Patent ID: 8475602

Claim:
A substrate cleaning method by removing foreign materials adhered to a frontside and a backside surface of a substrate which is mounted on a mounting table by using a collecting unit facing the substrate, the collecting unit including a charging plate, the method comprising: heating the substrate to peel off the foreign materials from the frontside surface of the substrate by a thermal stress; charging the charging plate to a first polarity and charging the frontside surface of the substrate to a second polarity that is opposite to the first polarity; removing the foreign materials from the frontside surface of the substrate by a temperature gradient created in a proximity of the frontside surface of the substrate and an electrostatic force exerted on the foreign materials; collecting the foreign materials removed from the frontside surface of the substrate by the collecting unit; lifting the substrate from a surface of the mounting table after removing the foreign materials adhered to the frontside surface of the substrate; and removing foreign materials adhered to the backside surface of the lifted substrate, wherein in said heating and said collecting, a pressure of an atmosphere surrounding the substrate is set to be greater than 1.3×10 2 Pa (1 Torr) and less than or equal to 6.6 kPa (50 Torr), and wherein the pressure of the atmosphere surrounding the substrate during said collecting is set to equal to that during said heating.