Substrate processing method and substrate processing apparatus

Abstract

A substrate processing method includes a liquid film forming step of forming a liquid film of an organic solvent with which a whole area of an upper surface of a substrate is covered in order to replace a processing liquid existing on the upper surface with an organic solvent liquid, a thin film holding step of thinning the liquid film of the organic solvent by rotating the substrate at a first high rotational speed while keeping surroundings of the whole area of the upper surface in an atmosphere of an organic solvent vapor and holding a resulting thin film of the organic solvent on the upper surface, and a thin-film removing step of removing the thin film from the upper surface after the thin film holding step, and the thin-film removing step includes a high-speed rotation step of rotating the substrate at a second high rotational speed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A substrate processing method comprising:
 a substrate holding step of holding a substrate horizontally by a substrate holding unit accommodated in an internal space of a seal chamber that is sealed up from an outside, the substrate having an upper surface on which a pattern is formed;   a liquid film forming step of forming a liquid film of an organic solvent with which a whole area of the upper surface of the substrate is covered in order to replace a processing liquid existing on the upper surface of the substrate with an organic solvent liquid;   a thin film holding step of thinning the liquid film of the organic solvent while keeping surroundings of the whole area of an upper surface of the liquid film of the organic solvent in an atmosphere of an organic solvent vapor and holding a resulting thin film of the organic solvent on the upper surface of the substrate; and   a thin-film removing step of removing the thin film from the upper surface of the substrate after the thin film holding step, wherein   the thin film holding step is performed in a closed state in which the internal space is sealed up from the outside by closing an exhaust valve through which the internal space of the seal chamber is exhausted, and   the thin-film removing step includes an opening step of opening the exhaust valve to open the internal space of the seal chamber to the outside, and an inert gas supply step of supplying an inert gas toward the upper surface of the substrate.   
     
     
         2 . The substrate processing method according to  claim 1 , wherein the thin film holding step includes a step of thinning the liquid film of the organic solvent by rotating the substrate. 
     
     
         3 . The substrate processing method according to  claim 1 , wherein the thin-film removing step including a step of rotating the substrate. 
     
     
         4 . The substrate processing method according  claim 1 , wherein the inert gas is a high-temperature inert gas having a temperature higher than a room temperature. 
     
     
         5 . The substrate processing method according to  claim 1 , wherein the thin film holding step keeps the surroundings of the upper surface of the liquid film of the organic solvent in an atmosphere of the organic solvent vapor by use of the organic solvent vapor generated by evaporation of the organic solvent liquid supplied to the upper surface of the substrate in the liquid film forming step. 
     
     
         6 . The substrate processing method according to  claim 5 , wherein the liquid film forming step includes a high-temperature organic solvent supply step of supplying the organic solvent liquid having a liquid temperature higher than a room temperature to the upper surface of the substrate. 
     
     
         7 . The substrate processing method according to  claim 1 , the thin film holding step of thinning the liquid film of the organic solvent includes a step of supplying a vapor of the organic solvent to a space to which the upper surface of the liquid film of the organic solvent faces.