| US 7,513,062 B2 | ||
| Single wafer dryer and drying methods | ||
| Younes Achkire, Los Gatos, Calif. (US); Alexander N Lerner, San Jose, Calif. (US); Boris Govzman, Sunnyvale, Calif. (US); Boris Fishkin, San Carlos, Calif. (US); Michael N Sugarman, San Francisco, Calif. (US); Rashid A Mavliev, Campbell, Calif. (US); Haoquan Fang, San Jose, Calif. (US); Shijian Li, San Jose, Calif. (US); Guy E Shirazi, Mountain View, Calif. (US); and Jianshe Tang, San Jose, Calif. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, Calif. (US) | ||
| Filed on Feb. 09, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/54,336. | ||
| Application 11/054336 is a continuation in part of application No. 10/286404, filed on Nov. 01, 2002, granted, now 6,955,516. | ||
| Application 11/054336 is a continuation in part of application No. 11/054336. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/335335, filed on Nov. 02, 2001. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/542960, filed on Feb. 09, 2004. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2005/0229426 A1, Oct. 20, 2005 | ||
| Int. Cl. F26B 3/00 (2006.01); B08B 3/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 34—482 [34/487; 34/510; 134/32] | 13 Claims |
| 1. A method of drying a substrate comprising:
lifting a substrate through an air/fluid interface at a first rate;
directing a drying vapor at the air/fluid interface during lifting of the substrate; and
while a portion of the substrate remains in the air/fluid interface, reducing a rate at which a remainder of the substrate
is lifted through the air/fluid interface to a second rate;
wherein at least one of:
the drying vapor forms an angle of about 23° with the air/fluid interface; and
the second rate is about 2.5 mm/sec.
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