Developing apparatus and developing nozzle

A developing nozzle used in a photolithography process, comprising:

• a liquid inlet port for receiving a developing solution;
• a liquid reservoir for temporarily storing the developing solution received through the liquid inlet port;
• a narrow passageway communicating with the bottom portion of the liquid reservoir and serving to lower the pressure of the developing solution coming from the liquid reservoir;
• a linear liquid discharge section having a discharge port passageway communicating with the narrow passageway;
• and
• a buffering member arranged within the discharge port passageway and positioned in the vicinity of the outlet port of the narrow passageway, said buffering member being housed in said discharge port passageway so as not to be positioned outside said liquid discharge section, and serving to weaken the strength of the developing solution coming out of the narrow passageway so as to weaken the impact given by the developing solution discharged from the discharge port to the resist coating film.

A developing apparatus, comprising a table on which is disposed a substrate having a resist coating film formed thereon, a nozzle for supplying a developing solution to the substrate disposed on the table, a liquid supplying mechanism for supplying the developing solution to the nozzle, and a moving mechanism for relatively moving the nozzle and the substrate, wherein said nozzle includes:

• a liquid inlet port communicating with said liquid supplying mechanism;
• a liquid reservoir for temporarily storing the developing solution supplied from the liquid supplying mechanism through the liquid inlet port;
• a narrow passageway communicating with the bottom portion of the liquid reservoir to cause pressure loss of the developing solution coming from the liquid reservoir;
• a linear liquid discharge section having a discharge port passageway communicating with the narrow passageway;
• and
• a buffering member arranged within the discharge port passageway and in the vicinity of the outlet port of the narrow passageway, said buffering member consisting of a plurality of granular bodies or lumps that are linearly arranged to extend from one end portion to the other end portion of said discharge port passageway, and weakening a strength of the developing solution coming out of the narrow passageway so as to weaken the impact given by the developing solution discharged from the discharge port to the resist coating film.