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:
Apr. 07, 2009
Filed:
Feb. 09, 2005
Younes Achkire, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Alexander N Lerner, San Jose, CA (US);
Boris Govzman, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Boris Fishkin, San Carlos, CA (US);
Michael N Sugarman, San Francisco, CA (US);
Rashid a Mavliev, Campbell, CA (US);
Haoquan Fang, San Jose, CA (US);
Shijian LI, San Jose, CA (US);
Guy E Shirazi, Mountain View, CA (US);
Jianshe Tang, San Jose, CA (US);
Younes Achkire, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Alexander N Lerner, San Jose, CA (US);
Boris Govzman, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Boris Fishkin, San Carlos, CA (US);
Michael N Sugarman, San Francisco, CA (US);
Rashid A Mavliev, Campbell, CA (US);
Haoquan Fang, San Jose, CA (US);
Shijian Li, San Jose, CA (US);
Guy E Shirazi, Mountain View, CA (US);
Jianshe Tang, San Jose, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
In a first aspect, a first method of drying a substrate is provided. The first method includes the steps of (1) lifting a substrate through an air/fluid interface at a first rate; (2) directing a drying vapor at the air/fluid interface during lifting of the substrate; and (3) 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. The drying vapor may form an angle of about 23° with the air/fluid interface and/or the second rate may be about 2.5 mm/sec.