Patent ID: 7435692

Claim:
A method of spinning a dielectric coating onto a patterned semiconductor wafer having a center and a circular edge, the method comprising: dispensing a solvent-containing liquid dielectric coating material onto and near the center of an upwardly facing semiconductor wafer having areas of no, or a relatively low density of, patterned features thereon and areas having a relatively high density of patterned features thereon; spinning the semiconductor wafer to spread the liquid dielectric coating material outward from the center toward the edge; evaporating solvent from the liquid dielectric coating material to set a coating material film on the wafer; and while the wafer is spinning and before the coating material film is set, jetting gas generally downwardly toward and onto the liquid dielectric coating material that has been dispensed onto the wafer so as to affect the mass transport of the liquid on the wafer and thereby dry the final thickness profile of a film formed on the substrate of the dielectric coating material, the jetting of the gas including either: directing the gas axially downwardly from a fixed location at the center of the wafer, or impinging the gas onto the wafer near the center of the wafer, then progressing from the center of the wafer outwardly toward the edge of the wafer, so as to reduce the thickness of the film by the jetted gas and to transport the film outwardly ahead of the jetted gas toward the edge of the wafer.