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:
Mar. 24, 2009
Filed:
Jun. 22, 2007
Tomoaki Aihara, Kyoto, JP;
Tomoaki Aihara, Kyoto, JP;
Abstract
A substrate treating apparatus for drying substrates by moving the substrates out of a treating liquid into a solvent atmosphere. The apparatus includes a treating tank for storing the treating liquid, a chamber enclosing the treating tank, a holding mechanism for holding the substrates, the holding mechanism being vertically movable between a treating position in the treating tank and a drying position in the chamber and above the treating tank, a supply device for supplying vapor of a solvent into the chamber, a buffer tank disposed outside the chamber for collecting the treating liquid discharged from the treating tank, a first vacuum pump for decompressing the chamber, a second vacuum pump for decompressing the buffer tank, and a controller for operating the supply device to fill the chamber with the solvent atmosphere, operating the holding mechanism to move the substrates from the treating position to the drying position, operating the first vacuum pump to decompress the chamber to a first pressure, and operating the second vacuum pump to adjust a pressure in the buffer tank to a second pressure equal to or lower than the first pressure before the treating liquid in the treating tank is discharged into the buffer tank.