Substrate cleaning method and substrate cleaning apparatus

A substrate cleaning method for cleaning a substrate by discharging droplets of a cleaning liquid toward the substrate, including the steps of:

• feeding the cleaning liquid constantly and continuously by a pressure pump to an interior space of a tubular body including a plurality of discharge holes having a uniform diameter formed in a wall surface of said tubular body, said discharge holes extending in a row at a regular pitch along said wall surface from an opening at one end of the interior space of the tubular body on an upstream side of the tubular body to a draining end of the interior space of said tubular body on a downstream side of the tubular body, said discharge holes being arranged to face the substrate;
• draining said cleaning liquid being fed to the interior space of said tubular body through a drainage pipe by opening a valve provided at said draining end of the interior space of said tubular body;
• increasing a liquid pressure of said cleaning liquid within the interior space of said tubular body while feeding the cleaning liquid to the interior space of the tubular body by closing said valve;
• dividing the cleaning liquid flowing out of the plurality of discharge holes under liquid pressure by repeatedly expanding and contracting a piezoelectric element affixed to an outside wall surface opposed to the wall surface provided with the plurality of discharge holes of the tubular body and vibrating, at a predetermined frequency, the cleaning liquid with an increased liquid pressure in the interior space of the tubular body;
• and
• discharging droplets of the cleaning liquid from said plurality of discharge holes toward the substrate, the droplets of the cleaning liquid having an average droplet diameter in the range from 15 to 200 μm and a droplet diameter distribution value defined by 3σ1, (where σ1 is a standard deviation of the droplet diameters) that does not exceed 10% of said average droplet diameter.