Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

A substrate processing apparatus that forms a film of a processing liquid on an upper surface of a substrate having an at least partially circular outer periphery, comprising:

• a substrate holder that holds the substrate;
• a nozzle having a nozzle tip portion in which a slit-like discharge port extending in one direction is formed;
• a mover that relatively moves at least one of the substrate and the nozzle with respect to another one in a lateral direction that intersects with a longitudinal direction of the discharge port;
• a lifter-lowerer that changes a length of a gap between the nozzle tip portion and the substrate in an upward-and-downward direction by moving at least one of the substrate held by the substrate holder and the nozzle with respect to another one in the upward-and-downward direction;
• a pressure adjuster that adjusts a pressure of a processing liquid in the nozzle;
• and
• a controller that controls the mover, the lifter-lowerer and the pressure adjuster, and
• the controller,
• by controlling the mover, the lifter-lowerer and the pressure adjuster, relatively moving the substrate and the nozzle in the lateral direction such that the processing liquid in the nozzle is drawn out from the discharge port onto the upper surface of the substrate due to capillary action that occurs in a gap in a state in which a pressure of the processing liquid in the nozzle is maintained at a predetermined first negative pressure, the gap equal to or smaller than a predetermined length is formed between the nozzle tip portion and the substrate, and the gap is filled with the processing liquid;
• and
• by controlling the lifter-lowerer and the pressure adjuster, thereafter changing a length of the gap between the nozzle tip portion and the substrate to a length larger than the predetermined length while adjusting a pressure of the processing liquid in the nozzle to a second negative pressure lower than the first negative pressure with the discharge port overlapping with part of the substrate in a plan view.

A substrate processing method of forming a film of a processing liquid on an upper surface of a substrate having an at least partially circular outer periphery, including:

• holding the substrate with use of a substrate holder;
• preparing a nozzle having a nozzle tip portion in which a slit-like discharge port extending in one direction is formed;
• a first moving step of relatively moving the substrate and the nozzle in a lateral direction of the nozzle while supplying the processing liquid onto the upper surface of the substrate from the discharge port, with a gap equal to or smaller than a predetermined length formed between the nozzle tip portion and the substrate and with the gap filled with the processing liquid;
• and
• a second moving step of further relatively moving the substrate and the nozzle in the lateral direction such that a liquid column connecting the processing liquid present on the upper surface of the substrate to the processing liquid adhering to an outer surface of the nozzle tip portion changes from a liquid contact state in which the liquid column is in contact with the processing liquid present in the discharge port to a non-contact state in which the liquid column is not in contact with the processing liquid present in the discharge port after the first moving step is performed.

A substrate processing method of forming a film of a processing liquid on an upper surface of a substrate having an at least partially circular outer periphery, including:

• holding the substrate with use of a substrate holder;
• preparing a nozzle having a nozzle tip portion in which a slit-like discharge port extending in one direction is formed;
• a first pressure adjusting step of adjusting a pressure of the processing liquid in the nozzle to a predetermined first negative pressure;
• a first gap forming step of forming a gap equal to or smaller than a predetermined length between the nozzle tip portion and the substrate by moving at least one of the substrate held by the substrate holder and the nozzle with respect to another one in an upward-and-downward direction;
• a moving step of relatively moving at least one of the substrate and the nozzle with respect to another one in a lateral direction that intersects with a longitudinal direction of the discharge port such that the processing liquid in the nozzle is drawn out from the discharge port onto the upper surface of the substrate due to capillary action that occurs in a gap formed between the nozzle tip portion and the substrate with the gap filled with the processing liquid in a period during which the first pressure adjusting step and the first gap forming step are performed;
• a second pressure adjusting step of adjusting the pressure of the processing liquid in the nozzle to a second negative pressure lower than the first negative pressure with the discharge port overlapping with part of the substrate in a plan view after the moving step;
• and
• a second gap forming step of changing a length of a gap between the nozzle tip portion and the substrate to a length larger than the predetermined length during the second pressure adjusting step.