Disk drying apparatus and method
US6446355B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 26, 2000 |
| Grant date | Sep 10, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 26, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01L21/6776
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Liquid is removed from disks by apparatus and methods for drying a disk that has been wet in a liquid bath. The disk and the bath are separated at a controlled rate to form a monolayer of liquid on the disk as the disk is positioned in a gas-filled volume. The separation may be by moving the disk out of the liquid bath, and the controlled rate is generally not less than the maximum rate at which a meniscus will form between the liquid bath and the surface of the disk when the liquid bath and the disk are separated. The gas-filled volume is defined by a hot chamber that continuously transfers thermal energy to the disk in the gas-filled volume. Hot gas directed into the volume and across the disk and out of the volume continuously transfers thermal energy to the disk. The directing of the gas out of the volume is independent of the separation of the bath and the disk. The thermal energy transferred to the disk in the volume evaporates the monolayer from the disk without decreasing the rate of separation of the disk and the bath below the maximum rate of such separation at which a meniscus will form between the bath and the surface of the disk during such separation. In addition to s…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.