A coating method for coating parts in a dip-spin process is provided. The parts to be coated are dipped into a coating liquid and then centrifuged in at least one planetary basket arrangement in a planetary centrifuge. The planetary centrifuge includes a main rotor rotating about a main rotor axis of rotation and at least one planetary basket arrangement rotates about its planetary axis of rotation. Also, the planetary axis of rotation is arranged eccentrically on the main rotor. The at least one planetary basket arrangement can include a plurality of planetary baskets rotatably arranged about the planetary rotation axis of the at least one planetary basket arrangement and the planetary basket arrangement is rotated during a centrifuging operation.

A resist underlayer film forming composition contains a resin containing a unit structure represented by formula (1): [in formula (1), R1 represents a thiadiazole group which is optionally substituted with a C1-6 alkyl group optionally interrupted by a carboxy group, a C1-6 alkyl group optionally substituted with a hydroxyl group, or a C1-4 alkylthio group, and R2 represents a hydrogen atom or formula (2): (in formula (2), R1 is the same as defined above, and * represents a binding moiety)]. The resist underlayer film forming composition provides a resist underlayer film which has excellent solvent resistance, excellent optical parameters, an excellent dry etching rate, and excellent embeddability.

A method of dispensing a fluid in a semiconductor manufacturing process includes providing a substrate, positioning a nozzle above the substrate, and determining a cross-sectional shape of the nozzle. The method also includes configuring the nozzle to have the determined cross-sectional shape and applying the fluid to the substrate through the nozzle with the determined cross-sectional shape.

A composition for forming an organic film contains a polymer having a partial structure shown by the following general formula (1) as a repeating unit, and an organic solvent. Each of AR1 and AR2 represents a benzene ring or naphthalene ring which optionally have a substituent; W.sub.1 represents a particular partial structure having a triple bond, and the polymer optionally contains two or more kinds of W.sub.1; and W.sub.2 represents a divalent organic group having 6 to 80 carbon atoms and at least one aromatic ring. This invention provides: a polymer curable even under film formation conditions in an inert gas and capable of forming an organic film which has not only excellent heat resistance and properties of filling and planarizing a pattern formed in a substrate, but also favorable film formability onto a substrate with less sublimation product; and a composition for forming an organic film, containing the polymer. ##STR00001##

A positive resist composition comprising a base polymer comprising recurring units (a) having the structure of an ammonium salt of fluorosulfonic acid having an iodized or brominated aromatic ring, and recurring units (b1) having an acid labile group-substituted carboxyl group and/or recurring units (b2) having an acid labile group-substituted phenolic hydroxyl group exhibits a high sensitivity, high resolution, low edge roughness and dimensional uniformity, and forms a pattern of good profile after exposure and development.

A substrate inspection system is provided to monitor characteristics of a substrate, while the substrate is disposed within (or being transferred into/out of) a processing unit of a liquid dispense substrate processing system. The inspection system is integrated within a liquid dispense substrate processing system and includes one or more optical sensors of a reflectometer (such as a spectrometer or laser-based transceiver) configured to obtain spectral data from a substrate. A controller is coupled to receive the spectral data from the optical sensors(s). The one or more optical sensors (or one or more optical fibers coupled to the rest of the optical sensor hardware) are coupled at locations within the substrate processing system. The controller analyzes the spectral data received from the optical sensors(s) to detect characteristic(s) of the substrate including, but not limited to, film thickness (FT), refractive index changes, and associated critical dimension (CD) changes.

A modified technology of spin coating which is named Two-Axis spin coating is disclosed. The innovative Two-Axis spin coating apparatus is a rotary device that spins the substrate horizontally the same as conventional spin coaters while the whole horizontal spinning system can be rotated vertically. The vertical rotation of the substrate generates a vertical centrifugal force perpendicular to the surface of the substrate which allows the coating face with an elevated artificial gravity acceleration. The elevation of gravity acceleration adjusts and normalizes the local high and low surface tension stresses on the surface of the coated film. This elevation of gravity also increases the weight of coating elements artificially and obliges the wavy surface convex regions to flow toward the concave areas. The elevation of gravity also obliges the lighter probable air bubbles inside the layer, immediately before the coating surface skinning process, move toward the surface and drain out from the layer. The invention provides a method to level the layer's edge beads, level the coated surface, drain out probable micro sized air bubbles inside the layer and form denser film simultaneously.

A liquid ejection head includes a substrate having a liquid feeding port and an energy generating element, a substrate protective layer provided on the substrate, and a nozzle forming member provided on the substrate protective layer, and having an ejection port ejecting a liquid, and a liquid flow channel communicating with the liquid feeding port and the ejection port. The substrate protective layer comprises an ion scavenger.

In a method of coating a photoresist, the photoresist may be provided to an upper surface of a rotating wafer. A hovering solution may be injected to an edge portion of the photoresist under a condition that the hovering solution may be hovered with respect to the edge portion of the photoresist with an air layer being interposed between the hovering solution and the edge portion of the photoresist to limit and/or prevent a bead of the photoresist from being formed on an edge portion of the upper surface of the wafer. Thus, the photoresist having a uniform thickness may be coated on the upper surface of the wafer to improve a yield of a semiconductor device by increasing an effective area of the edge portion of the wafer.

In a chemical liquid container replacement device D2 configured to replace a chemical liquid container 50, multiple chemical liquid containers 50 respectively connected to base end sides of chemical liquid supply paths configured to supply chemical liquids, and a nozzle attachment/detachment device 61 is configured to attach/detach the base end side of the chemical liquid supply path with respect to the chemical liquid container 50 of a container arrangement section 60. A loading/unloading port 62 loads a new chemical liquid container 50 for performing a liquid process on a substrate W and unloads a completely used chemical liquid container 50. A container transfer device 7 unloads the completely used chemical liquid container 50 from the container arrangement section 60 toward the loading/unloading port 62 and loads the new chemical liquid containers 50 from the loading/unloading port 62 toward the container arrangement section 60.