Patent ID: 8776393

Claim:
A substrate cooling apparatus, comprising: a mounting table including a mounting surface for mounting a substrate thereon, temperature sensors embedded in the mounting surface along a radial direction thereof, one temperature sensor configured to detect surface temperature at a center portion of the mounting surface and other temperature sensors configured to detect surface temperatures at peripheral edge portions of the mounting surface; a plurality of pins extending from the mounting surface for supporting a rear surface of the substrate and configured to form a space having a height from 10 μm to 40 μm between the mounting surface and the rear surface of the substrate; a cooling gas flow path arranged within the space between the mounting surface and the rear surface of the substrate, the cooling gas flow path having a structure providing a uniform flow of cooling gas on the rear surface of the substrate and uniformly cooling the substrate and preventing variations in temperature within the substrate while cooling the substrate, the cooling gas flow path including: a plurality of gas discharge ports for discharging the cooling gas and cooling the substrate, the gas discharge ports provided in one of a circumferential direction at the peripheral edge portion of the mounting surface and the center portion of the mounting surface; at least one gas suction port for sucking the cooling gas provided in another one of the peripheral edge portion of the mounting surface and the center portion of the mounting surface, the cooling gas in the cooling gas flow path flowing in one of an inwardly flowing direction and an outwardly flowing direction between the discharge ports and the at least one gas suction port; and a plurality of grooves provided in the mounting surface and in the cooling gas flow path, the grooves extending circumferentially and being concentrically arranged between the discharge ports and the at least one gas suction port, the grooves diffusing the flow of the cooling gas from one of the inwardly flow direction and the outwardly flow direction between the discharge ports and the at least one gas suction port and toward the circumferential directions of the grooves, and a control unit being configured to: control a supply flow rate of the cooling gas discharged from the gas discharge ports to be smaller than a flow rate of the cooling gas sucked in by the at least one gas suction port, control a temperature of the cooling gas discharged from the gas discharge ports to be lower than a cooling target temperature of a substrate mounted on the mounting table, supply the cooling gas immediately after the substrate is mounted on the mounting table, determine a temperature of the substrate based on detected temperatures from the temperature sensors embedded in the mounting surface, and stop the flow of cooling gas when the temperature of the substrate is equal to or less than the cooling target temperature of the substrate.