There is provided a drying apparatus for covering an upper surface of the substrate with an uneven pattern formed thereon with a liquid film and subsequently drying the substrate, including: a first heat transfer part whose temperature is adjusted to a first temperature, wherein a first heat is transferred between the first heat transfer part and the substrate by a first temperature difference; a second heat transfer part whose temperature is adjusted to a second temperature different from the first temperature, wherein a second heat is transferred between the second heat transfer part and the substrate by a second temperature difference; and a controller configured to control the first temperature and the second temperature and to control a surface tension distribution of the liquid film so as to control an agglomeration of the liquid film.

A wafer processing method includes a liquid layer forming step of forming a layer of a liquid on a supporting face of a wafer table included in a supporting unit, a fixing step of placing a side of an adhesive sheet of the wafer on the wafer table on which the layer of the liquid has been formed, and fixing the wafer to the wafer table through the adhesive sheet, a detecting step of imaging the wafer with an imaging unit which is positioned opposite to the supporting face of the wafer table to thereby detect the division lines formed on the front side of the wafer, and a processing step of processing a portion on a back side of the wafer corresponding to each of the division lines.

A coating method of supplying a treatment solution to a substrate and coating the substrate with the treatment solution by a spin coating method, includes mixing a solvent for the treatment solution lower in surface tension than the treatment solution into the treatment solution concurrently with a start of supply of the treatment solution or later than the start of the supply of the treatment solution, and then supplying the treatment solution to the substrate.

An apparatus for contactless transportation of a device in a vacuum processing system is described. The apparatus includes: a magnetic transportation arrangement for providing a magnetic levitation force (F.sub.L) for levitating the device, the magnetic transportation arrangement comprising one or more active magnetic units; a sensor for monitoring a motion of the device, and a controller configured for controlling the one or more active magnetic units based on a signal provided by the sensor.

A substrate treating apparatus and a substrate treating method are provided. The substrate treating apparatus includes a support member to support a substrate, a treatment liquid nozzle to supply a treatment liquid to the substrate positioned on the support member, and a controller to control the treatment liquid nozzle such that the treatment liquid supplied to the substrate is differently discharged in a low-flow-supply section and a high-flow-supply section in which an average discharge amount per hour is more than an average discharge amount per hour in the low-flow-supply section.

Collection device for collecting elements on at least one bevel of a circular plate, comprising: a base comprising a collection groove intended to receive a collection liquid, a plate-carrier able to rotate the plate about itself and such that an outer periphery of the plate penetrates into the collection groove, wherein the collection device comprises means for visualising the interior of the collection groove, enabling at least one image to be acquired of the contact region between the collection liquid and a face of the plate.

When performing a liquid processing on a substrate W being rotated and removing a processing liquid by a cleaning liquid, a cleaning liquid nozzle 421 configured to discharge a cleaning liquid slantly with respect to a surface of the substrate W toward a downstream side of a rotational direction of the substrate W and a gas nozzle 411 configured to discharge a gas toward a position adjacent to a central portion side of the substrate W when viewed from a liquid arrival position R of the cleaning liquid are moved from the central portion side toward a peripheral portion side. A rotation number of the substrate is varied such that rotation number in a period during which the liquid arrival position R moves in the second region becomes smaller than a maximum rotation number in a period during which the liquid arrival position moves in the first region.

A technique for suppressing a metal component from remaining at a bottom of a mask pattern when the mask pattern is formed using a metal-containing resist film. A developable anti reflection film 103 is previously formed below a resist film 104. Further, after exposing and developing the wafer W, TMAH is supplied to the wafer W to remove a surface of the anti-reflection film 103 facing a bottom of the recess pattern 110 of the resist film 104. Therefore, the metal component 105 can be suppressed from remaining at the bottom of the recess pattern 110. Therefore, when the SiO.sub.2 film 102 is subsequently etched using the pattern of the resist film 104, the etching is not hindered, so that defects such as bridges can be suppressed.

A multi-spray RRC process with dynamic control to improve final yield and further reduce resist cost is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method, includes: dispensing a first layer of solvent on a semiconductor substrate while spinning at a first speed for a first time period; dispensing the solvent on the semiconductor substrate while spinning at a second speed for a second time period so as to transform the first layer to a second layer of the solvent; dispensing the solvent on the semiconductor substrate while spinning at a third speed for a third time period so as to transform the second layer to a third layer of the solvent; dispensing the solvent on the semiconductor substrate while spinning at a fourth speed for a fourth time period so as to transform the third layer to a fourth layer of the solvent; and dispensing a first layer of photoresist on the fourth layer of the solvent while spinning at a fifth speed for a fifth period of time.

A substrate processing apparatus includes a rotary table configured to hold and rotate a substrate; an electronic component provided at the rotary table and configured to be rotated along with the rotary table; a first electrode unit provided at the rotary table and configured to be rotated along with the rotary table, the first electrode unit comprising multiple first electrodes electrically connected to the electronic component via multiple first conductive lines; an electric device configured to perform a power supply to the electronic component and a transmission/reception of signals; a second electrode unit comprising multiple second electrodes electrically connected to the electric device via multiple second conductive lines and arranged at positions respectively corresponding to the multiple first electrodes to be brought into contact with the multiple first electrodes; and an electrode moving device configured to connect/disconnect the first electrode unit to/from the second electrode unit.