Substrate holding and rotating device, substrate treatment apparatus including the device, and substrate treatment method

A substrate treatment apparatus comprising:

• a substrate holding and rotating device;
• and
• a treatment liquid supply unit which supplies a treatment liquid to an upper surface of a substrate held by the substrate holding and rotating device;
• the substrate holding and rotating device comprising:
• a turntable rotatable about a vertical rotation axis;
• a rotative drive unit which rotates the turntable;
• a holding member which is provided on the turntable and horizontally holds the substrate in upwardly spaced relation to the turntable;
• a protection disk disposed between the turntable and a substrate holding position at which the substrate is held by the holding member, and attached to the turntable so as to be vertically movable relative to the turntable between a lower position and an adjacent position close to a lower surface of the substrate held by the holding member above the lower position, the protection disk having substantially the same size as the substrate held by the holding member;
• and
• a magnetic levitation mechanism including a first magnet attached to the protection disk, a second magnet which has an annular shape coaxial about the rotation axis and generates a repulsive force with respect to the first magnet, a first support member which non-rotatably supports the second magnet, and a first relative movement mechanism which moves the first support member and the turntable relative to each other so as to change a distance between the first magnet and the second magnet, the magnetic levitation mechanism being configured to levitate the protection disk from the turntable by the repulsive force generated between the first magnet and the second magnet.

A substrate treatment method to be performed by utilizing a substrate holding and rotating device, the substrate holding and rotating device including a turntable rotatable about a vertical rotation axis, a holding member which horizontally holds a substrate, a protection disk attached to the turntable in relatively vertically movable manner and having substantially the same size as the substrate, a first magnet attached to the protection disk, and an annular second magnet non-rotatably provided coaxially about the rotation axis, the substrate treatment method comprising:

• a holding step of causing the holding member to horizontally hold the substrate;
• a rotating step of rotating the substrate held by the holding member by rotating the turntable;
• a lower surface covering step of moving the first magnet and the second magnet toward each other to levitate the protection disk from the turntable to an adjacent position close to a lower surface of the substrate by a repulsive force generated between the first magnet and the second magnet to cover the lower surface of the substrate;
• and
• a treatment liquid supplying step of supplying a treatment liquid to an upper surface of the substrate with the lower surface of the substrate covered with the protection disk in the holding step and the rotating step.