Appeal No. 94-3000
Application 07/914,654
the wafer with deionized water. See column 1, lines 19-28.
This conventional drying technique is said to create "a
significant amount of waste over the period of a month, for
example, and also a significant fire hazard." See column 1,
lines 28-30.
Similarly, the Kurokawa reference discloses three
different conventional drying techniques which are known to
remove water drops on the wafers. See column 1, lines 22-37.
One of the conventional drying techniques involves employing
vapor of organic solvent, such as isopropyl alcohol (IPA).
See column 1, lines 38-48. According to column 2, lines 6-12
of Kurokawa, "although the IPA vapor drying method is less
sensitive to the influence of impurities in the ultra-pure
water since the water that is used in the washing is replaced
with IPA, it has the problem of adhesion of impurities in the
IPA due to the dispersion of IPA mist and the problem of
replacement between the IPA and the water."
At issue is, therefore, whether the use of a conventional
IPA vapor drying method to dry the water-treated wafers
withdrawn from a deionized water containing tank as taught by
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