Patent ID: 8216390

Claim:
A cleaning and drying-preventing method for cleaning a process-liquid supply nozzle configured to supply a process liquid to a substrate so as to process the substrate, and for preventing drying of the process liquid in the nozzle, the cleaning and drying-preventing method comprising: receiving the nozzle in a container having a funnel-like inner circumferential surface and defining therein a cleaning chamber, such that the funnel-like inner circumferential surface is located around a distal end of the nozzle a and a lower end of the funnel-like inner circumferential surface is located above the distal end of the nozzle; sucking the process liquid remaining in the nozzle so as to retract a liquid level of the process liquid in the nozzle to a side of a process-liquid supply passage; supplying a first solvent for the process liquid from a first solvent supply unit into the cleaning chamber along the funnel-like inner circumferential surface in a circumferential direction of the inner circumferential surface so as to form a swirl flow of the first solvent turning around the distal end of the nozzle, and cleaning the nozzle by the swirl flow; supplying a second solvent for the process liquid from a second solvent supply unit to a region positioned above the funnel-like inner circumferential surface in the cleaning chamber so as to form a liquid pool of a solvent in the cleaning chamber; and further sucking the process liquid remaining in the nozzle so as to further retract the liquid level of the process liquid in the nozzle to the side of the process-liquid supply passage, and sucking the solvent in the liquid pool into the nozzle so as to form, in the nozzle, a process liquid layer, an air layer, and a solvent layer in this order from the side of the process-liquid supply passage.