluid chemistry from the surface of the wafer, wherein removal of the fluid chemistry creates a mixture of the gas and the fluid chemistry in the plurality of outlets; and heat conducting inner surfaces integrated within the plurality of outlets of the body, and wherein the heat conducting inner surfaces provide a cooling surface for reducing evaporation loss of the fluid chemistry included in the mixture of the gas and the fluid chemistry, wherein the heat conducting inner surfaces are thermally coupled to a heat exchanger via fluid inlet ports and fluid outlet ports for directly communicating a cooling medium, and the fluid inlet ports and fluid outlet ports that directly communicate the cooling medium do not connect with the plurality of inlet ports and the plurality of outlet ports of the head used to generate the fluid meniscus.