Method and apparatus for cleaning semiconductor wafer
AssigneeOki Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
InventorOsamu Kato
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A wafer is placed on a rotatable stage to clean an upper surface of the wafer with a cleaning liquid while the stage and wafer are rotating. A cup-shaped cover is provided over the upper surface of the wafer. A frame portion of the cover is brought into close contact with a circumferential outer edge surface region of the wafer. Therefore, the upper surface of the wafer is cleaned without causing erosion in the circumferential outer edge surface region of the wafer. The shape of the cover is not limited to the cup-shape.
Claims9
A method for cleaning a wafer placed on a rotatable stage and having a surface divided into a cleaning region and a circumferential outer edge surface region defined outside the cleaning region, the method comprising:
- placing a cover over the wafer such that the cover is in contact with at least part of the circumferential outer edge surface region of the wafer;
- rotating the stage together with the wafer;
- and
- supplying a cleaning liquid to the surface of the rotating wafer to clean the cleaning region of the wafer while the cover is in contact with the at least part of the circumferential outer edge surface region of the wafer;
- wherein the at least part of the circumferential outer edge surface region is brought into close contact with the cover;
- and
- wherein the cover is an inverted cup-shaped cover having a top wall, a side wall and a contact frame portion, at least one cleaning liquid-discharging hole is formed in the side wall, and the wafer is cleaned while the contact frame portion of the cup-shaped cover is in close contact with the circumferential outer edge surface region of the wafer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.