Samsung patents chip cleaning arm that sprays liquid in sync with spinning wafer
Samsung describes a machine for cleaning flat materials, such as silicon wafers used in chips, by spinning them while a mechanical arm sprays cleaning liquid. The nozzle on the arm moves in a specific pattern so that the spray direction matches the rotation of the material at every point, ensuring the liquid hits the surface at the right angle.
In the filing’s own words
A substrate cleaning apparatus includes a substrate holder configured to support a substrate, a spin pillar connected to the substrate holder and configured to rotate the substrate, and a cleaning liquid supply configured to spray a cleaning liquid onto a surface of the substrate. The cleaning liquid supply includes (i) a nozzle arm having one end rotating along a sweep trajectory over the surface of the substrate and (ii) a nozzle coupled to the one end of the nozzle arm and configured to spray the cleaning liquid along a target trajectory on the surface of the substrate. The sweep trajectory includes sweep points and the target trajectory includes target points corresponding to and overlapping the sweep points in vertical direction. While the nozzle passes through each sweep point, spraying direction of the nozzle coincides with rotational direction of the target point corresponding to each sweep point in a plan view.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A substrate cleaning apparatus comprising: a substrate holder configured to support a substrate; a spin pillar connected to the substrate holder and configured to rotate the substrate; and a cleaning liquid supply structure configured to spray a cleaning liquid onto a surface of the substrate, wherein the cleaning liquid supply structure comprises: a nozzle arm having a first end rotating along a sweep trajectory over the surface of the substrate, and a nozzle coupled to the first end of the nozzle arm and configured to spray the cleaning liquid along a target trajectory on the surface of the substrate, wherein the sweep trajectory comprises a plurality of sweep points, wherein the target trajectory comprises a plurality of target points corresponding to and overlapping the plurality of sweep points in a vertical direction, and wherein the nozzle is configured to, while the nozzle passes through each of the plurality of sweep points, spray the cleaning liquid in a spraying direction that coincides with a rotational direction of each of the plurality of target points corresponding to each of the plurality of sweep points.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
- Official title
- SUBSTRATE CLEANING APPARATUS AND SUBSTRATE TREATMENT SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME
- Publication number
- US20260334131A1
- Application number
- 19565447
- Filed
- Mar 12, 2026
- Published
- Oct 22, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
H10P 72/0414 Electricity & electronicsH10P 72/3306 Electricity & electronicsMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.