Process and apparatus for drying surfaces

Details Process and apparatus for drying surfaces Process and apparatus for drying surfaces

1988-04-20

1990-03-27

Pal, Asok

Cleaning and liquid contact with solids

Processes

Including regeneration, purification, recovery or separation...

134 10, 134 30, 134 31, B08B 308

Patent

active

049117610

ABSTRACT:
Object surfaces such as semiconductor wafers which are suspended in a rinsing fluid may be dried by replacing the rinsing fluid, such as water, with a drying vapor by directly displacing the water from the surfaces at such a rate that substantially no liquid droplets are left on the surfaces after replacement of the water with drying vapor. Preferably, the drying vapor is miscible with water and forms a minimum-boiling azeotrope with water, such as isopropanol. The drying vapor is then purged with a stream of dry, inert, non-condensable gas such as nitrogen. A vaporizer with automatic refill mechanism produces saturated drying vapor which may then be flashed to a superheated vapor prior to contacting the surfaces, which preferably are at the same temperature as the vapor. Preferably, no liquid is removed by evaporation, and the drying takes place in an enclosed, hydraulically full system which does not require movement or handling of the surfaces between rinsing and drying steps.

REFERENCES:
patent: 61571 (1867-01-01), Searle
patent: 539074 (1895-05-01), Morrow
patent: 539075 (1895-05-01), Morrow
patent: 728148 (1903-05-01), Wever
patent: 1066993 (1913-07-01), Carey
patent: 1318160 (1919-08-01), Bianchini
patent: 1845139 (1929-06-01), Exley
patent: 2180274 (1938-06-01), Bentley
patent: 3005417 (1961-10-01), Swaney
patent: 3208157 (1965-09-01), Stark
patent: 3437543 (1969-04-01), Winings
patent: 3607549 (1971-09-01), Bielefeld et al.
patent: 3632462 (1972-04-01), Barrington
patent: 3813311 (1974-05-01), Beck et al.
patent: 3871914 (1975-03-01), Goffredo et al.
patent: 3957531 (1976-05-01), Tipping et al.
patent: 3964957 (1976-06-01), Walsh et al.
patent: 3977926 (1976-08-01), Johnson, Jr. et al.
patent: 4017343 (1977-04-01), Haas et al.
patent: 4056428 (1977-11-01), Harada et al.
patent: 4079522 (1978-03-01), Ham
patent: 4105468 (1978-08-01), Geshner et al.
patent: 4159917 (1979-07-01), Gluck
patent: 4169807 (1979-10-01), Zuber
patent: 4323452 (1982-04-01), Witzenbury
patent: 4408960 (1983-10-01), Allen
patent: 4426246 (1984-01-01), Kravitz et al.
patent: 4479849 (1984-10-01), Frantzen
patent: 4519846 (1985-05-01), Aigo
patent: 4589926 (1986-05-01), Holmstrand
patent: 4633893 (1987-01-01), McConnell et al.
patent: 4778532 (1988-10-01), McConnell et al.
"Cleaning Techniques for Wafer Surfaces," Semiconductor International, Aug. 1987, pp. 80-85.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Process and apparatus for drying surfaces does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Process and apparatus for drying surfaces, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Process and apparatus for drying surfaces will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1648346