Patent ID: 8724078

Claim:
A device for drying a photomask, the device comprising: a sealed chamber having a size and shape configured to receive at least one photomask, a pumping unit to set up and maintain vacuum within said chamber, a support for the photomask placed within said chamber, infrared radiation means placed within said chamber, a system for injecting gas into said chamber, characterized in that the infrared radiation means comprises a plurality of infrared radiation sources distributed in a plane parallel to the plane of the photomask in such a way that the distance from the photomask to the infrared radiation means is given by the relationship: D= 1.5× d wherein: D is the distance between a plane containing the infrared radiation sources and the photomask; and d is a distance between the center points of two neighboring infrared radiation sources, and the gas-injection system comprises a plurality of gas injectors distributed in a plane parallel to the plane of the photomask in such a way that the injectors follow a 90° rotational invariance about the center point of the photomask.