The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 09, 2003
Filed:
Dec. 15, 2000
Takahiro Kitano, Kikuyo-Machi, JP;
Masateru Morikawa, Kikuyo-Machi, JP;
Yukihiko Esaki, Kikuyo-Machi, JP;
Nobukazu Ishizaka, Kikuyo-Machi, JP;
Norihisa Koga, Kikuyo-Machi, JP;
Kazuhiro Takeshita, Kikuyo-Machi, JP;
Hirofumi Ookuma, Kikuyo-Machi, JP;
Masami Akimoto, Kikuyo-Machi, JP;
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The present invention is a film forming unit for discharging a coating solution from a coating solution discharge nozzle toward a substrate to form a layer on a surface of the substrate, which has a supply flow path for supplying a cleaning fluid to a discharge flow path continuing to a discharging port of the coating solution discharge nozzle. When the cleaning fluid is positively supplied directly to the discharge flow path of the coating solution discharge nozzle, the supply pressure of the cleaning fluid as well as the capability of cleaning is added. Therefore, further effective cleaning is attained in compare with the conventional case where a coating solution discharge nozzle is simply dipped into a cleaning fluid. In consequence, even when the discharging port of the nozzle is minute, it is possible to perfectly remove the contamination. This allows the discharge pressure to remain constant so as to form a uniform coating layer on the substrate.