Drying apparatus with exhaust control cap for semiconductor wafers and associated methods

An exhaust control cap for a semiconductor wafer drying apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of stacked exhaust sections defined by a bottom wall, a top wall, at least one intermediate wall, and a side wall coupled to said top wall, said bottom wall and said at least one intermediate wall;
• said plurality of stacked exhaust sections having
• a cap loading slot configured to be aligned with a chamber loading slot,
• a cap unloading slot configured to be aligned with a chamber unloading slot, and
• at least one exhaust port configured to be coupled to a vacuum source.

A method for making an exhaust control cap for a semiconductor wafer drying apparatus comprising:

• forming a plurality of stacked exhaust sections defined by a bottom wall, a top wall, at least one intermediate wall, and a side wall coupled to the bottom wall, the top wall and the at least one intermediate wall;
• forming a cap loading slot to be aligned with a chamber loading slot in the drying apparatus;
• forming a cap unloading slot to be aligned with a chamber unloading slot in the drying apparatus;
• and
• forming at least one exhaust port for the plurality of stacked exhaust sections to be coupled to a vacuum source.