Patent ID: 7931035

Claim:
A semiconductor wafer cleaning system, comprising: a cleaning chamber; a wafer support disposed within said chamber and configured to support a plurality of wafers within said chamber as spaced from one another in a first direction; a source of cleaning solution associated with said cleaning chamber such that said cleaning chamber can be filled with cleaning solution from said source; a source of de-ionized water; de-ionized water supply nozzles, and piping connecting said de-ionized water supply nozzles to said source of de-ionized water, each of the de-ionized water supply nozzles having a main body in the form of a pipe defining an inner nozzle passageway, and a plurality of sets of nozzle holes extending from the inner nozzle passageway, the main bodies of said de-ionized water supply nozzles extending longitudinally in said first direction at opposites sides of said wafer support, the nozzle holes of each said set lying in a plane that intersects said first direction, only five respective ones of said nozzle holes lying in each said plane, and said sets of nozzle holes being spaced from each other along the length of the main body, and each said set of five nozzle holes subtending an angle of 80˜100° about the inner nozzle passageway from which the set of nozzle holes extends, and each of said nozzles holes being oriented to spray deionized water from said source thereof towards wafers supported by said wafer support in the chamber so that the de-ionized water is sprayed through each said set of nozzle holes over a range of 80˜100°, as measured in the circumferential direction of the main body of the nozzle, towards wafers supported by said wafer support in the chamber; a discharge section including at least one discharge pipe connected to a lower part of said cleaning chamber, and an overflow tank surrounding an upper part of said cleaning chamber; and control means for controlling the rates at which de-ionized water is fed through said de-ionized water supply nozzles and at which fluid in said chamber is discharged via said discharge section.