Patent ID: 6855037

Claim:
A method of processing a frontside of a substrate using a processing solution while holding the substrate with a substrate holder using vacuum comprising the steps of: attaching the substrate to the substrate holder using the vacuum, the substrate holder including an inner sealing member, the inner sealing member providing a seal for a backside region of the substrate; providing another seal on the backside of the substrate using an outer sealing member that is disposed outside of the seal provided by the inner sealing member, the step of providing including the step of moving the outer sealing member to the backside region of the substrate; processing the frontside of the substrate using the processing solution while the inner sealing member and the outer sealing member provide the seal and the another seal, respectively thereby substantially preventing the processing solution from reaching the backside region; removing the another seal, the step of removing the another seal including the step of moving the outer sealing member away from the backside of the substrate upon completion of the processing of the frontside of the substrate; and cleaning a peripheral backside of the substrate using a cleaning solution.