Substrate cleaning method and apparatus

Abstract

In a method of removing a film residue from a wafer in a substrate processing system, a surface of the wafer is exposed to a processing liquid to thereby lift a first portion of the film residue off the surface of the wafer. In addition, a continuous or pulsed stream of pressurized gas is applied against the surface of the wafer to remove a second portion of the film residue from the wafer. The method may include rotating the wafer relative to the stream of pressurized gas. The stream of pressurized gas may be applied subsequent to exposing the surface of the wafer to the processing liquid and any residual processing liquid may be removed with the second portion of film residue by the stream of pressurized gas. Alternatively, the stream of pressurized gas may be applied concurrently with the processing liquid to remove the film residue and processing liquid in a single step. In an embodiment of an apparatus for removing film residue, a liquid dispensing device and a pressurized gas dispensing device cooperate to apply processing liquid and pressurized gas, concurrently or sequentially, to a substrate surface.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.