Patent ID: 8434423

Claim:
A substrate carrying apparatus comprising: a carrying tray including: two semi-annular planar members complementing each other to form a closed annulus with an outer diameter and an inner diameter, the closed annulus sized to support a substrate that has a diameter between the inner and outer diameters of the closed annulus; and a circumferential side wall provided around the outer radius of each of the two semi-annular planar members, to be spaced apart from an edge of the substrate, and wherein the height of the circumferential side wall above the planar surface of the closed annulus exceeds the height of the substrate; a carrying tray moving mechanism to horizontally move the carrying tray; and a space forming mechanism to temporarily form a horizontal space between the two semi-annular planar members, wherein when the semi-annular planar members hold a substrate and are not spaced apart by the space forming mechanism, a liquid reservoir space is formed around the perimeter of and above the substrate in the volume bounded by the circumferential side wall, such that the carrying tray is to carry the substrate with liquid remaining on the substrate.