This liquid treatment method for substrates involves performing: a liquid treatment step for liquid-treating a substrate with a treatment liquid; a rinse treatment step for rinsing the liquid-treated substrate with a rinsing liquid; a water-repellency treatment step for subjecting the rinsed substrate to a water-repellency treatment using a water-repellency-imparting solution; next, a substitution treatment step for subjecting the substrate subjected to the water-repellency treatment to a substitution treatment acceleration liquid; a cleaning treatment step for cleaning the substrate subjected to the water-repellency treatment by using a cleaning solution; and thereafter, a drying treatment step for substituting the cleaning solution with a drying solution having a higher volatility than that of the cleaning solution, and removing the drying solution from the substrate. Thus, it is possible to prevent pattern collapse during the drying treatment, and to decrease particles caused by watermarks.

The substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate holding unit that holds a substrate horizontally, a substrate rotating unit that rotates the substrate held by the substrate holding unit around a prescribed rotational axis extending along a vertical direction, a processing liquid supply nozzle that moves in a horizontal direction and supplies a processing liquid onto an upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding unit, a shielding member that shields an atmosphere between the shielding member and the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding unit from an ambient atmosphere, an inert gas supply unit that supplies an inert gas between the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding unit and the shielding member, and a shielding member rotating unit that rotates the shielding member around the rotational axis. The shielding member includes an annular portion that surrounds the substrate held by the substrate holding unit, and a passage-allowing portion that is provided in the annular portion and allows the processing liquid supply nozzle to pass through the annular portion. The substrate processing apparatus includes a controller that is programmed so as to control the shielding member rotating unit to adjust a position of the passage-allowing portion in the rotational direction such that the processing liquid supply nozzle is to be passed through the annular portion.

A robot cleaner includes a main body, a moving unit for moving the main body, a cleaning module capable of being brought into contact with a floor surface at at least part of a lower surface thereof, and a module drive unit for controlling an angle of inclination of the lower surface of the cleaning module with respect to the floor surface.

A surface cleanup machine that can clean up grout off a surface or a floor is described.

A method of cleaning an aspiration tube in a specimen measuring apparatus includes: moving the aspiration tube while discharging a cleaning liquid onto an outer side surface of the aspiration tube; stopping the aspiration tube in a state where a tip of the aspiration tube or a droplet attached to the tip contacts a surface of a flow of the cleaning liquid; and moving the stopped aspiration tube in a direction away from the surface of the flow of the cleaning liquid.

A method and apparatus are disclosed for optimizing a rinsing and drying process in semiconductor manufacturing. The optimization seeks to maximize processing throughput while maintaining low defect counts and high device yields, and utilizes simulation and experimental data to set the optimal process parameters for the rinsing and drying process. Improved methods of rinse liquid and purge gas nozzle movement are also disclosed.

Disclosed is a substrate treating apparatus for performing a cleaning treatment on substrates. The apparatus includes an indexer block with an indexer robot, a treating block including a cleaning unit, and a path block disposed between the indexer block and the treating block. The indexer robot includes a guide rail, a base, an articulated arm, and a hand. The guide rail is positioned so as not to overlap a mount position of a substrate in the path block.

Provided is a substrate processing apparatus that removes a film by supplying a processing liquid to the peripheral edge of a substrate. An ejection unit ejects the processing liquid to the peripheral edge of the substrate held and rotated by a substrate holding unit. An ejection position setting unit sets the ejection position of the processing liquid of the ejection unit to correspond to the removal width of the film included in a recipe, and a property information acquisition unit acquires property information of the film to be removed. A correction amount acquisition unit acquires the correction amount for correcting the ejection position of the processing liquid based on the property information of the film, and an ejection position correction unit corrects the ejection position of the processing liquid by the ejection unit based on the correction amount acquired by the correction amount acquisition unit.

A substrate processing apparatus includes a carrier holding unit which holds a carrier that contains substrates, a plurality of processing units, each of which processes a substrate, a substrate transfer unit which transfers substrates between the carrier and the processing units, and a controller. The controller classifies the plurality of processing units into a plurality of groups and is programmed, when determining a processing unit that is to process a substrate, to select one of the plurality of groups, to select one processing unit belonging to the selected group, and to control the substrate transfer unit to carry a substrate into the selected processing unit.

An apparatus and method for cleaning semiconductor wafer are provided. The apparatus includes a brush module, a swing arm, a rotating actuator and an elevating actuator. The brush module has a brush head for providing mechanical force on a surface of a wafer. An end of the swing arm mounts the brush module. The rotating actuator is connected with the other end of the swing arm. The rotating actuator drives the swing arm to swing across the whole surface of the wafer, which brings the brush head moving across the whole surface of the wafer. The elevating actuator is connected with the other end of the swing arm. The elevating actuator drives the swing arm to rise or descend, which brings the brush module rising or descending. The apparatus cleans the semi-conductor wafer by means of the brush head, which improves the cleaning effect.