Patent ID: 7172674

Claim:
Device for liquid treatment of a defined section of a wafer-shaped article (W), especially of a wafer, comprising: holding means for holding the wafer-shaped article; a mask which in shape and size corresponds to the area of the defined section which is to be treated with liquid; spacer means which keep the mask and the wafer-shaped article at a defined short distance to one another such that liquid can be retained between the mask and the defined area of the wafer-shaped article by capillary forces; and distance changing means set to increase a distance between the mask and the wafer-shaped article from a first distance at which capillary forces hold liquid between the mask and the wafer-shaped article to a greater, second releasing distance determined to overcome the capillary forces holding the liquid, to overcome the capillary forces and release the liquid from between the mask and the wafer-shaped article, said distance changing means comprising a base body ( 4 ) and two sets of gas nozzles ( 46 , 49 ) discharging from the base body against the surface of the wafer-shaped article, the two sets of gas nozzles positioned differentially with respect to an outside of the base body, a first set of the nozzles ( 49 ) being positioned at a first angle and a second set of the nozzles ( 46 ) being positioned at a second angle so that an emerging gas flow (G 1 ) of the second set of nozzles strikes the wafer-shaped article's surface at a different angle than an emerging gas flow (G 2 ) of the first set of nozzles, the first angle and second angle being different.