Importance

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Abstract

An apparatus for rinsing and drying a substrate includes a process chamber; a rinsing bath provided in the process chamber and having a first opening and a second opening at the bottom and at the upper portion, respectively; a device for supplying a rinsing solution into the rinsing bath through the first opening; a device for discharging the rinsing solution overflowing from the rinsing bath to the outside of the process chamber; a device for discharging the rinsing solution from the first opening of the rinsing bath; a device for elevating and lowering the substrate between positions above the rinsing bath and within the rinsing bath; a device for supplying predetermined ionized and heated gas, preferably, inactive gas such as nitrogen gas, into the process chamber; and a device for reducing pressure in the process chamber so as to dry the rinsed substrate. The apparatus optionally includes a device for heating the wall surface of the process chamber, and a device for removing the exhaust from the process chamber. Drying of the substrate is promoted by gas supplied into the process chamber when the substrate is pulled upward and out of the rinsing solution, and static electricity generated in the chamber is also electrically cancelled out by the gas, which, in turn, prevents adhesion of particles to the substrate.

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First Claim