Drying system with integrated substrate alignment stage

A substrate cleaning and drying system, comprising:

• a cleaning station including a first support to hold a substrate in a substantially vertical orientation;
• a drying station positioned adjacent the cleaning station, the drying station including a tank to contain a liquid, a second support to hold the substrate in a generally vertical orientation in the liquid, and a dispenser to deliver drying fluid comprising a surfactant;
• a cleaner robot to transfer a substrate from the cleaning station to the drying station;
• an aligner stage adjacent to the drying station, the aligner stage including a rotatable support to hold the substrate in a substantially horizontal orientation and to rotate the substrate about an axis substantially perpendicular to the substrate to a desired orientation;
• a robot arm rotatable between a substantially vertical first position for receiving the substrate from the drying station and a substantially horizontal second position for releasing the substrate onto the aligner stage;
• a factory interface module to support a cassette to hold a plurality of substrates;
• and
• a factory interface robot to transfer a substrate from the aligner stage into the factory interface module while in a horizontal orientation.