A cleaning method includes (A) and (B) described below. (A) A first processing liquid is supplied to a central portion of a top surface of a substrate from a first nozzle and, also, a second processing liquid is supplied to a periphery of the top surface of the substrate from a second nozzle in a state that the substrate is horizontally held inside a cup and the substrate is rotated in a first direction about a vertical rotation shaft. (B) During a discharge of the second processing liquid by the second nozzle, the second nozzle is moved in a diametrical direction of the substrate between a first position where a discharge line of the second nozzle touches the periphery of the top surface of the substrate and a second position where the discharge line of the second nozzle deviates from the substrate.

A method of processing a silicon substrate can include etching the silicon substrate with a first etchant having a first concentration and etching with a second etchant having a second concentration. In an embodiment, the second concentration of the second etchant can be greater than the first concentration of the first etchant. In one embodiment, the first etchant can be a different type of etchant than the second etchant. In an embodiment, the first and second etchant can be the same type of etchant. In some embodiments the silicon substrate can be cleaned with a first cleaning solution to remove contaminants from the silicon substrate prior to etching with the first etchant. In an embodiment, the silicon substrate can be cleaned with a second cleaning solution after etching the silicon substrate with a second etchant.

A substrate cleaning method includes supplying, onto a substrate, a film-forming processing liquid including a volatile component and a polar organic material that forms a processing film on the substrate, volatilizing the volatile component such that the film-forming processing liquid solidifies or cures and forms the processing film on the substrate, supplying, to the processing film formed on the substrate, a peeling processing liquid that peels off the processing film from the substrate and includes a non-polar solvent, and supplying, to the processing film, a dissolution processing liquid that dissolves the processing film and includes a polar solvent after the supplying of the peeling processing liquid. The non-polar solvent does not contain water, and the polar solvent does not contain water.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for treating the surface of a microelectronic substrate, and in particular, relate to an apparatus and method for scanning the microelectronic substrate through a cryogenic fluid mixture used to treat an exposed surface of the microelectronic substrate. In particular, an improved nozzle design used to expand the fluid mixture is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the nozzle design incorporates a two nozzle pieces are combined to form a single nozzle design, in which the two pieces are slight misaligned to form a unique orifice design. In another embodiment, two pieces are combined and aligned along a common axis of the fluid conduit. However, an offset piece is inserted between the two pieces and has a hole that misaligned from the flow conduits of the two other pieces.

A silicon carbide substrate is composed of silicon carbide, and when a main surface thereof is etched with chlorine gas, the overall length of linear etch-pit groups observed in the main surface is equal to or less than the diameter of the substrate.

Semiconductor devices and methods of manufacturing the semiconductor devices are described herein. A method includes forming a first opening through a dielectric layer, the opening exposing a conductive region. A wet cleaning is used after the forming the first opening, and the first opening is treated after the wet cleaning the first opening, the treating the first opening comprising turning a sidewall treatment precursor and a bottom treatment precursor into a first plasma mixture, the sidewall treatment precursor being different from the bottom treatment precursor. The first opening is filled with a conductive material after the treating the first opening.

A method for removing particles from a semiconductor wafer surface is disclosed. A liquid is placed on a surface of a semiconductor wafer on which particles may adhere. A light pulse is then applied to the surface of the semiconductor wafer through the liquid. The liquid containing the particles is then removed from the surface of the semiconductor wafer.

A method for removing particles from a semiconductor wafer surface is disclosed. A wafer is being spun on a spin coater contained within a condensing environment. Liquid vapor is then infused into the condensing environment to allow some of the liquid vapor to be condensed onto a surface of the wafer on which particles may adhere while the wafer is being spun. Next, a set of light pulses is applied to the surface of the spinning wafer. Finally, an air stream is utilized to carry the particles off the surface of the wafer.

A method for forming a thermal oxide film on a semiconductor substrate, including: a correlation acquisition step of providing a plurality of semiconductor substrates; a substrate cleaning step of cleaning a semiconductor substrate; a thermal oxide film thickness estimation step of determining a constitution of a chemical oxide film formed on the semiconductor substrate by the cleaning in the substrate cleaning step and, based on the correlation, estimating a thickness of a thermal oxide film on a hypothesis that the semiconductor substrate has been subjected to a thermal oxidization treatment conditions in the correlation acquisition step; a thermal oxidization treatment condition determination step of determining thermal oxidization treatment conditions based on the thermal oxidization treatment conditions in the correlation acquisition step so that the thermal oxide film is a predetermined thickness; and a thermal oxide film formation step of forming a thermal oxide film on the semiconductor substrate.

A cleaning solution includes a solvent having Hansen solubility parameters: 25>δ.sub.d>13, 25>δ.sub.p>3, 30>δ.sub.h>4; an acid having an acid dissociation constant pKa: −11<pKa<4, or a base having pKa of 40>pKa>9.5; and a surfactant. The surfactant is an ionic or non-ionic surfactant, selected from

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R is substituted or unsubstituted aliphatic, alicyclic, or aromatic group, and non-ionic surfactant has A-X or A-X-A-X structure, where A is unsubstituted or substituted with oxygen or halogen, branched or unbranched, cyclic or non-cyclic, saturated C2-C100 aliphatic or aromatic group, X includes polar functional groups selected from —OH, ═O, —S—, —P—, —P(O.sub.2), —C(═O)SH, —C(═O)OH, —C(═O)OR—, —O—, —N—, —C(═O)NH, —SO.sub.2OH, —SO.sub.2SH, —SOH, —SO.sub.2—, —CO—, —CN—, —SO—, —CON—, —NH—, —SO.sub.3NH—, and SO.sub.2NH.